Excerpt from The Centennial Visitor's Companion and Guide Book Although nearly ten years ago Prof. John L. Campbell, of Indiana, in a letter to the Hon. Morton McMichael, then Mayor of Philadelphia, suggested the idea of an International Exhibition of the arts, sciences and industries of the world, in connection with the celebration of the centennial anniversary of our nation's birthday, still the grand scheme did not assume a tangible and definite form until, by the act of Congress of March 3, 1871, it was determined that the one hundredth anniversary of American Independence should be celebrated by holding an International Exhibition of arts, manufactures and the products of the soils and mines of the world, in the City of Philadelphia, during the year A. D., 1876. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.