United States Capitol#Flags

{{See also|History of Washington, D.C.|List of National Historic Landmarks in Washington, D.C.|List of capitals in the United States#Capitals of the United States}}

{{Further|United States Capitol cornerstone laying}}

Prior to establishing the nation's capital in Washington, D.C., the United States Congress and its predecessors met at Independence Hall and Congress Hall in Philadelphia, Federal Hall in New York City, and five additional locations: York, Pennsylvania, Lancaster, Pennsylvania, the Maryland State House in Annapolis, Maryland, and Nassau Hall in Princeton, New Jersey, and Trenton, New Jersey.See List of capitals in the United States In September 1774, the First Continental Congress brought together delegates from the colonies in Philadelphia, followed by the Second Continental Congress, which met from May 1775 to March 1781.

After adopting the Articles of Confederation in York, Pennsylvania, the Congress of the Confederation was formed and convened in Philadelphia from March 1781 until June 1783, when a mob of angry soldiers converged upon Independence Hall, demanding payment for their service during the American Revolutionary War. Congress requested that John Dickinson, the Governor of Pennsylvania, call up the militia to defend Congress from attacks by the protesters. In what became known as the Pennsylvania Mutiny of 1783, Dickinson sympathized with the protesters and refused to remove them from Philadelphia. As a result, Congress was forced to flee to Princeton, New Jersey, on June 21, 1783,{{cite book | last=Crew | first=Harvey W. |author2=William Bensing Webb |author3=John Wooldridge | title=Centennial History of the City of Washington, D. C. | publisher=United Brethren Publishing House | year=1892 | location=Dayton, Ohio | url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_5Q81AAAAIAAJ | page=[https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_5Q81AAAAIAAJ/page/n73 66]}} and met in Annapolis, Maryland, and Trenton, New Jersey, before ending up in New York City.

The U.S. Congress was established upon ratification of the U.S. Constitution and formally began on March 4, 1789. New York City remained home to Congress until July 1790,Allen (2001), p. 4 when the Residence Act was passed to pave the way for a permanent capital. The decision of where to locate the capital was contentious, but Alexander Hamilton helped broker a compromise in which the federal government would take on war debt incurred during the American Revolutionary War, in exchange for support from northern states for locating the capital along the Potomac River. As part of the legislation, Philadelphia was chosen as a temporary capital for ten years (until December 1800), until the nation's capital in Washington, D.C., would be ready.Allen (2001), p. 4–7

Pierre L'Enfant was charged with creating the city plan for the new capital city and the major public buildings.L'Enfant identified himself as "Peter Charles L'Enfant" during most of his life, while residing in the United States. He wrote this name on his [http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.gmd/g3850.ct000512 "Plan of the city intended for the permanent seat of the government of t(he) United States ...."] (Washington, D.C.) and on other legal documents. However, during the early 1900s, a French ambassador to the U.S., Jean Jules Jusserand, popularized the use of L'Enfant's birth name, "Pierre Charles L'Enfant". (Reference: Bowling, Kenneth R (2002). Peter Charles L'Enfant: vision, honor, and male friendship in the early American Republic. George Washington University, Washington, D.C. {{ISBN|978-0-9727611-0-9}}). The United States Code states in {{USC|40|3309}}: "(a) In General.{{snd}}The purposes of this chapter shall be carried out in the District of Columbia as nearly as may be practicable in harmony with the plan of Peter Charles L'Enfant." The National Park Service identifies L'Enfant as "[http://www.nps.gov/history/nr/travel/Wash/text.htm#washington Major Peter Charles L'Enfant]" and as "[http://www.nps.gov/history/Nr/travel/presidents/washington_monument.html Major Pierre (Peter) Charles L'Enfant]" on its website. The Congress House would be built on Jenkins Hill, now known as Capitol Hill, which L'Enfant described as a "pedestal awaiting a monument."{{cite web | url=http://uschscapitolhistory.uschs.org/articles/uschs_dome-02.htm | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081023082234/http://uschscapitolhistory.uschs.org/articles/uschs_dome-02.htm | archive-date=October 23, 2008 | title=U.S. Capitol Historical Society | CAPITOL HISTORY }} L'Enfant connected Congress House with the President's House via Pennsylvania Avenue with a width set at 160 feet, identical to the narrowest points of the Champs-Élysées in Paris. Westwards was a 400-foot-wide (122 m) garden-lined "grand avenue" containing a public walk (later known as the National Mall) that would travel for about 1 mile (1.6 km) along the east–west line.

The term "Capitol" (from Latin Capitolium) originally denoted the Capitoline Hill in Rome and the Temple of Jupiter that stood on its summit.{{Cite OED|Capitol|6242540895}} The Roman Capitol was sometimes misconceived of as a meeting place for senators, and this led the term to be applied to legislative buildings; the first such building was the Williamsburg Capitol in Virginia.{{cite journal |title=Naming the Capitol and the Capital |first=George W. |last=Hodgkins |journal=Records of the Columbia Historical Society, Washington, D.C. |volume=60/62 |year=1960 |pages=36–53 |jstor=40067217}} Thomas Jefferson had sat here as a member of the House of Burgesses, and it was he who applied the name "Capitol" to what on L'Enfant's plan had been called the "Congress House".{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4bHwImC-UOUC&pg=PA1522|page=1552|title=The Creation of the Federal City: Washington|series=Architecture and Town Planning in Colonial North America: Vol. 3|first1=James D|last1=Kornwolf|first2=Georgiana Wallis|last2=Kornwolf|location=Baltimore, Maryland|publisher=The Johns Hopkins University Press|year=2002|isbn=0801859867|oclc=45066419|access-date=October 29, 2016|quote=A final legacy of Jefferson's vision of the city is found in correspondence between him and L'Enfant. Jefferson consistently called the building to house Congress, the "Capitol," whereas L'Enfant just as consistently referred to it as "Congress House."}} At Google Books. "Capitol" has since become a general term for government buildings, especially in the United States. It is often confused with "capital"; one, however, denotes a building or complex of buildings, while the other denotes a city.{{cite encyclopedia |title=Capitol |url=https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/capitol |dictionary=Merriam-Webster |access-date=July 21, 2022}} and {{cite encyclopedia |title=Capital |url=https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/capital |dictionary=Merriam-Webster |access-date=July 21, 2022}}

L'Enfant secured the lease of quarries at Wigginton Island and along Aquia Creek in Virginia for use in the foundations and outer walls of the Capitol in November 1791.{{cite journal | author=Morgan, J.D. | title=Maj. Pierre Charles L'Enfant | journal=Records of the Columbia Historical Society | year=1899 | volume=2 | page=120}} Surveying was under way soon after the Jefferson conference plan for the Capitol was accepted. On September 18, 1793, President Washington, along with eight other Freemasons dressed in masonic regalia, laid the cornerstone, which was made by silversmith Caleb Bentley.Hazelton (1907), p. 84{{cite book | last=Allen | first=William C. | title=In the Greatest Solemn Dignity: The Capitol's Four Cornerstones | publisher=Government Printing Office | year=1995 | page=7}}

In early 1792, after Pierre L'Enfant was dismissed from the federal city project, Jefferson proposed a design competition to solicit designs for the Capitol and the "President's House", and set a four-month deadline. The prize for the competition was $500 and a lot in the Federal City. At least ten individuals submitted designs for the Capitol; however the drawings were regarded as crude and amateurish, reflecting the level of architectural skill present in the United States at the time.Allen (2001), p. 13–15

The most promising of the submissions was by Stephen Hallet, a trained French architect who was a draftsman to Pierre L'Enfant on the city plan.Frary (1969), p. 28 However, Hallet's designs were overly fancy, with too much French influence, and were deemed too costly.Allen (2001), p. 18

However, the design did incorporate the concept for a "great circular room and dome" which had originated with L'Enfant. John Trumbull was given a tour of "Jenkins Hill" by L'Enfant himself and confirmed this in his autobiography years later.

File:Flickr_-_USCapitol_-_Thornton_Capitol_Winning_Design.jpg

On January 31, 1793, a late entry by amateur architect William Thornton was submitted, and was met with praise for its "Grandeur, Simplicity, and Beauty" by Washington, along with praise from Jefferson. Thornton was inspired by the east front of the Louvre, as well as the Paris Pantheon for the center portion of the design.Allen (2001), p. 19{{cite web | url=https://www.loc.gov/rr/print/adecenter/essays/B-Thornton.html | title=William Thornton (1759–1828) | publisher=Library of Congress | access-date=July 7, 2007 }} Thornton's design was officially approved in a letter dated April 5, 1793, from Washington, and Thornton served as the first architect of the Capitol (and later first superintendent of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office).Frary (1969), p. 33 In an effort to console Hallet, the commissioners appointed him to review Thornton's plans, develop cost estimates, and serve as superintendent of construction. Hallet proceeded to pick apart and make drastic changes to Thornton's design, which he saw as costly to build and problematic.Frary (1969), p. 34–35

In July 1793, Jefferson convened a five-member commission, bringing Hallet and Thornton together, along with James Hoban (winning architect of the "President's Palace") to address problems with and revise Thornton's plan. Hallet suggested changes to the floor plan, which could be fitted within the exterior design by Thornton.Allen (2001), p. 23{{cite web | url=http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/etcbin/toccer-new2?id=JefThom.sgm&images=images/modeng&data=/texts/english/modeng/parsed&tag=public&part=178&division=div2 | work=Thomas Jefferson and the National Capital | title=Letter: Jefferson to Washington | date=July 17, 1793 | author=Jefferson, Thomas | publisher=University of Virginia | access-date=December 11, 2008 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110221135738/http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/etcbin/toccer-new2?id=JefThom.sgm&images=images%2Fmodeng&data=%2Ftexts%2Fenglish%2Fmodeng%2Fparsed&tag=public&part=178&division=div2 | archive-date=February 21, 2011 | url-status=dead | df=mdy-all }} The revised plan was accepted, except that Secretary Jefferson and President Washington insisted on an open recess in the center of the East front, which was part of Thornton's original plan.Frary (1969), p. 36

The original design by Thornton was later significantly altered by Benjamin Henry Latrobe, and later Charles Bulfinch.{{cite web | title=United States Capitol, Washington, D.C.: East Front Elevation, Rendering | url=http://www.wdl.org/en/item/17 | publisher=World Digital Library | access-date=February 13, 2013 }} The current cast-iron dome and the House's new southern extension and Senate new northern wing were designed by Thomas Ustick Walter and August Schoenborn, a German immigrant, in the 1850s,{{cite web | last=Woods | first=Robert O. | url=http://www.memagazine.org/contents/current/features/capdome/capdome.html | title=Under the Capitol Dome | work=Mechanical Engineering Magazine | publisher=The American Society of Mechanical Engineers | date=June 2003 | access-date=December 11, 2008 | url-status=dead | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090126092928/http://www.memagazine.org/contents/current/features/capdome/capdome.html | archive-date=January 26, 2009 | df=mdy-all }} and were completed under the supervision of Edward Clark.{{cite web | url=http://www.aoc.gov/cc/capitol/capitol_construction.cfm | title=A Brief Construction History of the Capitol | publisher=Architect of the Capitol}}

Construction proceeded with Hallet working under supervision of James Hoban, who was also busy working on construction of the "President's House" (also later known as the "Executive Mansion"). Despite the wishes of Jefferson and the President, Hallet went ahead anyway and modified Thornton's design for the East Front and created a square central court that projected from the center, with flanking wings which would house the legislative bodies. Hallet was dismissed by Secretary Jefferson on November 15, 1794.Frary (1969), p. 37–39 George Hadfield was hired on October 15, 1795, as Superintendent of Construction, but resigned three years later in May 1798, because of his dissatisfaction with Thornton's plan and quality of work done thus far.Frary (1969), p. 44–45

{{See also|Burning of Washington}}

File:USCapitol1800.jpg]]

File:US Capitol 1814c.jpg of the U.S. Capitol after the burning of Washington by the British Army during the War of 1812]]

File:Capitol1846.jpg of east side of the Capitol in 1846, by John Plumbe, showing Bulfinch's dome]]

The Senate (north) wing was completed in 1800. The Senate and House shared quarters in the north wing until a temporary wooden pavilion was erected on the future site of the House wing which served for a few years for the Representatives to meet in, until the House of Representatives (south) wing was finally completed in 1811, with a covered wooden temporary walkway connecting the two wings with the Congressional chambers where the future center section with rotunda and dome would eventually be. However, the House of Representatives moved early into their House wing in 1807. Though the Senate wing building was incomplete, the Capitol held its first session of the U.S. Congress with both chambers in session on November 17, 1800. The National Legislature was moved to Washington prematurely, at the urging of President John Adams, in hopes of securing enough Southern votes in the Electoral College to be re-elected for a second term as president.{{cite journal | author=Carter II, Edward C. | title=Benjamin Henry Latrobe and the Growth and Development of Washington, 1798–1818 | journal=Records of the Columbia Historical Society | date=1971–1972 | page=139}}

In March 1803, James Madison appointed Benjamin Henry Latrobe to the position of "Surveyor of Public Buildings", with the principal responsibility of completing construction of the Capitol's south and north wings. Work on the north wing began in November 1806. Although occupied for only six years, it had suffered from falling plaster, rotting floors and a leaking roof. Instead of repairing it, Latrobe demolished, redesigned and rebuilt the interiors within the existing brick and sandstone walls. Notably, Latrobe designed the Supreme Court and Senate chambers. The former was a particular architectural achievement; the size and structure of its vaulted, semi-circular ceiling was then unprecedented in the United States.{{cite web |title=Old Supreme Court Chamber |url=https://www.aoc.gov/explore-capitol-campus/buildings-grounds/capitol-building/senate-wing/old-supreme-court-chamber |publisher=Architect of the Capitol |access-date=August 10, 2024}}

For several decades, beginning when the federal government moved to Washington in the fall of 1800, the Capitol building was used for Sunday religious services as well as for governmental functions. The first services were conducted in the "hall" of the House in the north wing of the building. In 1801 the House moved to temporary quarters in the south wing, called the "Oven", which it vacated in 1804, returning to the north wing for three years. Then, from 1807 to 1857, they were held in the then-House Chamber (now called Statuary Hall). When held in the House chamber, the Speaker's podium was used as the preacher's pulpit. According to the U.S. Library of Congress exhibit Religion and the Founding of the American Republic:

{{Blockquote|It is no exaggeration to say that on Sundays in Washington during the administrations of Thomas Jefferson (1801–1809) and of James Madison (1809–1817) the state became the church. Within a year of his inauguration, Jefferson began attending church services in the chamber of the House of Representatives. Madison followed Jefferson's example, although unlike Jefferson, who rode on horseback to church in the Capitol, Madison came in a coach and four. Worship services in the House{{snd}}a practice that continued until after the Civil War{{snd}}were acceptable to Jefferson because they were nondiscriminatory and voluntary. Preachers of every Protestant denomination appeared. (Catholic priests began officiating in 1826.) As early as January 1806 a female evangelist, Dorothy Ripley, delivered a camp meeting-style exhortation in the House to Jefferson, Vice President Aaron Burr, and a "crowded audience".{{cite web | title=Religion and the Founding of the American Republic | date=July 23, 2010 | publisher=U.S. Library of Congress | url=https://www.loc.gov/exhibits/religion/rel06-2.html | access-date=September 23, 2011 }}}}

Not long after the completion of both wings, the Capitol was partially burned by the British on August 24, 1814, during the War of 1812. After the fires, Latrobe was rehired as Architect of the Capitol to oversee restoration works.

George Bomford and Joseph Gardner Swift, both military engineers, were called upon to help rebuild the Capitol. Reconstruction began in 1815 and included redesigned chambers for both Senate and House wings (now sides), which were completed by 1819. During the reconstruction, Congress met in the Old Brick Capitol, a temporary structure financed by local investors. Construction continued through to 1826, with the addition of the center section with front steps and columned portico and an interior Rotunda rising above the first low dome of the Capitol. Latrobe is principally connected with the original construction and many innovative interior features; his successor Bulfinch also played a major role, such as design of the first low dome covered in copper.

By 1850, it became clear that the Capitol could not accommodate the growing number of legislators arriving from newly admitted states. A new design competition was held, and President Millard Fillmore appointed Philadelphia architect Thomas U. Walter to carry out the expansion. Two new wings were added: a new chamber for the House of Representatives on the south side, and a new chamber for the Senate on the north.{{cite web | url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jmo-A_8HoOM | archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211029/jmo-A_8HoOM| archive-date=October 29, 2021| title=The History of the United States Capitol | date=October 27, 2010| publisher=YouTube | access-date=February 19, 2012}}{{cbignore}}

When the Capitol was expanded in the 1850s, some of the construction labor was carried out by slaves "who cut the logs, laid the stones and baked the bricks".{{cite news | url=http://washingtontimes.com/national/20050531-110046-7574r.htm | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050604031125/http://washingtontimes.com/national/20050531-110046-7574r.htm | archive-date=June 4, 2005 | title=Capitol slave labor studied | date=June 1, 2005 | agency=Associated Press | work=The Washington Times}} The original plan was to use workers brought in from Europe. However, there was a poor response to recruitment efforts; African Americans, some free and some enslaved, along with Scottish stonemasons, comprised most of the workforce.{{cite web | url=http://www.whitehousehistory.org/05/subs/05_c.html | title=Timeline | publisher=White House Historical Association | access-date=June 10, 2007 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070519051655/http://www.whitehousehistory.org/05/subs/05_c.html | archive-date=May 19, 2007 | url-status=dead | df=mdy-all }}

{{Main|United States Capitol dome}}

File:LincolnInauguration1861a.jpg in 1861, before the partially complete Capitol dome]]

The 1850 expansion more than doubled the length of the United States Capitol; it dwarfed the original, timber-framed, copper-sheeted, low dome of 1818, designed by Charles Bulfinch which was no longer in proportion with the increased size of the building. In 1855, the decision was made to tear it down and replace it with the "wedding-cake style" cast-iron dome that stands today. Also designed by Thomas U. Walter, the new dome would stand three times the height of the original dome and {{convert|100|ft}} in diameter, yet had to be supported on the existing masonry piers.

Like Mansart's dome at Les Invalides in Paris (which he had visited in 1838), Walter's dome is double, with a large oculus in the inner dome, through which is seen The Apotheosis of Washington painted on a shell suspended from the supporting ribs, which also support the visible exterior structure and the tholos that supports the Statue of Freedom, a colossal statue that was raised to the top of the dome in 1863. The statue invokes the goddesses Minerva or Athena.{{Cite web|url=https://picturinghistory.gc.cuny.edu/thomas-crawford-statue-of-freedom-1855-63/|title = Picturing US History - Thomas Crawford, Statue of Freedom, 1855-63}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.aoc.gov/explore-capitol-campus/art/statue-freedom|title = The Statue of Freedom | Architect of the Capitol}} The cast iron for the dome weighs {{convert|8909200|lb|kg}}.{{cite web|title=Capitol Dome|url=https://www.aoc.gov/capitol-buildings/capitol-dome|publisher=Architect of the Capitol|access-date=May 2, 2017}} The dome's cast iron frame was supplied and constructed by the iron foundry Janes, Fowler, Kirtland & Co.{{Cite web|last=Terrell|first=Ellen|date=May 20, 2015|title=The Capitol Dome: Janes, Fowler, & Kirtland Co. {{!}} Inside Adams: Science, Technology & Business|url=https://blogs.loc.gov/inside_adams/2015/05/the-capitol-dome-janes-fowler-kirtland-co/|access-date=August 24, 2021|website=Library of Congress Blogs }} The thirty-six Corinthian columns that surround the base of the dome were provided by the Baltimore ironworks of Poole & Hunt.{{Cite book |last=Swett |first=Steven |title=The Metalworkers: Robert Poole, His Ironworks, and Technology in 19th Century America |publisher=Baltimore Museum of Industry |year=2022 |isbn=978-0-578-28250-3 |location=Baltimore, Maryland |pages=85–122}}

File:National Capitol Columns - Washington, D.C..jpg at the National Arboretum in 2008]]

When the Capitol's new dome was finally completed, its massive visual weight, in turn, overpowered the proportions of the columns of the East Portico, built in 1828.{{Cite web |title=U.S. National Arboretum |url=https://www.usna.usda.gov/discover/gardens-collections/national-capitol-columns/ |access-date=June 14, 2023 |website=www.usna.usda.gov}}

In 1904, the East Front of the Capitol building was rebuilt, following a design of the architects Carrère and Hastings, who designed the Russell Senate and Cannon House office buildings earlier that year.{{Cite web |title=Cannon House Office Building {{!}} Architect of the Capitol |url=https://www.aoc.gov/explore-capitol-campus/buildings-grounds/house-office-buildings/cannon |access-date=May 23, 2023 |website=www.aoc.gov}}

In 1958, the next major expansion to the Capitol started, with a {{convert|33.5|ft|adj=on}} extension of the East Portico.{{citation needed| date=October 2012}} In 1960, two years into the project, the dome underwent a restoration. A marble duplicate of the sandstone East Front was built {{convert|33.5|ft}} from the old Front. In 1962, a connecting extension repurposed what had been an outside wall as an inside wall. In the process, the original sandstone Corinthian columns were removed and replaced with marble. It was not until 1984 that landscape designer Russell Page created a suitable setting for them in a large meadow at the U.S. National Arboretum in northeast Washington as the National Capitol Columns, where they were combined with a reflecting pool into an ensemble that reminds some visitors of the ruins of Persepolis, in Persia.

Besides the columns, two hundred tons of the original stone were removed in several hundred blocks, which were first stored on site at the Capitol, and then stored in an unused yard at the Capitol Power Plant until 1975. The same year, the power plant was renovated and expanded in accordance with legislation passed in 1970, and the stones fell to the Commission on the Extension of the United States Capitol.{{Cite web |title=Capitol Stones in Rock Creek Park |url=https://architectofthecapital.org/posts/2016/5/30/capitol-stones |access-date=September 28, 2022 |website=Architect of the Capital |date=September 5, 2016 |language=en-US}} As this body was long-defunct, responsibility for the material passed to the House and Senate office building commissions.{{Cite news |last=Berger |first=Leslie |date=June 26, 1982 |title=Echoes of the Capitol's Past Lie in Ruins |language=en-US |newspaper=Washington Post |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/local/1982/06/26/echoes-of-the-capitols-past-lie-in-ruins/0d7f1a43-bcde-41f3-b6ee-b88ee3badd68/ |access-date=September 28, 2022 |issn=0190-8286}} These commissions then arranged for the National Park Service to store the debris at the back of a NPS maintenance yard in Rock Creek Park.Jule Banville, [http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/articles/37113/stone-cold-whodunit "Stone-Cold Whodunit"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140116212225/http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/articles/37113/stone-cold-whodunit |date=January 16, 2014 }} (April 24, 2009), Washington City Paper[http://www.rockcreekrunner.com/2011/07/25/stones-from-us-capitol-in-rock-creek-park/ "Stones from US Capitol in Rock Creek Park"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210114214717/https://www.rockcreekrunner.com/2011/07/25/stones-from-us-capitol-in-rock-creek-park/ |date=January 14, 2021 }} (July 25, 2011), Rock Creek Runner

With the permission of the speaker of the House, the United States Capitol Historical Society has periodically mined the blocks for sandstone since 1975. The stone removed is used to make commemorative bookends and paperweights, which are still sold to support the Capitol Historical Society.{{Cite web |title=Sandstone Bookends |url=https://www.uschscatalog.org/prod-122-1-40-111/sandstone-bookends.htm |access-date=September 28, 2022 |website=USCHS Gift Shop}}{{Cite web |title=Sandstone Bookends Without Base |url=https://www.uschscatalog.org/prod-122-1-39-111/sandstone-bookends-without-base.htm |access-date=September 28, 2022 |website=USCHS Gift Shop}}{{Cite web |title=Sandstone Paperweights |url=https://shop.capitolhistory.org/products/sandstone-paperweight-with-base |access-date=April 7, 2025 |website=USCHS Gift Shop}} By 1982, more than $20,000 (nearly $60,000 adjusted) had been raised through such sales. Unpursued uses for the stones proposed by the Capitol Historical Society have included their sale as cornerstones in new housing developments.

On December 19, 1960, the Capitol was declared a National Historic Landmark by the National Park Service.{{cite web | url= http://www.planning.dc.gov/planning/frames.asp?doc=/planning/lib/planning/preservation/hp_inventory/inventory_narrative_sep_2004.pdf | title= District of Columbia – Inventory of Historic Sites | date= September 1, 2004 | work= District of Columbia: Office of Planning | publisher= Government of the District of Columbia | access-date= August 9, 2009 | url-status= dead | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20090717032933/http://planning.dc.gov/planning/frames.asp?doc=%2Fplanning%2Flib%2Fplanning%2Fpreservation%2Fhp_inventory%2Finventory_narrative_sep_2004.pdf | archive-date= July 17, 2009 | df= mdy-all }} The building was ranked No. 6 in a 2007 survey conducted for the American Institute of Architects' "America's Favorite Architecture" list.{{cite web | url= http://favoritearchitecture.org/afa150.php | title= America's Favorite Architecture | year= 2007 | work= Harris Interactive | publisher= American Institute of Architects | access-date= August 9, 2009 | archive-date= May 18, 2007 | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20070518053904/http://favoritearchitecture.org/afa150.php | url-status= dead }}

The Capitol draws heavily from other notable buildings, especially churches and landmarks in Europe, including the dome of St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican and St. Paul's Cathedral in London.{{cite web | url=http://www.american-architecture.info/USA/USA-Washington/DC-004.htm | title=World Architecture Images- U.S. Capitol | publisher=American-architecture.info | access-date=November 5, 2010 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101026032757/http://www.american-architecture.info/USA/USA-Washington/DC-004.htm | archive-date=October 26, 2010 | url-status=usurped | df=mdy-all }} On the roofs of the Senate and House Chambers are flagpoles that fly the U.S. flag when either is in session. On September 18, 1993, to commemorate the Capitol's bicentennial, the Masonic ritual cornerstone laying with George Washington was reenacted. U.S. senator Strom Thurmond was one of the Freemason politicians who took part in the ceremony.{{citation needed|date=May 2022}}

File:US Capitol dome Jan 2006.jpg

File:US Capitol and visitor centre.jpg

On June 20, 2000, ground was broken for the Capitol Visitor Center, which opened on December 2, 2008.{{cite web | url=http://www.visitthecapitol.gov/Visit/Frequently%20Asked%20Questions/#q1 | title=Capitol Visitors Center FAQ | publisher=Architect Of the Capitol | access-date=December 4, 2008 }} From 2001 through 2008, the East Front of the Capitol (site of most presidential inaugurations until Ronald Reagan began a new tradition in 1981) was the site of construction for this massive underground complex, designed to facilitate a more orderly entrance for visitors to the Capitol. Prior to the center being built, visitors to the Capitol had to line up in the basement of the Cannon House Office Building or the Russell Senate Office Building. The new underground facility provides a grand entrance hall, a visitors theater, room for exhibits, and dining and restroom facilities, in addition to space for building necessities such as a service tunnel.{{Cite web |title=U.S. Capitol Visitor Center {{!}} Architect of the Capitol |url=https://www.aoc.gov/explore-capitol-campus/buildings-grounds/capitol-building/capitol-visitor-center |access-date=July 14, 2024 |website=www.aoc.gov}}

On September 11th, 2001 the Capitol was the potential target for a terrorist attack during the 9/11 attacks, before the plane heading there UA93 crashed into a field in pennsylvania while heading to Washington to commit the attack.

A large-scale Capitol dome restoration project, the first extensive such work since 1959–1960, began in 2014, with completion scheduled before the 2017 presidential inauguration.{{cite web |title=Capitol Dome Restoration Project Overview |url=http://www.aoc.gov/dome/project-overview |website=Architect of the Capitol |access-date=November 12, 2014 }} As of 2012, $20 million in work around the skirt of the dome had been completed, but other deterioration, including at least 1,300 cracks in the brittle iron that have led to rusting and seepage inside, needed to be addressed. Before the August 2012 recess, the Senate Appropriations Committee voted to spend $61 million to repair the exterior of the dome. The House wanted to spend less on government operations,{{cite news | url= https://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/25/us/politics/capitol-dome-is-imperiled-by-cracks-and-a-partisan-divide.html?_r=0Capitol | title= Dome Is Imperiled by 1,300 Cracks and Partisan Rift | last= Steinhauer | first= Jennifer | date= August 24, 2012 | work= The New York Times | access-date= October 4, 2012 }} but in late 2013, it was announced that renovations would take place over two years, starting in spring 2014.{{cite news | url=http://www.journalnow.com/news/nation_world/article_10cd6438-6dd8-11e3-b195-001a4bcf6878.html | title=Capitol's historic dome set for 2-year renovation | work=Winston-Salem Journal | agency=Associated Press | date=December 26, 2013 | access-date=December 26, 2013}}

In 2014, extensive scaffolding was erected, enclosing and obscuring the dome.{{cite AV media |author=Architect of the Capitol |title=In Celebration of the U.S. Capitol Dome |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=azMdEHP-FL0 | archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211029/azMdEHP-FL0| archive-date=October 29, 2021|date=December 15, 2016 |website=YouTube |access-date=August 26, 2021}}{{cbignore}} All exterior scaffolding was removed by mid-September 2016.{{cite web |title=Dome Restoration Project Updates |url=http://www.aoc.gov/dome/project-updates |website=Architect of the Capitol |access-date=October 19, 2016 }}

With the increased use of technologies such as the Internet, a bid tendering process was approved in 2002 for a contract to install the multidirectional radio communication network for Wi-Fi and mobile-phone within the Capitol Building and annexes, followed by the new Capitol Visitor Center. The winning bidder was an Israeli company called Foxcom which has since changed its name and been acquired by Corning Incorporated.{{cite web |first=John |last=Bresnahan |title=House Ends Cell Phone Licensing Deal |url=https://www.politico.com/story/2007/02/house-ends-cell-phone-licensing-deal-002910 |work=Politico |date=February 26, 2007 |access-date=January 11, 2019 }}{{cite web |first=Jackie |last=Kucinich |title=Hastert rebuffs Pelosi on investigation request |url=https://thehill.com/homenews/news/8386-hastert-rebuffs-pelosi-on-investigation-request/ |work=The Hill |date=October 26, 2005 |access-date=January 11, 2019}}

{{Wide image|Capitol Washington October 2016-1.jpg|1200px|align-cap=center|Capitol Washington}}

{{Further|United States Capitol rotunda|United States Capitol subway system}}

The Capitol building is marked by its central dome above a rotunda in the central section of the structure (which also includes the older original smaller center flanked by the two original (designed 1793, occupied 1800) smaller two wings (inner north and inner south) containing the two original smaller meeting chambers for the Senate and the House of Representatives (between 1800 and late 1850s) and then flanked by two further extended (newer) wings, one also for each chamber of the larger, more populous Congress: the new north wing is the Senate chamber and the new south wing is the House of Representatives chamber. Above these newer chambers are galleries where visitors can watch the Senate and House of Representatives. It is an example of neoclassical architecture.

Tunnels and internal subways connect the Capitol building with the Congressional office buildings in the Capitol Complex. All rooms in the Capitol are designated as either S (for Senate) or H (for House), depending on whether they are in the Senate or House wing of the Capitol.

{{Main|List of artwork at the United States Capitol complex}}

File:Declaration of Independence (1819), by John Trumbull.jpg's 1819 portrait, Declaration of Independence, depicting the Committee of Five submitting its draft of the Declaration of Independence to the Second Continental Congress in Philadelphia, one of the largest paintings on display in the rotunda]]

File:Apotheosis of G. Washington.jpg, the 1865 fresco by Constantino Brumidi on the interior of the Capitol's dome]]

Since 1856, the Capitol has featured some the most prominent art in the United States, including Italian American artist Constantino Brumidi, whose murals are located in the hallways of the first floor of the Senate side of the Capitol. The murals, known as the Brumidi Corridors,{{cite web | url=http://www.aoc.gov/cc/art/brumidi/index.cfm | title=AOC.gov | publisher=AOC.gov | access-date=November 5, 2010 }} reflect great moments and people in United States history. Among the original works are those depicting Benjamin Franklin, John Fitch, Robert Fulton, and events such as the Cession of Louisiana. Also decorating the walls are animals, insects and natural flora indigenous to the United States. Brumidi's design left many spaces open so future events in United States history could be added. Among those added are the Spirit of St. Louis, the Moon landing, and the Space Shuttle Challenger crew.

Brumidi also worked within the Rotunda. He painted The Apotheosis of Washington beneath the top of the dome, and also the Frieze of American History.{{cite web | url=http://www.aoc.gov/cc/art/rotunda/frieze/index.cfm | title=Frieze of American History | publisher=Aoc.gov | access-date=November 5, 2010 }} The Apotheosis of Washington was completed in 11 months and painted by Brumidi while suspended nearly {{convert|180|ft}} in the air. It is said to be the first attempt by the United States to deify a founding father. Washington is depicted surrounded by 13 maidens in an inner ring with many Greek and Roman gods and goddesses below him in a second ring. The frieze is located around the inside of the base of the dome and is a chronological, pictorial history of the United States from the landing of Christopher Columbus to the Wright Brothers's flight in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. The frieze was started in 1878 and was not completed until 1953. The frieze was therefore painted by four different artists: Brumidi, Filippo Costaggini, Charles Ayer Whipple, and Allyn Cox. The final scenes depicted in the fresco had not yet occurred when Brumidi began his Frieze of the United States History.

Within the Rotunda there are eight large paintings about the development of the United States as a nation. On the east side are four paintings depicting major events in the discovery of America. On the west are four paintings depicting the founding of the United States. The east side paintings include The Baptism of Pocahontas by John Gadsby Chapman, The Embarkation of the Pilgrims by Robert Walter Weir, The Discovery of the Mississippi by William Henry Powell, and The Landing of Columbus by John Vanderlyn. The paintings on the west side are by John Trumbull: Declaration of Independence, Surrender of General Burgoyne, Surrender of Lord Cornwallis, and General George Washington Resigning His Commission. Trumbull was a contemporary of the United States' founding fathers and a participant in the American Revolutionary War; he painted a self-portrait into Surrender of Lord Cornwallis.

First Reading of the Emancipation Proclamation of President Lincoln, an 1864 painting by Francis Bicknell Carpenter, hangs over the west staircase in the Senate wing.{{cite web | url=https://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/art/artifact/Painting_33_00005.htm | title=U.S. Senate: Art & History Home, First Reading of the Emancipation Proclamation of Presid | publisher=Senate.gov | access-date=February 19, 2012 }}

The Capitol also houses the National Statuary Hall Collection, comprising two statues donated by each of the fifty states to honor persons notable in their histories. One of the most notable statues in the National Statuary Hall is a bronze statue of King Kamehameha donated by the state of Hawaii upon its accession to the union in 1959. The statue's extraordinary weight of {{convert|15000|lb|kg}} raised concerns that it might come crashing through the floor, so it was moved to Emancipation Hall of the new Capitol Visitor Center. The 100th, and last statue for the collection, that of Po'pay from the state of New Mexico, was added on September 22, 2005. It was the first statue moved into the Emancipation Hall.

{{Main|United States Capitol crypt}}

File:USA-US Capitol2.JPG]]

On the ground floor is an area known as the Crypt. It was intended to be the burial place of George Washington, with a ringed balustrade at the center of the Rotunda above looking down to his tomb. However, under the stipulations of his last will, Washington was buried at Mount Vernon. The Crypt houses exhibits on the history of the Capitol. A compass star inlaid in the floor marks the point at which Washington, D.C. is divided into its four quadrants and is the basis for how addresses in Washington, D.C., are designated (NE, NW, SE, or SW).

Gutzon Borglum's massive Abraham Lincoln Bust is housed in the crypt. The sculptor had a fascination with large-scale art and themes of heroic nationalism, and carved the piece from a six-ton block of marble. Borglum carved the bust in 1908; it was donated to the Congress by Eugene Meyer Jr. and accepted by the Joint Committee on the Library the same year. The pedestal was specially designed by the sculptor and installed in 1911. The bust and pedestal were on display in the Rotunda until 1979 when, after a rearrangement of all the sculptures in the Rotunda, they were placed in the Crypt.{{cite web|title=Abraham Lincoln Bust|url=https://www.aoc.gov/art/busts/abraham-lincoln-bust|publisher=Architect of the Capitol|access-date=May 2, 2017}} Borglum was a patriot and believed the "monuments we have built are not our own"; he looked to create art that was "American, drawn from American sources, memorializing American achievement", according to a 1908 interview article.{{citation needed|date=November 2018}} Borglum's depiction of Lincoln was so accurate that Robert Todd Lincoln, the president's son, praised the bust as "the most extraordinarily good portrait of my father I have ever seen". Supposedly, according to legend, the marble head remains unfinished (missing the left ear) to symbolize Lincoln's unfinished life.

A statue of John C. Calhoun is located at one end of the room near the Old Supreme Court Chamber. On the right leg of the statue, a mark from a bullet fired during the 1998 shooting incident is clearly visible. The bullet also left a mark on the cape, located on the back right side of the statue.

Thirteen presidents have lain in state in the Rotunda for public viewing, most recently Jimmy Carter. The tomb meant for Washington stored the catafalque which is used to support coffins lying in state or honor in the Capitol. The catafalque now on display in the Exhibition Hall of the Capitol Visitor Center was used for President Lincoln.

The Hall of Columns is located on the House side of the Capitol, home to twenty-eight fluted columns and statues from the National Statuary Hall Collection. In the basement of the Capitol building in a utility room are two marble bathtubs, which are all that remain of the once elaborate Senate baths. These baths were a spa-like facility designed for members of Congress and their guests before many buildings in the city had modern plumbing. The facilities included several bathtubs, a barbershop, and a massage parlor.

A steep metal staircase, totaling 365 steps, leads from the basement to an outdoor walkway on top of the Capitol's dome.{{cite news | url= https://www.nytimes.com/1997/08/10/us/365-steps-to-the-top-of-capitol-hill.html | title= 365 Steps to the Top of Capitol Hill | date= August 10, 1997 | work= The New York Times | at= Section 1, Page 22 | access-date= August 9, 2009 }} The number of steps represents each day of the year.{{cite book | last= Logan | first= Mrs. John A. (Mary Simmerson) | title= Thirty Years in Washington; or, Life and Scenes in Our National Capital | publisher=A. D. Worthington & Co | location= Hartford, Connecticut | year= 1901 | page= [https://archive.org/details/thirtyyearsinwa00logauoft/page/78 78] | oclc= 29540458 | url= https://archive.org/details/thirtyyearsinwa00logauoft | access-date=August 9, 2009 }} Also in the basement, the weekly Jummah prayer is held on Fridays by Muslim staffers.{{cite news |last=Bowman |first=Bridget |title=Muslim on Capitol Hill: Staffers Look to Rebuild |url=http://www.rollcall.com/news/home/congressional-muslim-staff-association |date=July 21, 2014 |newspaper=Roll Call |access-date=January 17, 2017}}

{{Further|Heights of Buildings Act of 1910|List of tallest buildings in Washington, D.C.|The Height of Buildings Act of 1899|}}

Contrary to a popular myth, building height laws have never referred to the height of the Capitol building, which rises to {{convert|289|ft|m|0}}.{{cite web | author=Matthew Gilmore | url=http://www.h-net.org/~dclist/building_height | title=H-DC Discussion Network | publisher=H-net.org | access-date=November 5, 2010}} Indeed, the Capitol is only the fourth-tallest structure in Washington.

=== House Chamber ===

File:2019 State of the Union (47006679041).jpg delivering the 2019 State of the Union Address in the House chamber]]

The House of Representatives Chamber has 448 permanent seats. Unlike senators, representatives do not have assigned seats.{{cite web |title=The House Chamber |url=http://clerk.house.gov/art_history/art_artifacts/virtual_tours/house_chamber/index.html |date= |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090905185132/http://clerk.house.gov/art_history/art_artifacts/virtual_tours/house_chamber/index.html |archive-date=September 5, 2009 |website=Office of the Clerk, U.S. House of Representatives |access-date=December 31, 2022}} The chamber is large enough to accommodate members of all three branches of the federal government and invited guests for joint sessions of Congress such as the State of the Union speech and other events.

The Chamber is adorned with relief portraits of famous lawmakers and lawgivers throughout Western and Near Eastern history. The United States national motto "In God We Trust" is written over the tribune below the clock and above the United States flag. Of the twenty-three relief portraits, only Moses is sculpted from a full front view and is located across from the dais where the Speaker of the House ceremonially sits.

In order, clockwise around the chamber:

There is a quote by statesman Daniel Webster etched in the marble of the chamber, as stated: "Let us develop the resources of our land, call forth its powers, build up its institutions, promote all its great interests, and see whether we also, in our day and generation, may not perform something worthy to be remembered."{{cite book | last= Carrier | first= Thomas J. | title= The White House, the Capitol, and the Supreme Court: historic self-guided tours | publisher= Arcadia Publishing | location= Charleston, South Carolina | year= 2000 | series= Images of America | page= 84 | isbn= 0-7385-0557-9 | oclc= 44503337 | url= https://books.google.com/books?id=vU4stRA8OUQC&q=%22United+States+Capitol%22+%22Let+us+develop+the+resources+of+our+land%22&pg=PA84 | access-date= August 9, 2009 | archive-date= January 14, 2021 | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20210114214624/https://books.google.com/books?id=vU4stRA8OUQC&q=%22United+States+Capitol%22+%22Let+us+develop+the+resources+of+our+land%22&pg=PA84 | url-status= live }}

{{Main|United States Senate chamber}}

The current Senate Chamber opened in 1859{{cite web | url= https://www.senate.gov/pagelayout/history/h_multi_sections_and_teasers/Senate_Chamber.htm | title= The Senate Chamber 1859–2009 | access-date= January 26, 2009}} and is adorned with white marble busts of the former Presidents of the Senate (Vice presidents).{{cite web | url=https://www.senate.gov/vtour/vpbust.htm | title=The Senate Chamber: Senate Vice Presidential Bust Collection | publisher=United States Senate | access-date=December 6, 2007}}

{{Main|Statuary Hall}}

File:Flickr_-_USCapitol_-_National_Statuary_Hall_-_U.S._Capitol.jpg viewed from the south]]

The National Statuary Hall is a chamber in the United States Capitol devoted to sculptures of prominent Americans. The hall, also known as the Old Hall of the House, is a large, two-story, semicircular room with a second story gallery along the curved perimeter. It is located immediately south of the Rotunda. It was the meeting place of the U.S. House of Representatives for nearly 50 years (1807–1857). After a few years of disuse, in 1864, it was repurposed as a statuary hall.

{{Main|Old Senate Chamber}}

File:Flickr - USCapitol - Old Senate Chamber (1).jpg in 2012]]

File:OldSupremeCourt.jpg in 2007]]

The Old Senate Chamber is a room in the United States Capitol that was the legislative chamber of the United States Senate from 1810 to 1859, and served as the Supreme Court chamber from 1860 until 1935.

This room was originally the lower half of the Old Senate Chamber from 1800 to 1806. After division of the chamber in two levels, this room was used from 1806 until 1860 as the Supreme Court Chamber. In 1860, the Supreme Court began using the newly vacated Old Senate Chamber. In 1935, the Supreme Court vacated the Capitol Building and began meeting in the newly constructed United States Supreme Court Building across the street.

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{{See also|United States Capitol Complex}}

File:2020.09.19_Grieving_for_Ruth_Bader_Ginsburg,_Washington,_DC_USA263_66239_(50360217701).jpg on the Capitol Grounds, in 2020]]

The Capitol Grounds cover approximately 274 acres (1.11 km²), with the grounds proper consisting mostly of lawns, walkways, streets, drives, and planting areas. Several monumental sculptures used to be located on the east facade and lawn of the Capitol including The Rescue and George Washington. The current grounds were designed by noted American landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted, who planned the expansion and landscaping performed from 1874 to 1892. In 1875, as one of his first recommendations, Olmsted proposed the construction of the marble terraces on the north, west, and south sides of the building creating an enveloping base. This addressed issues with the placement of the original structure; it had been built too far westwards on the crest of the hill and gave the appearance as if the building might slide into the marshy terrain below.

Olmsted also designed the Summerhouse, the open-air brick building that sits just north of the Capitol. Three arches open into the hexagonal structure, which encloses a fountain and twenty-two brick chairs. A fourth wall holds a small window which looks onto an artificial grotto. Built between 1879 and 1881, the Summerhouse was intended to answer complaints that visitors to the Capitol had no place to sit and no place to obtain water for their horses and themselves. Modern drinking fountains have since replaced Olmsted's fountain for the latter purpose. Olmsted intended to build a second, matching Summerhouse on the southern side of the Capitol, but congressional objections led to the project's cancellation.{{cite web

|url=https://www.aoc.gov/capitol-grounds/summerhouse

|title=Summerhouse

|website=Architect of the Capitol

|access-date=August 20, 2019

}}File:Facade of Senate chamber.jpg

Up to four U.S. flags can be seen flying over the Capitol. Two flagpoles are located at the base of the dome on the East and West sides. These flagpoles have flown the flag day and night since World War I. The other two flagpoles are above the North (Senate) and South (House of Representatives) wings of the building, and fly only when the chamber below is in session. The flag above the House of Representatives is raised and lowered by House pages. The flag above the United States Senate is raised and lowered by Senate Doorkeepers. To raise the flag, Doorkeepers access the roof of the Capitol from the Senate Sergeant at Arms's office. Several auxiliary flagpoles, to the west of the dome and not visible from the ground, are used to meet congressional requests for flags flown over the Capitol.{{Citation needed | date=September 2010 | reason=these auxiliary flagpoles do not seem to appear in aerial photos...}} Constituents pay for U.S. flags flown over the Capitol to commemorate a variety of events such as the death of a veteran family member.

{{See also|State funerals in the United States|United States presidential inauguration}}

File:Biden delivering inaugural address on Capitol Hill 2021-01-20 (50912592147).jpg, January 20, 2021]]

File:Bush_Rotunda.jpg lying in state in the United States Capitol rotunda on December 3, 2018]]

The Capitol and the grounds of Capitol Hill have played host to major events, including presidential inaugurations, which are held every four years. During an inauguration, the front of the Capitol is outfitted with a platform and a grand staircase. Annual events at the Capitol include Independence Day celebrations, and the National Memorial Day Concert.

The general public has paid respect to a number of individuals lying in state at the Capitol, including numerous former presidents, senators, and other officials. Other Americans lying in honor include Officers Jacob Chestnut and John Gibson, the two officers killed in the 1998 shooting incident. Chestnut was the first African American ever to lie in honor in the Capitol. The public also paid respect to Rosa Parks, an icon of the civil rights movement, at the Capitol in 2005. She was the first woman and second African American to lie in honor in the Capitol. In February 2018, the evangelical Rev. Billy Graham became the fourth private citizen to lie in honor in the Rotunda.{{cite magazine|access-date=March 8, 2018|title=Billy Graham Will Be the Fourth Private Citizen Ever to Lie in Honor at the U.S. Capitol|url=https://time.com/5172998/billy-graham-capitol-rotunda/|magazine=Time}}

On September 24, 2015, Pope Francis gave a joint address to Congress, the first Pope to do so.{{Cite web|url=https://w2.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/speeches/2015/september/documents/papa-francesco_20150924_usa-us-congress.html|title=Apostolic Journey – United States of America: Visit to the Congress of the United States of America (Washington D.C., 24 September 2015) {{!}} Francis|website=w2.vatican.va|access-date=March 19, 2016}}

The U.S. Capitol is believed to have been the intended target of United Airlines Flight 93, one of the four planes that were hijacked in the September 11 attacks. The plane crashed near Shanksville, Pennsylvania after passengers tried to regain control of the plane from the hijackers.{{cite web|title=Al-Jazeera offers accounts of 9/11 planning|url=http://archives.cnn.com/2002/WORLD/meast/09/12/alqaeda.911.claim/index.html|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060220124318/http://archives.cnn.com/2002/WORLD/meast/09/12/alqaeda.911.claim/index.html|archive-date=February 20, 2006|access-date=June 3, 2008}}[http://www.gpoaccess.gov/911/pdf/sec1.pdf Report of the 9/11 Commission] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061206003448/http://www.gpoaccess.gov/911/pdf/sec1.pdf|date=December 6, 2006}}, US Govt Printing Office

Since the September 11 attacks, the roads and grounds around the Capitol have undergone dramatic changes. The United States Capitol Police have also installed checkpoints to inspect vehicles at specific locations around Capitol Hill,{{cite press release|title=Increased Security on Capitol Grounds|publisher=United States Capitol Police|date=August 2, 2004|url=http://www.uscapitolpolice.gov/pressreleases/2004/pr_08-02-04.html|access-date=September 26, 2006|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061101074343/http://www.uscapitolpolice.gov/pressreleases/2004/pr_08-02-04.html|archive-date=November 1, 2006}}{{cite news|author=Lyndsey Layton and Manny Fernandez|date=August 3, 2004|title=Street Closing Irks D.C. Leaders: Checkpoints Set Up Near World Bank, IMF and Capitol|newspaper=The Washington Post|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A33730-2004Aug2.html|access-date=September 26, 2006}} and have closed a section of one street indefinitely. The level of screening employed varies. On the main east–west thoroughfares of Constitution and Independence Avenues, barricades are implanted in the roads that can be raised in the event of an emergency. Trucks larger than pickups are interdicted by the Capitol Police and are instructed to use other routes. On the checkpoints at the shorter cross streets, the barriers are typically kept in a permanent "emergency" position, and only vehicles with special permits are allowed to pass. All Capitol visitors are screened by a magnetometer, and all items that visitors may bring inside the building are screened by an x-ray device. In both chambers, gas masks are located underneath the chairs in each chamber for members to use in case of emergency. Structures ranging from scores of Jersey barriers to hundreds of ornamental bollards have been erected to obstruct the path of any vehicles that might stray from the designated roadways.{{cite news |date=January 29, 2006|title=Ubiquitous Security Barriers Get a Fashionable Flourish |first1=Petula |last1=Dvorak |newspaper=The Washington Post|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/01/28/AR2006012801056.html|access-date=November 5, 2010}}

After the January 6 United States Capitol attack, security increased again. Additional security fences were installed around the perimeter, and National Guard troops were deployed to bolster security.

{{main|Timeline of violent incidents at the United States Capitol}}

File:2021 storming of the United States Capitol DSC09254-2 (50820534063) (retouched).jpg on January 6, 2021]]

• On January 30, 1835, what is believed to be the first attempt to kill a sitting President of the United States occurred just outside the United States Capitol. As President Andrew Jackson was leaving the Capitol out of the East Portico after the funeral of South Carolina Representative Warren R. Davis, Richard Lawrence, an unemployed and deranged housepainter from England, either burst from a crowd or stepped out from hiding behind a column and aimed a pistol at Jackson which misfired. Lawrence then pulled out a second pistol which also misfired. It has since been postulated that the moisture from the humid weather of the day contributed to the double misfiring.{{cite web | title=Trying to Assassinate Andrew Jackson | author=Jon Grinspan | url=http://www.americanheritage.com/people/articles/web/20070130-richard-lawrence-andrew-jackson-assassination-warren-r-davis.shtml |date=January 30, 2007 |website=American Heritage | access-date=November 11, 2008 | url-status=dead | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081024234731/http://www.americanheritage.com/people/articles/web/20070130-richard-lawrence-andrew-jackson-assassination-warren-r-davis.shtml | archive-date=October 24, 2008 | df=mdy-all }} Lawrence was then restrained, with legend saying that Jackson attacked Lawrence with his cane, prompting his aides to restrain him. Others present, including Davy Crockett, restrained and disarmed Lawrence.

• On April 23, 1844, then House-Speaker John White was involved in a physical confrontation on the House floor with Democratic Congressman George O. Rathbun of New York. White was delivering a speech in defense of Senator Henry Clay, the Whig nominee for president in that year's presidential election, and objected to a ruling from the Speaker denying him time to conclude his remarks. When Rathbun told White to be quiet, White confronted him and their disagreement lead to a fistfight between the two with dozens of their colleagues rushing to break up the fight. During the disturbance, an unknown visitor fired a pistol into the crowd, wounding a police officer. Both White and Rathbun subsequently apologized for their actions.[https://books.google.com/books?id=2sNp1l1pNroC&pg=PT81 Long, Kim. "The Almanac of Political Corruption, Scandals & Dirty Politics, (2008).] {{ISBN|0307481344}}.
• On July 2, 1915, prior to the United States' entry into World War I, Eric Muenter, also known as Frank Holt, a German professor who wanted to stop American support of the Allies of World War I, exploded a bomb in the reception room of the U.S. Senate. The next morning he tried to assassinate J. P. Morgan Jr., son of the financier, at his home on Long Island, New York. J.P. Morgan's company served as Great Britain's principal U.S. purchasing agent for munitions and other war supplies. In a letter to the Washington Evening Star published after the explosion, Muenter, writing under an assumed name, said he hoped that the detonation would "make enough noise to be heard above the voices that clamor for war".
• In the 1954 United States Capitol shooting, Puerto Rican nationalists opened fire on members of Congress from the visitors' gallery, injuring five representatives.
• On March 1, 1971, a bomb exploded on the ground floor of the Capitol, placed by the far-left domestic terrorist group the Weather Underground. They placed the bomb as a demonstration against U.S. involvement in Laos.
• On November 7, 1983, in the 1983 United States Senate bombing, a group called the Armed Resistance Unit claimed responsibility for a bomb that detonated in the lobby outside the office of Senate Minority Leader Robert Byrd.{{cite news | title=Capitol Bombing: Group Hit Other Targets, FBI Believes | author=Kessler, Ronald | newspaper=The Washington Post | date=November 9, 1983}} Six people associated with the John Brown Anti-Klan Committee were later found in contempt of court for refusing to testify about the bombing.{{cite news | title=Judge Finds Four in Contempt in Bombing Probe | author=Seppy, Tom | agency=Associated Press | date=February 12, 1985}} In 1990, three members of the Armed Resistance Unit were convicted of the bombing, which they claimed was in response to the invasion of Grenada.{{cite news | title=Three Leftists Plead Guilty to Bombing the U.S. Capitol | author=Rowley, James | agency=Associated Press | date=September 7, 1990}}
• In the 1998 United States Capitol shooting, Russell Eugene Weston Jr. burst into the Capitol and opened fire, killing two Capitol Police officers, Officer Jacob Chestnut and Det. John Gibson.
• In 2004, the Capitol was briefly evacuated after a plane carrying the then-Governor of Kentucky, Ernie Fletcher, strayed into restricted airspace above the district.
• In 2013, Miriam Carey, 34, a dental hygienist from Stamford, Connecticut, attempted to drive through a White House security checkpoint in her black Infiniti G37 coupe, struck a U.S. Secret Service officer, and was chased by the Secret Service to the United States Capitol where she was fatally shot by law enforcement officers.
• In 2015, Doug Hughes, a US postal worker, landed a Gyrocopter on the West lawn of the Capitol building.{{Cite web |last=Jaffe |first=Alexandra |date=April 15, 2015 |title=Man taken into custody after landing single-person aircraft on Capitol grounds {{!}} CNN Politics |url=https://www.cnn.com/2015/04/15/politics/aircraft-lands-on-capitol-grounds/index.html |access-date=April 16, 2024 |website=CNN |language=en}} His alleged goal was to deliver letters to members of Congress to convince them to reform campaign finance laws. After Hughes was detained, bomb squad confirmed that there was no explosive ordinance in the vehicle.
• A shooting incident occurred in March 2016. One female bystander was wounded by police but not seriously injured; a man pointing a gun was shot and arrested, in critical but stable condition.{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/29/us/politics/us-capitol-lockdown.html|title=U.S. Capitol on Lockdown After Reports of Gunshots|author=Michael S. Schmidt|date=March 28, 2016|work=The New York Times|access-date=March 28, 2016}} The city police of Washington D.C. described the shooting incident as "isolated".{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-35911754|title=US Capitol shooting: Gunman wounds Capitol police officer|date=March 28, 2016|work=BBC News Online|access-date=March 28, 2016}}
• On January 6, 2021, during the counting of Electoral College votes for the 2020 United States presidential election, a pro-Trump rally resulted in a mob that entered the Capitol.{{cite news |last1=Dozier |first1=Kimberly |last2=Bergengruen |first2=Vera |title=Incited by the President, Trump Supporters Storm the Capitol |url=https://time.com/5926883/trump-supporters-storm-capitol/ |publisher=TIME |date=January 7, 2021 |quote='If you don't fight like hell, you're not going to have a country anymore,' Trump had told the crowd, urging them to head to the Capitol. |access-date=January 8, 2021 }} The rioters unlawfully entered the Capitol during the joint session of Congress certifying the election of President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris, temporarily disrupting the proceedings. This triggered a lockdown in the building.{{Cite web|url=https://www.cnbc.com/2021/01/06/buildings-in-us-capitol-complex-evacuated-amid-pro-trump-protests.html|title=Rioters storm Capitol after Trump urges action, halting declaration of Biden victory|author=Amanda Macias|publisher=CNBC|website=cnbc.com|date=January 6, 2021|access-date=January 6, 2021}} Vice President Mike Pence, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, and other staff members were evacuated, while others were instructed to barricade themselves inside offices and closets.{{Cite web|last1=Khalil|first1=Ashraf|last2=Balsamo|first2=Michael|last3=Press|first3=Associated|date=January 6, 2021|title=1 reportedly shot as angry pro-Trump protesters swarm Capitol, lawmakers put on gas masks {{!}} WATCH LIVE|url=https://abc7.com/9405310/|access-date=January 6, 2021|website=ABC7 Los Angeles|language=en|archive-date=January 14, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210114214718/https://abc7.com/politics/congress-validates-bidens-presidential-victory/9428366/|url-status=dead}} The rioters breached the Senate Chamber and multiple staff offices, including the office of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.{{Cite web|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/man-who-posed-at-pelosi-desk-said-in-facebook-post-that-he-is-prepared-for-violent-death/2021/01/07/cf5b0714-509a-11eb-83e3-322644d82356_story.html|title=Man who posed at Pelosi desk said in Facebook post that he is prepared for violent death|first=Jon|last=Swaine|via=www.washingtonpost.com|access-date=January 8, 2021}}{{Cite web |url=https://thehill.com/homenews/house/532969-pelosis-office-vandalized-after-pro-trump-rioters-storm-capitol/ |title=Pelosi's office vandalized after pro-Trump rioters storm Capitol |date=January 6, 2021 |access-date=January 6, 2021}} One person was shot by law enforcement, and later succumbed to the injury.{{Cite web|title=1 shot dead, Congress evacuated, National Guard activated after pro-Trump rioters storm Capitol|url=https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/live-blog/electoral-college-certification-updates-n1252864|access-date=January 6, 2021|website=www.nbcnews.com}} President-elect Joe Biden criticized the violence as "insurrection" and said democracy was "under unprecedented assault" as a result of the attack.{{Cite news |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-55568621 |title=Capitol riots: Congress certifies Joe Biden's victory after chaotic scenes |work=BBC News |date=January 7, 2021 |access-date=January 7, 2021 }} The attack resulted in the death of four rioters, including a woman who was shot as she attempted to breach the Capitol.{{Cite news|title=Authorities Identify Woman Killed By Police During U.S. Capitol Rioting|url=https://www.npr.org/sections/insurrection-at-the-capitol/2021/01/07/954446008/authorities-identify-woman-killed-by-police-during-u-s-capitol-rioting|access-date=January 22, 2021|website=NPR.org|language=en}} The events ultimately led to the second impeachment of Donald Trump.{{cite web |last1=Baker |first1=Tim |title=Donald Trump impeached for historic second time over deadly riots at US Capitol |url=https://news.sky.com/story/donald-trump-impeached-for-historic-second-time-over-deadly-riots-at-us-capitol-12186948 |website=Sky News |publisher=Sky UK |access-date=January 13, 2021 }} It was the first time the Capitol had been violently seized since the Burning of Washington, during the War of 1812.{{Cite web |url=https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/06/politics/donald-trump-electoral-college-riot-us-capitol/index.html |title=Analysis: Why it's too late for Republicans to say sorry |website=CNN |date=January 7, 2021 |access-date=January 7, 2021 }}
• On April 2, 2021, a black nationalist rammed a car into barriers outside the Capitol, hitting several Capitol Police Officers before exiting his vehicle and attempting to attack others with a knife. An officer hit by the attacker's car died shortly thereafter. The attacker was shot by Capitol Police and later died of his injuries.{{Cite web|last1=Cohen|first1=Zachary|date=April 2, 2021|title=Capitol Police officer killed, another injured after suspect rams car into police barrier outside building|url=https://www.cnn.com/2021/04/02/politics/us-capitol-incident/index.html|access-date=April 2, 2021|website=CNN|first2=Lauren|last2=Fox|first3=Jessica|last3=Dean|first4=David|last4=Shortell}}{{Cite web |title=Suspect in deadly US Capitol attack was Farrakhan follower, raged against gov't |url=https://www.timesofisrael.com/suspect-in-us-capitol-attack-was-follower-of-farrakhan-raged-against-government/amp/ |access-date=April 19, 2022 |website=The Times of Israel |date=April 3, 2021}}

{{Main|United States Capitol Visitor Center}}

File:Capitol Visitor Center opening ceremonies 2.jpg with a plaster cast model of the Statue of Freedom in the foreground in December 2008]]

The United States Capitol Visitor Center (CVC), located below the East Front of the Capitol and its plaza, between the Capitol building and 1st Street East, opened on December 2, 2008. The CVC provides a single security checkpoint for all visitors, including those with disabilities, and an expansion space{{clarify|date=March 2017}} for the US Congress.{{cite web |title= U.S. Capitol Visitor Center |url=https://www.aoc.gov/capitol-buildings/us-capitol-visitor-center |publisher=Architect of the Capitol |access-date=March 4, 2017}}[http://www.americanheritage.com/content/capitol-attraction Philip Kopper] "A Capitol Attraction", American Heritage, Spring 2009.

The complex contains {{convert|580000|sqft|m2}} of space below ground on three floors,{{cite web|title=Capitol Visitor Center: Project Information |publisher=Architect of the Capitol |url=http://www.aoc.gov/cvc/project_info/index.cfm |access-date=November 10, 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081101021342/http://www.aoc.gov/cvc/project_info/index.cfm |archive-date=November 1, 2008 }} and offers visitors a food court, restrooms, and educational exhibits, including an 11-foot scale model of the Capitol dome.{{cite web | title=Congress' Newest Member: The US Capitol Visitor Center | work=Washingtonian magazine | url=https://www.washingtonian.com/2008/11/18/congress-newest-member-the-us-capitol-visitor-center/ | date=November 8, 2008}} It also features skylights affording views of the actual dome. Long in the planning stages, construction began in the fall of 2001, following the killing of two Capitol police officers in 1998. The estimated final cost of constructing the CVC was $621 million.{{cite web|title=Capitol Visitor Center Fact Sheet |date=Spring 2008 |publisher=Architect of the Capitol |url=http://www.aoc.gov/cvc/project_info/upload/CVC%20Fact%20Sheet%20Spring%202008_1.pdf |access-date=November 14, 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081031050211/http://www.aoc.gov/cvc/project_info/upload/CVC%20Fact%20Sheet%20Spring%202008_1.pdf |archive-date=October 31, 2008 }}

File:Capitol design by james diamond.jpg|Design for the U.S. Capitol by James Diamond

File:Service-pnp-cph-3b50000-3b52000-3b52700-3b52761r.jpg|Stephen Hallet's design for the U.S. Capitol

File:StephenHalletCapitolFloorPlan.jpg|Stephen Hallet's design for the U.S. Capitol might have been inspired by L'Enfant's vision

File:U.S. Capitol and Pennsylvania Avenue before 1814 LCCN00522050.jpg|The Capitol from Pennsylvania Avenue drawn in 1814 from memory by an unknown artist after the burning of the city

File:Flickr_-_USCapitol_-_Corn_Capital_-_U.S._Capitol_Building.jpg|The corncob columns of the Capitol, designed by Benjamin Henry Latrobe and carved by Giuseppe Franzoni from Aquia Creek sandstone

File:Car of history.jpg|Carlo Franzoni's 1819 sculptural chariot clock, the Car of History, depicting Clio, the Greek muse of history, in the National Statuary Hall

File:Samuel Finley Breese Morse - The House of Representatives (1822).jpg|Samuel Morse's 1822 painting The House of Representatives features the U.S. House in session showing the interior design of the original House chamber, now the National Statuary Hall

File:Vault ag1982 0119x 085 1 opt.jpg|The Washington Depot with the U.S. Capitol in the distance in 1872

File:US Senate Chamber c1873.jpg|U.S. Senate chamber, {{Circa|1873}}

File:US Capitol 1922.jpg|The Capitol on a 1922 U.S. postage stamp

File:50 USD Series 2004 Note Back.jpg|The west front of the Capitol depicted on the reverse of the current $50 bill

File:A Republican-Democratic snow battle at the Capitol. Page boys LCCN2012647123.jpg|A snowball fight on the Capitol lawn, 1923

File:Capitol pediment Washington DC 2007.jpg|House of Representatives pediment, Apotheosis of Democracy, by Paul Wayland Bartlett, 1916

File:Capitol Dome on a beautiful Friday afternoon in -dc. (8475962375).jpg|The Genius of America pediment, East Portico, carved by Bruno Mankowski 1959–60 (after Luigi Persico's 1825–1828 original)

File:USCapitolRotunda.JPG|The Capitol rotunda in 2005

File:Flickr - USCapitol - U.S. Capitol Building in Snow - February 2010 Blizzard.jpg|The Capitol following a blizzard in 2010

File:US Capitol west side (cropped).JPG|The west front of the United States Capitol in 2013

File:United States Capitol and reflecting pool.jpg|The Capitol and reflecting pool

File:Discovery-statue (cropped).JPG|The Discovery of America statue which was on the left side of the East facade of the Capital

File:George Washington Greenough statue.jpg|The George Washington statue which was in the Capital rotunda

File:GreenoughRescue.jpg|The Rescue statue which was on the right side of the East facade of the Capital

{{Portal|United States}}

• Apotheosis of Democracy by Paul Wayland Bartlett, a pediment on the east front of the House of Representatives Portico
• Architecture of Washington, D.C.
• Congressional Prayer Room
• Hideaways, secret offices used by members of the Senate
• History of modern period domes
• List of capitols in the United States
• List of legislative buildings
• List of the oldest buildings in Washington, D.C.
• President's Room, an ornate office sometimes used by the President
• United States fifty-dollar bill, which pictures the Capitol on the back
• Vice President's Room
• Washington's Tomb

{{Reflist}}

• {{cite book | author=Allen, William C. | title=History of the United States Capitol – A Chronicle of Design, Construction, and Politics | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20020423183447/http://www.access.gpo.gov/congress/senate/capitol/|archive-date=April 23, 2002|url=https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/GPO-CDOC-106sdoc29?null | publisher=Government Printing Office|year=2001|isbn=0160508304|oclc=46420177|access-date=October 29, 2016}}
• {{cite book | author=Brown, Glenn | title=History of the United States Capitol | url=http://www.gpoaccess.gov/serialset/cdocuments/hd108-240/index.html | edition=Annotated Edition in Commemoration of The Bicentennial of the United States Capitol | publisher=Government Printing Office | editor=Architect of the Capitol for The United States Capitol Preservation Commission | year=1998 | url-status=dead | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081207211829/http://www.gpoaccess.gov/serialset/cdocuments/hd108-240/index.html | archive-date=December 7, 2008 | df=mdy-all }}
• {{cite book | author=Frary, Ihna Thayer | title=They Built the Capitol | year=1969 | publisher=Ayer Publishing | isbn=0-8369-5089-5 | url-access=registration | url=https://archive.org/details/theybuiltcapitol0000frar }}
• {{cite book|author=Guy Gugliotta|title=Freedom's Cap: The United States Capitol and the Coming of the Civil War|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wFvG8YXg_XkC|year=2012|publisher=Farrar, Straus and Giroux|isbn=978-0-8090-4681-2}}
• {{cite book | author=Hazelton, George Cochrane | title=The National Capitol | url=https://archive.org/details/nationalcapitol00hazegoog | publisher=J. F. Taylor & Co | year=1907}}
• Fryd, Vivien Green (1987). Two Sculptures for the Capitol: Horatio Greenough's "Rescue" and Luigi Persico's "Discovery of America." In American Art Journal (Vol. 19, pp. 16–39).

• Aikman, Lonnelle. We, the People: the Story of the United States Capitol, Its Past and Its Promise. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Capitol Historical Society, in cooperation with the National Geographic Society, 1964.
• {{cite magazine |last=Bordewich |first=Fergus M. |title=A Capitol Vision From a Self-Taught Architect |url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/a-capitol-vision-from-a-self-taught-architect-91773428/ |date=December 2008 |magazine=Smithsonian Magazine}}
• Ovason, David, [https://books.google.com/books?id=HJNqynmJtF0C The Secret Architecture of our Nation's Capital: the Masons and the building of Washington, D.C.], New York City: HarperCollins, 2000. {{ISBN|0-06-019537-1}}

{{Commons category|United States Capitol}}

• {{osmway|66418809}}
• {{Official website}}
• [http://www.visitthecapitol.gov/ Capitol Visitors Center]
• [http://www.uschs.org/ United States Capitol Historical Society]
• [http://www.aoc.gov/ Architect of the Capitol]
• [http://www.c-span.org/capitolhistory Capitol History Project] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070417192358/http://www.c-span.org/capitolhistory/ |date=April 17, 2007 }}
• [https://www.loc.gov/exhibits/us.capitol/s0.html Temple of Liberty: Building the Capitol for a New Nation], Library of Congress
• [http://www.uscapitolpolice.gov/home.php U.S. Capitol Police] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090903101156/http://www.uscapitolpolice.gov/home.php |date=September 3, 2009 }}
• [http://www.c-span.org/video/?305444-1/book-discussion-freedoms-cap "Book Discussion on Freedom's Cap{{-"}}], C-SPAN, March 20, 2012
• [https://clio.columbia.edu/catalog/11904570/ Committee for the Preservation of the National Capitol Records, 1949–1958]. [http://library.columbia.edu/locations/avery/da.html/ Held by the Department of Drawings & Archives], [http://library.columbia.edu/locations/avery.html/ Avery Architectural & Fine Arts Library, Columbia University].

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{{s-ttl|title=Tallest Building in Washington, D.C.|years=1863–1899
88 meters}}

{{s-aft|after=Old Post Office Building (Washington, D.C.)}}

{{s-bef|before=Tenth Presbyterian Church}}

{{s-ttl|title=Tallest building in the United States outside of New York City|years=1863–1888
88 meters}}

{{s-aft|after=Illinois State Capitol}}

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{{USCongress}}

{{United States Capitol Complex}}

{{National Statuary Hall Collection}}

{{Washington DC landmarks}}

{{National Register of Historic Places}}

{{January 6 United States Capitol attack navbox}}

{{Authority control}}

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