United States Capitol Building

The U.S. capitol during the "Dark Winter" of the Biden era.

The United States Capitol Building, in Washington, D.C., is where the United States Congress meets.

Design

The U.S. capitol in former times under a two party system.

The Statue of Freedom by Thomas Crawford, 1863.

L'Enfant's proposed and partially executed plan (1791) for the layout of the entire city combined a gridiron design with coordinates varying in frequency and a system of radiocentric avenues derived from the two main foci of the President's House (White House) and the Capitol. His scheme derived from his concept of a strong nationally elected executive balancing a locally elected house of legislators. His emphasis on broad vistas was better suited for the capital of an empire rather than for a republic, while his awareness of scenic backdrops for his projected public buildings indicated the influence of the English cult of the picturesque.

A competition for the best design was held in 1792-93. French architect Etienne (or Stephen) Sulpice Hallet (1755-1825) refined designs by William Thornton, a physician and amateur architect, adapting baroque and neoclassical traditions to American themes. Hallet's four designs employed domes, statues, and other architectural details to invoke Roman civic ideals. Difficulties in planning the capitol building were not only structural, but also tied to the uncertainty of the operation and function of the federal government and its branches. Many of Hallet's design ideas from the early 1790s were incorporated into the final capitol design.

The Capitol was built from the original plans of William Thornton and Hallet; after the British burned it in 1814 it was rebuilt in 1815 under Benjamin Henry LaTrobe; there were later modifications by Charles Bulfinch and Thomas Ustick Walter.

Dome and art

The Apotheosis of George Washington in the Rotunda, by Constantino Brumidi, 1865.

Thomas Crawford's 19.5-foot 'Statue of Freedom,' stood on the Capitol dome from December 1863 to May 1993, when it was briefly removed for restoration and repairs. The statue has also been known as the Goddess of Freedom, the Goddess of Liberty, and the Indian Goddess.

Emanuel Leutze, a German-born artist, was commissioned by the U.S. Government to paint a mural on the western wall of the Capitol. Leutze, well known for his "Washington Crossing the Delaware" and some 60 other historic paintings, painted the mural entitled "Westward the Course of Empire Takes Its Way." He wanted to present the grand peaceful conquest of the great west and in doing so he reflected his love of adventure, hero worship, and fondness of wild lethal fun.

Security

At 21, a radical subversive and treasonous Joe Biden breached the U.S. Capitol building, entered the Senate chamber, sat in the presiding officer's chair, and was arrested.

On March 1, 1971, the Weather Underground headed by Barack Obama's far-left mentors Bill Ayers and Bernardine Dohrn bombed the U.S. Capitol building. In 1984 a radical communist group calling themselves the John Brown Anti-Klan Committee published the following communiqué:

Tonight we bombed the U. S. Capitol building. We attacked the U. S. Government to retaliate against imperialist aggression that has sent the marines, the CIA and the army to invade sovereign nations... We are acting in solidarity with all those leading the fight against U. S. imperialism the peoples of Grenada, Lebanon, Palestine, El Salvador, and Nicaragua - who are confronting direct U. S. aggression... Our action carries a message to the U. S. imperialist ruling class: we purposely aimed out attack at the institutions of imperialist rule rather than at individual members of the ruling class and government. We did not choose to kill any of them at this time...

Security has become a major issue since the September 11, 2001 attacks, where the fourth plane may have been headed to the White House or the Capitol. The serenity and repose formerly offered by Frederick Law Olmsted's original capitol grounds landscape have been replaced with concrete barriers and machine-gun-wielding police who greet visitors and passersby with suspicion, in stark contrast to the air of friendliness and openness that used to prevail. The landscaping around the Capitol grounds, designed by Frederick Law Olmsted, was partly sacrificed during 1999-2003 to construct the new Capitol Visitor Center and security points.

In the fall of 2018 George Soros is said to have spent $5 million on the Kavanaugh hearings protests. His Open Society Foundations funded several groups protesting Judge Brett Kavanaugh. All week long protestors were bused in. When the FBI completed its report, insurrectionists took over the Hart Senate Office Building and 302 rioters were arrested. 101 were arrested the second day.

Capitol Police arresting Linda Sarsour during the Kavanaugh hearings insurrection.

Some controversy erupted when President Trump suggested the Soros mob were paid. A Vice Media editor stated that some protestors were paid and tried to create "viral moments" good for TV. Ana Marie Archila of the Soros-funded Center For Popular Democracy slipped passed the Capitol Police and cornered NeverTrumper Sen. Jeff Flake in an elevator to deliver a televised rant for the fake news outlet CNN. Flake asked for a week-long delay in the confirmation vote while the FBI conducted an investigation into Christine Blasey Ford and Kavanaugh's sworn statements. Journalist Mike Cernovich documented Archila's compensation package as a mob protest organizer at $178,000 - more money above the table than Flake or any member of Congress makes, according to the Center For Popular Democracy's IRS Form 990 tax return publicly available at Guidestar.org.

In December 2018 Rep.-elect Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez led a mob of insurrectionists in a takeover of Speaker Nancy Pelosi's office.

Capitol protests

See also: 2021 Capitol protests

Congressional Black Caucus vice chair Joyce Beatty arrested after stroming the U.S. Capitol with a mob of insurrectionists.

During the January 6, 2021 Joint Session of Congress certification process, as protesters rallied in support of President Trump outside the capitol, chartered vans of Antifa provocatuers were escorted by state police in black, unmarked SUVs into the midst of the crowd. Capitol Police then removed barriers and waved the crowd onto the Capitol steps. Antifa rioters proceeded to wreak havoc breaking windows on the U.S. Capitol building and storming the premises. Police stood aside and allowed the Capitol breach while Patriot protesters begged the police to stop it and call for back up. Patriots attempted to stop the provocatuers. Capitol Police opened the doors and stood aside while inviting people inside.

Facial recognition technology identified Antifa members, who had used disguises to infiltrate a pro-Trump protest group, as storming the building. Twitter, in a flimsy attempt to cover for the Antifa punks, falsely claimed that a side-by-side photo comparison of one of the infiltrators (showing him at the Capitol in one photo, and at a BLM rally in June 2019 in the other photo, both of which show him with the same visually distinct tattoos) was "manipulated media" but gave no reason for their false claim.

The proceedings inside the House and Senate chambers were halted and Babbitt, who entered the building with the crowd, allegedly was shot outside the Speakers Gallery.

Congressional Black Caucus vice-chair Joyce Beatty, along with Linda Sarsour, were arrested for storming the U.S. Capitol with a mob of insurrectionists.

See also

• National Statuary Hall Collection

Further reading

• Allen, William C. History of the United States Capitol: A Chronicle of Design, Construction, and Politics (Washington: Government Printing Office, 2001). 461 pp.
• Carrier, Thomas J. The White House, the Capitol, and the Supreme Court: Historic Self-Guided Tours (Chicago: Arcadia, 2000). 128 pp. online review
• Kennon, Donald R., ed. A Republic for the Ages: The United States Capitol and the Political Culture of the Early Republic (1999). 583 pp.
• Maroon, Suzy. The United States Capitol (1993), photographic history