Editing Mount Vernon (section)

== Washington's tomb ==
[[File:Tomb of George Washington - wide - Mount Vernon.jpg|thumb|The Washington family tomb at Mount Vernon]]
[[File:Tomb of George Washington - interior 02 - Mount Vernon.jpg|thumb|Sarcophagi of Martha (left) and George (right) Washington at the entrance to the family mausoleum]]
On December 12, 1799, Washington spent several hours riding over the plantation, in snow, sleet, and freezing rain. He ate his supper later that evening without changing from his wet clothes. The following day, he awoke with a severe sore throat (either [[peritonsillar abscess|quinsy]] or acute [[epiglottitis]]) and became increasingly hoarse as the day progressed. All the available medical treatments failed to improve his condition, and he died at Mount Vernon at around 10 pm on December 14, 1799, aged 67.

On December 18, a funeral was held at Mount Vernon, where his body was interred.<ref name="Funeral">{{cite web|url=http://gwpapers.virginia.edu/project/exhibit/mourning/funeral.html |title=The Funeral |work=[[The Papers of George Washington]] |publisher=University of Virginia |access-date=3 July 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110717112633/http://gwpapers.virginia.edu/project/exhibit/mourning/funeral.html |archive-date=17 July 2011 }}</ref> Congress passed a joint resolution to construct a marble monument in the [[United States Capitol]] for his body, an initiative supported by Martha. In December 1800, the United States House passed an appropriations bill for $200,000 (~${{Format price|{{Inflation|index=US-GDP|value=200000|start_year=1800}}}} in {{Inflation/year|US-GDP}}) to build the mausoleum, which was to be a pyramid with a base {{convert|100|ft}} square. Southerners who wanted his body to remain at Mount Vernon defeated the measure.<ref name="boorstin">{{cite book |last=Boorstin|first=Daniel J.|author-link=Daniel J. Boorstin|title=The Americans: The National Experience|year=1965|publisher=Vintage Books |pages=349–350|isbn=0-394-70358-8}}</ref>

In accordance with his will, Washington was entombed in a family crypt he had built upon first inheriting the estate. It was in disrepair by 1799, so Washington's will also requested that a new, larger tomb be built. This was not executed until 1831, nearly the centennial of his birth. The need for a new tomb was confirmed when an unsuccessful [[Attempted theft of George Washington's skull|attempt was made to steal his skull]].<ref name="Johnston1889">{{Cite book |last=Johnston |first=Elizabeth Bryant |title=Visitors' Guide to Mount Vernon |year=1889 |edition=16th |publisher=Gibson Brothers, printers |pages=[https://archive.org/details/visitorsguidetom06john/page/14 14]–15 |url=https://archive.org/details/visitorsguidetom06john |access-date=3 July 2011 |oclc=22376201 }}</ref> A joint Congressional committee in early 1832 debated the removal of Washington's body from Mount Vernon to [[Washington's Tomb (United States Capitol)|a crypt in the Capitol]], built by [[Charles Bulfinch]] in the 1820s. Southern opposition was intense, exacerbated by an ever-growing rift between North and South. Congressman [[Wiley Thompson]] of [[Georgia (U.S. state)|Georgia]] expressed the Southerners' fears when he said:
{{blockquote|Remove the remains of our venerated Washington from their association with the remains of his consort and his ancestors from Mount Vernon and from his native State, deposit them in this capitol, and then let a severance of the Union occur and behold the remains of Washington on a shore foreign to his native soil.<ref name="boorstin" />}}

In 1831, the bodies of George and Martha Washington, along with other members of the family, were moved from the old crypt to the new family tomb.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.mountvernon.org/library/digitalhistory/digital-encyclopedia/article/tomb/|title=Tomb|website=George Washington's Mount Vernon}}</ref> On October 7, 1837, Washington's remains, encased in a lead inner casket, were transferred from the closed tomb to a [[sarcophagus]] presented by John Struthers of [[Philadelphia]]. It was placed on the right side of the gateway to the tomb. A similar structure was provided for Martha's remains, which was placed on the left.<ref name="Washington1847">{{Cite book |title=Letters on Agriculture |editor-last=Knight |editor-first=Franklin |first2=Thomas |last2=Jefferson |author-link2=Thomas Jefferson |last3=Peters |first3=Richard |author-link3=Richard Peters (Continental Congress) |year=1847 |last1=Washington |first1=George |publisher=Washington, The editor; Philadelphia, W. S. Martien |oclc=3347675 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/lettersonagricu00kniggoog/page/n189 177]–180 |url=https://archive.org/details/lettersonagricu00kniggoog |access-date=13 November 2011 }}</ref> Other members of the Washington family are interred in an inner vault, behind the vestibule containing the sarcophagi.