Editing United States Capitol (section)

===19th century===
{{See also|Burning of Washington}}
[[File:USCapitol1800.jpg|thumb|An 1800 portrait of the Capitol by [[William Russell Birch]]]]
[[File:US Capitol 1814c.jpg|thumb|An 1814 portrait by [[George Munger (artist)|George Munger]] of the U.S. Capitol after the [[burning of Washington]] by the [[British Army]] during the [[War of 1812]]]]
[[File:Capitol1846.jpg|thumb|[[Daguerreotype]] 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 [[United States House of Representatives|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 [[History of the United States Congress|first session]] of the U.S. Congress with both chambers in session on November 17, 1800. The National Legislature was moved to [[Washington, D.C.|Washington]] prematurely, at the urging of President [[John Adams]], in hopes of securing enough [[Southern United States|Southern]] votes in the [[Electoral College (United States)|Electoral College]] to be re-elected for a second term as president.<ref name="carter-p139">{{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}}</ref>

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.<ref>{{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}}</ref>

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 [[American Civil War|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 of the United States|Vice President]] [[Aaron Burr]], and a "crowded audience".<ref name= LOC-religion>{{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 }}</ref>}}

Not long after the completion of both wings, the Capitol was [[Burning of Washington|partially burned]] by the [[United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland|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 [[United States Capitol rotunda|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.<ref>{{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}}</ref>

When the Capitol was expanded in the 1850s, some of the construction labor was carried out by [[History of slavery in the United States|slaves]] "who cut the logs, laid the stones and baked the bricks".<ref>{{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}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{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 }}</ref>

====Capitol dome====
{{Main|United States Capitol dome}}
[[File:LincolnInauguration1861a.jpg|thumb|Inauguration of [[Abraham Lincoln]] 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 [[Jules Hardouin-Mansart|Mansart]]'s dome at [[Les Invalides]] in Paris (which he had visited in 1838), Walter's dome is double, with a large [[Oculus (architecture)|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 [[wikt:tholos|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]].<ref>{{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}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.aoc.gov/explore-capitol-campus/art/statue-freedom|title = The Statue of Freedom &#124; Architect of the Capitol}}</ref> The [[cast iron]] for the dome weighs {{convert|8909200|lb|kg}}.<ref>{{cite web|title=Capitol Dome|url=https://www.aoc.gov/capitol-buildings/capitol-dome|publisher=Architect of the Capitol|access-date=May 2, 2017}}</ref> The dome's [[cast iron frame]] was supplied and constructed by the iron foundry [[Adrian Janes|Janes, Fowler, Kirtland & Co.]]<ref>{{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 }}</ref> The thirty-six Corinthian columns that surround the base of the dome were provided by the Baltimore ironworks of [[Robert Poole (industrialist)|Poole & Hunt.]]<ref>{{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}}</ref>

[[File:National Capitol Columns - Washington, D.C..jpg|thumb|[[National Capitol Columns]] at the [[United States National Arboretum|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.<ref>{{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}}</ref>