Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

DAR Essay: Events Threatening The Capitol's Survival

Today with my huge white dome and elevated location I am considered the most important and impressive building in Washington. There was a time when survival of the turmoil that surrounded me seemed impossible. Two major events had threatened my very existence and that of the entire country. One of these events occurred early in my history.

My prominent stature was intended by my designer Major Pierre Charles L'Enfant. It was initially believed that the location for my future construction would not be suitable. Much of the land surrounding me was marshland. Regardless, Major L'Enfant went on with his design and layout for the entire city and drew up his master plan. The cornerstone for my construction was laid by our first president, George Washington, on a flat-topped hill that later became known as Capital Hill. President George Washington had appointed three commissioners to judge a contest for my future construction. The commissioners chose the design submitted by William Thornton, a physician who became the founder of the U.S. Patent Office. Construction was well underway and my north section was completed by 1800. Congress was able to hold its first session within my walls in November of that same year. The North Small Rotunda is now my oldest part. For many years people were unimpressed with my stature and most of the social activities of the city took place in neighboring Georgetown.

Tragically in 1814 during the War of 1812 the British army captured the city, set my walls ablaze and set out to destroy many of the other buildings around me including the White House mansion. During this time James Madison was our president, he and his family lived in the present day White House. The war had just started and the British were commencing raids along the American coast using hit and run tactics. The British would invade a town and burn all the buildings to the ground. They executed a raid on our capital, taking the White House. The White House was torched. Dolly Madison, The First Lady during the War of 1812 saved the priceless portrait of George Washington. In a letter written to her sister, Anna, Dolly describes the eventful day in this way. My husband left the day before to join General Winder. I assured him that I had no fear but for him. Being left in charge to care for myself and of the cabinet papers, I was to be prepared to leave by carriage at a moments notice. Knowing I had to sacrifice private property I pressed as many cabinet papers into trunks as to fill one carriage. Looking through my spyglasses in every direction I saw military wandering in all directions. Messengers came for me but I insisted on waiting until the large picture of General Washington was secured. It required breaking the frame and removing the canvas.

The burning of my walls and those of the White House infuriated Americans. They decided that in order to prove a point to the British, they would leave the capital in its present location and rebuild it. The reconstruction of my walls was completed by 1819. On the second floor of the present White House there is a small-blackened square of wood resulting from the torching of our nation's capital. Never painted over, this small scorched piece of wood serves as a constant reminder of our nation's vulnerability. It makes the statement that, though our country may be vulnerable, we will survive any and all adversity.

Another major event was the filling of the great plaza in front of me with sprawling enthusiastic onlookers as President Abraham Lincoln was inaugurated the sixteenth President of the United States. This great president served within my walls from 1861-1865. During his term, slavery was a major issue. The Southerners needed slaves to plow the fields, harvest the crops and work the plantations. Many of the farmers in the south were not wealthy plantation owners but proprietors of small farms from which they made a living. In north and south, the rich lived high and the poor sweated for their daily bread.Industrialization in the north drained manpower from the farms. Thousands of men and women came to the cities to work in factories. Agriculture was the mainstay of southern economy. Tobacco, rice and other crops were cultivated, but cotton was King,' especially for the big planters. They relied upon slaves to work the cotton farms. The south had little industry, few railroads and a lack of good highways. Southern farmers needed more and more land. The slave owners wanted to spread to other territories but were fiercely opposed by anti-slavery forces. The tensions over extending slavery to the territories grew until that controversy and other disagreements between north and south exploded into warfare. I believed that this conflict engaging brother against brother would lead to my total destruction.

I can recall the statement made by the great President Lincoln, "A house divided against itself cannot stand. I believe that this government cannot endure permanently half-slave and half-free." Lincoln remained uncertain of the course to take in dealing with the issue of slavery. Despite his uncertainty the President regarded slavery as a moral injustice that had no place in a democratic country. "If slavery is not wrong, nothing is wrong," he declared. Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation in September of 1862 to become effective on January 1, 1863. This document stated that after the effective date, all slaves in those areas of the south still in rebellion were henceforth and forever free.'

And so the suppression of the British occupation of my walls and the calming of the turbulence brought on by civil unrest during the Civil War were tantamount in my memory, because they both threatened my survival and that of the entire country.