January 6, 2021 – Breaking news CNN and ABC: Enraged Trump supporters storm the Capitol. Officers have drawn their weapons in an attempt to keep protesters out of the meeting rooms. The demonstrators demand that Congress not ratify the results of the November presidential election and were incited earlier in the day by outgoing President Donald Trump. The Capitol is the heart of democracy, comparable to our Binnenhof. What do you actually know about the Capitol, Congress, its emblems, and the stormings?
Capitol and Congress
Old postcard: Air View Capitol and grounds, Washington D.C.
The program Capitol In the Capitol Hill district of the American capital, Washington, is the seat of the United States Legislature, the legislative branch in the separation of powers. Both the American Senate (representation of two senators per state) as the American House of Representatives (proportional representation according to the size of the state), together the Congress mentioned. [one_half]
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De Senate Together with the House of Representatives, it forms Congress, the legislative branch of the federal government. The Senate comprises 100 seats, two for each US state. These seats are occupied by senators, who are elected for six years. One-third of the Senate is renewed every two years. The Senate has more influence than the House of Representatives. The Senate has a smaller number of seats. Senators generally have more administrative experience. Additionally, in theory, they can better withstand public opinion because they are elected for a longer term, and are therefore not held accountable for their voting behavior after just two years. The Senate also has a number of exclusive powers. According to Article 1 of the Constitution, the president cannot simply enter into international treaties, with a few exceptions, without the consent of the Senate. The Senate must also approve important appointments, such as those of justices to the Supreme Court and federal courts, ambassadors, and members of the cabinet. The Vice President of the United States (soon to be Democrat Kamala Harris) is the Speaker of the Senate and can also cast a vote in the event of a tie among senators. However, this does not happen often. In the absence of the Vice President, one of the senators assumes the presidency. In practice, this is usually the longest-serving senator from the majority party.
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The House of Representatives It is the lower house of Congress. It consists of 435 voting members, and each voting member is elected in a congressional district. The number of representatives each state is allocated to the House of Representatives is determined by the decimal census (in the 2000 census, each seat represents an average of 646.952 inhabitants). Each state receives at least one seat. Every ten years, the states revise the number of congressional districts and their corresponding boundaries to align them with the number of representatives they may send to the House of Representatives. A member serves a two-year term. The Speaker of the House (currently Democrat Nancy Pelosi) is a key figure in American politics. After the Vice President, he or she is second in line to the President. When the House and the presidency are held by different parties, the Speaker of the House is often viewed as the leader of the opposition.
And pluribus unum
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The Great Seal of the United States.
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Half Dollar (back), 1807.
On both seals of the Senate and the House of Representatives, the text appears 'One out of many. The Latin text means 'Out of many, one'. The history of the saying dates back to 1776.
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Since 1776 Americans celebrate Independence Day on July 4. On that day in 1776, the National Congress adopted the American Declaration of Independence. With this declaration, Americans declared themselves independent from the British monarchy.
Since 1776, the motto was 'One from many the motto of the United States. The phrase can be found on all official documents of the United States in the Great Seal. The phrase originates from the poem Moretum, which is attributed to the Roman poet Vergilius (known from the Aeneid). [one_half]
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On the left seal: Virgil between the Muses Clio and Melpomene, on a mosaic in the Bardo Museum. On the right seal: enlargement of the left seal of the mosaic. The Bardo Museum is located in Tunis (Tunisia).
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The motto refers to the unity formed by the individual states of the United States. The United States thus uses the ancient language of the Romans to express its central identity. Freedom is the primary objective of the Constitution of the United States. And that, too, originates from the Roman Empire, where Libertas was a goddess used by Roman emperors on coins to create the impression that freedom was the highest good they sought to protect.
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The reason the United States has symbols of the Roman world is not that it wants to be the Roman Empire of the 21st century, but because the Romans long ago forged the template for the imagery of power. The symbol of this is the eagle, used by the Romans on their army standards, which today adorns the center of the Great Seal of the United States, along with the motto E Pluribus Unum.
In God We Trust
In 1956, ' In God We Trust ' became the official national motto. Collectors find it on various banknotes and stamps.
The Founding Fathers (including George Washington, John Adams, and Thomas Jefferson) are the founders of the United States. They were looking for a place for the capital and initially found it in the swamps of what is now Washington D.C. George Washington lived in a house in Mount Vernon on the Potomac River. The Founding Fathers thought such a location was not bad for building the capital.
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First, construction began on the White House and the Capitol. Afterward, the remaining buildings and parks of Washington D.C. were designed around them. This is how the capital of the United States came into being. DC stands for District of Columbia.
The seal of DC features two human figures bearing the likeness of George Washington and a blindfolded female figure with a wreath in her right hand and a stone tablet with the word 'CONSTITUTION' in her left hand. The seal also contains an image of the Capitol, various agricultural products, an eagle in a war stance, and a train locomotive crossing the Potomac River, adorned with a radiant sun and followed by several train cars. The seal bears the motto of the District of Columbia, 'JUSTITIA OMNIBUS' (= 'justice for all'); and '1871' (the year in which the District of Columbia Organic Act of 1871 was passed, organizing the District into its current form).
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The flag of DC consists of three red stars above two red bars on a white background. It is a coat of arms based on the design of the coat of arms granted to George Washington's great-great-great-grandfather in 1592. This coat of arms was used privately by the president at his home on Mount Vernon.
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Construction of the Capitol began on September 18, 1793. The cornerstone of the Capitol was laid by George Washington in a special ceremony. The original building was completed in 1800. The final expansion was completed in 1962.
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During construction, the architects drew heavily on Roman architectural styles and (Masonic) symbolism. Slaves were used for construction, quarrying, and transporting stones.
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Left: The Capitol. Right: The Statue of Freedom is a bronze statue that has crowned the dome of the Capitol since 1863.
The Senate section was completed in 1800, while the House of Representatives section was not ready until 1811. Soon after, however, the Capitol was partially destroyed by the British during the War of 1812. Restoration work began in 1815 and lasted 15 years. The reconstruction was led by the architect Benjamin Latrobe. In 1850, the building was expanded once again.
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A striking feature of the Capitol is that it was built in the neoclassical style. Other neoclassical structures in Washington include the Lincoln Memorial and the White House. Inside the Capitol are busts of individuals who rendered meritorious service to the United States, all Americans with the exception of the Belgian Father Damien.
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The central point is the Capitol rotunda, crowned by a dome with a diameter of approximately 30 meters. The dome's painting, 'The Apotheosis of Washington', features Presidents Abraham Lincoln and Ulysses S. Grant, among others. This cast-iron dome was not completed until 1863 and replaced a much smaller wooden dome from 1812.
The Apotheosis of Washington, the 1865 fresco painted by Constantino Brumidi (1805-1880) on the interior of the Capitol’s dome. Foto: Wikipedia.
In later years, the Capitol was regularly renovated and expanded. Construction on the current dome, designed by Thomas U. Walter, took place between 1855 and 1866. The entire dome is composed of two domes. Through an oculus in the inner dome, one can see the fresco in the outer dome. At the end of the American Civil War, a house painter worked Constantino Brumidi Eleven months on the fresco. The painting is located at a height of 55 meters from the floor of the Capitoline Rotunda and measures 433,3 m². The figures are up to 4,6 meters tall.
Detail with George Washington. Photo: Wikipedia.
The painting depicts the elevation of the former president to godhood. George WashingtonWashington, depicted in royal purple, sits between the goddesses Victoria and Libertas. They sit in a circle with thirteen young women, symbolizing the thirteen colonies of that time. Surrounding them are six allegorical scenes featuring mythological figures and people and objects from American history. The six scenes represent war, science, seafaring, trade, technology, and agriculture.
The flag stands opposite Washington. E Pluribus Unum, which means 'out of many, one'.
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Constantino Brumidi.
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It is clear that the Americans were inspired by the Roman Empire and by existing architecture in Italy. Compare the dome of the Florence Cathedral with the dome of the Capitoline Hill. The Cattedrale di Santa Maria del Fiore, or simply the Duomo, is the eye-catcher of Florence.
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Location and Region
The Capitol is separated from the White House by the National Mall, to symbolically indicate the separation from the executive branch (the president). The Capitol is a reference to the state power of classical Rome, where the Capitoline Hill was the most important of the Seven Hills and housed the Temple of Juno, who guarded the Roman mint there.
National Mall vanuit de lucht. Foto: United States Geological Survey / Wikipedia.
The National Mall is home to the following museums and monuments: 1: Washington Monument. [one_half]
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2 t/m 6: Diverse museums.
7: Capitol.
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The dome of the Capitol. Photo: Wikipedia.
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[/one_half_last] 8: Memorial for Ulysses S. Grant. [one_half]
Photo: Wikipedia
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9 en 12: Tuinen.
10 t/m 13, 15 t/m 17: Diverse Museums.
14: Smithsonian Institution.
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The area around the Capitol becomes the Capitol Grounds named and is approximately 1 km² in size. It consists of various paths, lawns, and flowerbeds. Originally, the area consisted solely of grass with some paths for pedestrians. Between 1874 and 1892, the area was redesigned and made attractive under the direction of architect Frederick Law Olmsted. He had the area planted with trees (including magnolias) and other plants to create more depth. In this way, an attractive park was created around the Capitol. The garden also houses the Summer House, a small structure with benches and a man-made grotto.
Capitol Grounds: Magnolias were in bloom in March 2020. Photo: Sdkb / Wikipedia.
In 2015, a joint issue was released for the 100th anniversary of the 'Gift of dogwood trees from the US to Japan'. The two American stamps feature the Lincoln Memorial with cherry trees and the Capitol with a dogwood tree.
Storming of the Capitol
1814 Burning of Washington
This happened during the 'War of 1812', which actually lasted until 1815 and once again pitted the young United States against the former colonizer from the United Kingdom. London had recognized the United States in 1783, but regarding colonial expansion, both were getting in each other's way: the United States in Louisiana and the British in Canada. Add to this the British naval blockade to prevent American trade with Napoleon's Europe, and an explosive cocktail was created.
Burning of Washington. Illustration from a book of 1816. Source: Wikipedia.
President James Madison, one of the architects of the constitution, hoped to annex British Canada and declared war. However, the conquest of Canada proved disappointing, partly because the British armed Indigenous peoples and incited them against the Americans.
James Madison also appears on three definitive stamp issues.
The war escalated to a climax in 1814: the British abandoned their defensive strategy and, following Napoleon's defeat, brought in fresh troops from Europe. This led to a brief occupation of the American capital, Washington, on August 24 and 25, 1814. The capital was plundered, and both the Capitol and the White House were set on fire. Consequently, the British withdrew. The war raged on for some time with a few American victories near New Orleans and ended with a draw on December 24, 1814, and a peace treaty. The borders remained unchanged, the US relinquished its claims to Canada, and the British ceased their support for the Indigenous peoples, leaving them at the mercy of the Americans and allowing the US to expand westward. Washington rose like a phoenix from the ashes.
Burning of Washington augustus 1814. Bron: Library of Congress.
The Burning of Washington was a British invasion of Washington City (now Washington D.C.) during the Chesapeake Campaign of the War of 1812. To this day, it is the only time since the American War of Independence (1775–1783) that a foreign power conquered and occupied the capital.
Belgium (1964): 150 years of the Treaty of Ghent (1814 – 1964).
The Anglo-American War of 1812–1814 ended with the Treaty of Ghent on December 24, 1814. Ghent was chosen as an important industrial city in the young Kingdom of the Netherlands following Napoleon's defeat. A commemorative plaque still hangs on the Hof van Lovendeghem in the Veldstraat, where the United States delegation stayed with entrepreneur Lieven Bauwens.
2021 Storming by Trump supporters
In Washington, supporters of President Donald Trump stormed the Capitol on Wednesday, January 6, 2021, and gained access to the Senate Building. Live footage broadcast by CNN shows citizens with American flags walking through the Capitol in hand. The Senate and the House of Representatives debated the election results there on Wednesday. Vice President Mike Pence, who chaired the session of Congress debating the election results, was evacuated from the building; members of Congress were ordered by the police to put on gas masks. The House of Representatives was cleared. That meeting has been suspended.
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A woman was shot in the chest, seriously wounded, and eventually died. The National Guard and 'other federal services' were deployed to bring the situation under control. Around 18:00 PM local time, riot police began evacuating the demonstrators.
Small correction. There are no busts of meritorious Americans in the Capitol, but actual statues. This was also visible in the footage of the storming. Each state is allowed to provide two statues and primarily chooses local heroes. Father Damien was erected by Hawaii, where he was active in combating leprosy. The other statue is of King Kamehamea II. Thus, in the heart of the American republic stands a statue of a member of a royal house that was abolished by that republic. A peculiar situation.
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January 6, 2021 – Breaking news CNN and ABC: Enraged Trump supporters storm the Capitol. Officers have drawn their weapons in an attempt to keep protesters out of the meeting rooms. The demonstrators demand that Congress not ratify the results of the November presidential election and were incited earlier in the day by outgoing President Donald Trump. The Capitol is the heart of democracy, comparable to our Binnenhof. What do you actually know about the Capitol, Congress, its emblems, and the stormings?
[/ One_half] [one_half_last]
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De Senate Together with the House of Representatives, it forms Congress, the legislative branch of the federal government. The Senate comprises 100 seats, two for each US state. These seats are occupied by senators, who are elected for six years. One-third of the Senate is renewed every two years. The Senate has more influence than the House of Representatives. The Senate has a smaller number of seats. Senators generally have more administrative experience. Additionally, in theory, they can better withstand public opinion because they are elected for a longer term, and are therefore not held accountable for their voting behavior after just two years. The Senate also has a number of exclusive powers. According to Article 1 of the Constitution, the president cannot simply enter into international treaties, with a few exceptions, without the consent of the Senate. The Senate must also approve important appointments, such as those of justices to the Supreme Court and federal courts, ambassadors, and members of the cabinet. The Vice President of the United States (soon to be Democrat Kamala Harris) is the Speaker of the Senate and can also cast a vote in the event of a tie among senators. However, this does not happen often. In the absence of the Vice President, one of the senators assumes the presidency. In practice, this is usually the longest-serving senator from the majority party.
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The House of Representatives It is the lower house of Congress. It consists of 435 voting members, and each voting member is elected in a congressional district. The number of representatives each state is allocated to the House of Representatives is determined by the decimal census (in the 2000 census, each seat represents an average of 646.952 inhabitants). Each state receives at least one seat. Every ten years, the states revise the number of congressional districts and their corresponding boundaries to align them with the number of representatives they may send to the House of Representatives. A member serves a two-year term. The Speaker of the House (currently Democrat Nancy Pelosi) is a key figure in American politics. After the Vice President, he or she is second in line to the President. When the House and the presidency are held by different parties, the Speaker of the House is often viewed as the leader of the opposition.
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Since 1776 Americans celebrate Independence Day on July 4. On that day in 1776, the National Congress adopted the American Declaration of Independence. With this declaration, Americans declared themselves independent from the British monarchy.
Since 1776, the motto was 'One from many the motto of the United States. The phrase can be found on all official documents of the United States in the Great Seal. The phrase originates from the poem Moretum, which is attributed to the Roman poet Vergilius (known from the Aeneid). [one_half]
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The reason the United States has symbols of the Roman world is not that it wants to be the Roman Empire of the 21st century, but because the Romans long ago forged the template for the imagery of power. The symbol of this is the eagle, used by the Romans on their army standards, which today adorns the center of the Great Seal of the United States, along with the motto E Pluribus Unum.
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The seal of DC features two human figures bearing the likeness of George Washington and a blindfolded female figure with a wreath in her right hand and a stone tablet with the word 'CONSTITUTION' in her left hand. The seal also contains an image of the Capitol, various agricultural products, an eagle in a war stance, and a train locomotive crossing the Potomac River, adorned with a radiant sun and followed by several train cars. The seal bears the motto of the District of Columbia, 'JUSTITIA OMNIBUS' (= 'justice for all'); and '1871' (the year in which the District of Columbia Organic Act of 1871 was passed, organizing the District into its current form).
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The flag of DC consists of three red stars above two red bars on a white background. It is a coat of arms based on the design of the coat of arms granted to George Washington's great-great-great-grandfather in 1592. This coat of arms was used privately by the president at his home on Mount Vernon.
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Construction of the Capitol began on September 18, 1793. The cornerstone of the Capitol was laid by George Washington in a special ceremony. The original building was completed in 1800. The final expansion was completed in 1962.
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During construction, the architects drew heavily on Roman architectural styles and (Masonic) symbolism. Slaves were used for construction, quarrying, and transporting stones.
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Left: The Capitol. Right: The Statue of Freedom is a bronze statue that has crowned the dome of the Capitol since 1863.
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It is clear that the Americans were inspired by the Roman Empire and by existing architecture in Italy. Compare the dome of the Florence Cathedral with the dome of the Capitoline Hill. The Cattedrale di Santa Maria del Fiore, or simply the Duomo, is the eye-catcher of Florence.
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[/one_half_last] 8: Memorial for Ulysses S. Grant. [one_half]
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9 en 12: Tuinen.
10 t/m 13, 15 t/m 17: Diverse Museums.
14: Smithsonian Institution.
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A woman was shot in the chest, seriously wounded, and eventually died. The National Guard and 'other federal services' were deployed to bring the situation under control. Around 18:00 PM local time, riot police began evacuating the demonstrators.
A beautiful piece of US constitutional law
Small correction. There are no busts of meritorious Americans in the Capitol, but actual statues. This was also visible in the footage of the storming. Each state is allowed to provide two statues and primarily chooses local heroes. Father Damien was erected by Hawaii, where he was active in combating leprosy. The other statue is of King Kamehamea II. Thus, in the heart of the American republic stands a statue of a member of a royal house that was abolished by that republic. A peculiar situation.
A piece of American history clearly presented.
A nice, well-organized article about the developments in the USA. And viewed from the perspective of philately. Bravo!
Interesting blog, Randy.
It was 1 year ago, on January 6, 2021.