Did you watch last week’s State of the Union and wonder about what you saw in the House Chamber? Do you have a trip to Washington, D.C., planned? Or is Washington too far away and you want to tour the home of our legislative branch from your classroom? Here’s a glimpse at the House side of the U.S. Capitol—both the public spaces and a few, special behind-the-scenes looks at rooms not typically open to tourists.
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Representatives Fred Britten and Dan Reed made a New Year’s resolution in 1920: Get in shape. But first, they had to build a gym for Members of Congress.
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Art on December 22, 2014
Once upon a time, in 1918, the U.S. House of Representatives
received a gift of two porcelain vases. They were exquisite. Commanding
attention, standing nearly six feet tall, the attractive vessels were a gesture
from France expressing gratitude for America’s role in World War I.
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On this day in 1941, the House of Representatives passed the Declaration of War against Japan following the attack on the Pearl Harbor naval base in Hawaii. This month’s Edition for Educators focuses on the House of Representatives votes on declarations of war.
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We’ve all been a part of those Thanksgiving dinners where nobody got along. On Thanksgiving Day, 1937, the House was no exception.
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It’s not a hunting term. Nor is it a cooking experiment gone wrong. It’s a phrase often bandied about after an election: the “lame duck,” or departing politician who returns to office for the remainder of his or her term after the November elections. It can be an awkward position, but one in which at least one woman Member found creative inspiration.
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This month's Edition for Educators focuses on the relationship between Congress and the men and women who have fought for the United States at home and abroad.
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On July 4, 1809, an unusual reburial ceremony took place at the Wayne family burial grounds in Radnor, Pennsylvania. For 12 years, the remains of “Mad” Anthony Wayne, the Revolutionary War hero and former congressman, had rested 400 miles away on the shores of Lake Erie. But on that early summer day, Mad Anthony’s remains were going home—well, most of them were going home.
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Constitutionally mandated to be the “People’s House,” the House of Representatives has always been elected directly by the voters bienially.
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Art on October 23, 2014
Stylish! Modern! Sturdy! And cheap! In the 1930s, Bakelite, an early plastic, was touted as “The Material of a Thousand Uses.” What uses, exactly? In one instance, desks for Congress.
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It was a low moment. When the 13th Congress (1813–1815) trickled into Washington, D.C., in September 1814 for a third session, they found a terrorized community, most public buildings destroyed, and a humiliated army on retreat. Once the grandest building in North America, the unfinished Capitol resembled a charcoal briquette. And though the invading British forces had departed more than three weeks previously, the damage they inflicted—both physical and emotional—very nearly convinced the shocked legislators to abandon Washington for good.
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Art on October 6, 2014
For more than a century, a desk in the House Chamber was a Member’s office. He stowed his hat beneath his chair, wrote and stored papers in the writing desk, and occasionally propped his feet up to listen to debate. Why did picking one's desk matter?
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