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Zero Milestone

Zero Milestone

The Zero Milestone is a monument in Washington, D.C. intended as the initial milestone from which all road distances in the United States should be reckoned.

Location

The monument stands just south of the White House at the north edge of the Ellipse, within President's Park. Atop the monument is a compass rose which serves as a United States Geological Survey [http://www.ngs.noaa.gov/cgi-bin/ds_desig.prl benchmark] (HV1847).
- (NAD 83)
- Altitude 27.5 ft (8.4 m) above sea level

Description

Designed by Washington architect Horace W. Peaslee, the monolith is about 2 feet square and about 4 feet high. It is made of precambrian granite from Milford, Massachusetts, light pinkish to greenish gray, with spots of black biotite mica. The bronze disk on top of the milestone is an adaptation from ancient portolan charts of the so-called wind roses or compass roses from the points of which extended radial lines to all parts of the then known world—the prototype of the modern mariner's compass. The monument has engravings on five surfaces:
- North: ZERO MILESTONE
- East: STARTING POINT OF SECOND TRANSCONTINENTAL MOTOR CONVOY OVER THE BANKHEAD HIGHWAY, JUNE 14, 1920
- South: POINT FOR THE MEASUREMENT OF DISTANCES FROM WASHINGTON ON HIGHWAYS OF THE UNITED STATES
- West: STARTING POINT OF FIRST TRANSCONTINENTAL MOTOR CONVOY OVER THE LINCOLN HIGHWAY, JULY 7, 1919
- Top (now nearly illegible on the bronze disk): THE U.S. COAST AND GEODETIC SURVEY DETERMINED THE LATITUDE LONGITUDE AND ELEVATION OF THE ZERO MILESTONE

History

In his plan for Washington, Pierre Charles L'Enfant intended a column to be placed 1 mile east of the Capitol, "from which all distances of places through the continent were to be calculated." Instead, in 1804, the Jefferson Stone or Jefferson Pier was placed on the meridian of the White House due west of the Capitol (119 m WNW of the center of the Washington Monument) to mark the Washington meridian, 77° 02' 12.0". The current Zero Milestone monument was conceived by good roads advocate Dr. S. M. Johnson, formally proposed on June 7, 1919. He was inspired by ancient Rome's Golden Milestone located in the Forum. On July 7, 1919, a temporary marker for the Zero Milestone was dedicated on the Ellipse south of the White House during ceremonies launching the Army's first attempt to send a convoy of military vehicles across the country to San Francisco, California. On June 5, 1920, Congress authorized the Secretary of War to erect the current monument, design to be approved by the Commission of Fine Arts and installed at no expense to the government. Dr. Johnson took charge of the details and raised donations for the design and construction. The permanent Zero Milestone was dedicated in a ceremony on June 4, 1923.

See also


- Zero Kilometre Stone (Budapest)
- Kilometre Zero

External link


- [http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/infrastructure/zero.htm Dept. of Transportation: Zero Milestone] Category:Washington, D.C. landmarks Category:Transportation in the United States

Milestone

A milestone or kilometre sign is one of a series of numbered markers placed along a road at regular intervals, typically at the side of the road or in a median. Milestones are constructed both to reassure the traveller that the proper path is being followed and to indicate distance travelled. They are alternately known as a mile marker, milepost, or mile post (sometimes abbreviated MP), notably in the United States. The historical term milestone is still used today, even though the "stones" are typically metal signs. More closely spaced signs, with fractional numbers, and signs along a railway or beach also occur. metal]] In Europe the distance measured typically starts at a city or town, as many roads were named for the towns at either end. In the United Kingdom, a plaque near the Eleanor cross at Charing Cross in London is the reference point from which distances to other towns and cities are measured. In the US Interstate highway system the numbers usually measure the distance to the southern or western state line, while other highways use the county line as the benchmark. Often, the exits are numbered according to the nearest milepost, known as the mile-log system. Some historic and scenic routes use mileposts to mark points of interest, such as along the Blue Ridge Parkway in North Carolina and Virginia, and the Overseas Highway of the Florida Keys. Florida Keys]] Milestones were originally stone (granite or marble or whatever local stone was available) obelisks and later concrete posts. They were widely used by the Roman Empire roadbuilders, an important part of any Roman road network when the distance travelled per day was only a few miles in some cases. The first Roman milestones appeared on the Appian way. At the centre of Rome the "Golden Milestone" (actually bronze) was erected that marked the metaphorical centre of the empire. This milestone has since been lost. The Golden Milestone inspired the Zero Milestone in Washington, D.C., intended as the point from which all road distances in the United States should be reckoned.

Other meanings

Metaphorically, milestone is used to denote reaching an identifiable stage in completion of something other than a physical journey, as in project management, world events, and the like. Developmental milestones are tasks most children can perform at certain ages. [http://www.med.umich.edu/1libr/yourchild/devmile.htm] Milestones is an album by jazz innovator Miles Davis, one of the first examples of his experiments with modal jazz. The Milepost is the name of a guidebook about the Alaska Highway.

External links


- [http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/secondary/SMIGRA
- /Milliare.html article in Smith's Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities] with further links, including to a photograph of a Roman milestone in Orvieto
- [http://www.archeolyon.com/Bornemil/Milrepertoire.html#repertoire_debut Inventory of Roman milestones in France] (in French) Category:Street furniture Category:Monument types

White House

:"1600 Pennsylvania Avenue" redirects here. For the musical, see 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue (musical). 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue (musical) The White House is the official residence and principal workplace of the President of the United States. The White House is a white-painted, neoclassical sandstone mansion located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C. (). As the office of the President of the United States, the term "White House" is often used as a metonym for the president's administration. The property is owned by the National Park Service and is part of President's Park. An image of the White House is on the back of the $20 bill.

History

$20 bill The White House was built after Congress established the District of Columbia as the permanent capital of the United States on July 16, 1790. President George Washington himself helped select the site, along with city planner Pierre L'Enfant. The architect was chosen in a competition, which received nine proposals. James Hoban, an Irishman, was awarded the honor and construction began with the laying of the cornerstone on October 13, 1792. The building he designed was modelled on the first and second floors of Leinster House, a ducal palace in Dublin, Ireland, that is now the seat of the Irish Parliament. Contrary to widely published myth, the North portico was not modelled on a similar portico on another Dublin building, the Viceregal Lodge (now Áras an Uachtaráin, residence of the President of Ireland). Its portico in fact postdates the White House portico's design. The decision to place the capital on land ceded by two slave states—Virginia and Maryland—ultimately influenced the acquisition of laborers to construct its public buildings. The D.C. commissioners, charged by Congress with building the new city under the direction of the president, initially planned to import workers from Europe to meet their labor needs. However, response to recruitment was dismal and soon they turned to African Americans—slave and free—to provide the bulk of labor that built the White House. President of Ireland Construction of the White House was completed on November 1, 1800. Over an extremely slow 8 years of construction, $232,371.83 was spent. With inflation, this would be approximately equivalent to $2.4 million today. The front and rear porticoes were not part of the structure until about 1825. The building was originally referred to as the Presidential Palace or Presidential Mansion. Dolley Madison called it the "President's Castle." However, by 1811 the first evidence of the public calling it the "White House" emerged, because of its white-painted stone exterior. The name Executive Mansion was often used in official context until President Theodore Roosevelt established the formal name by having "The White House" engraved on his stationery in 1901. John Adams became the first president to take residence in the building on November 1, 1800. In 1814 during the War of 1812, much of Washington, D.C., was set alight by British troops (invading from what would later become Canada), and the White House was gutted. Only the exterior walls remained, but it was rebuilt. The walls were repainted white, but the White House was always painted white as early as 1798, and the repainting from the fire damage did not originate the term "White House" as a popular urban legend claims it did. Very few of the spoils of the British troops stolen from the Whitehouse have been recovered. Only two artifacts have been recovered — a painting of George Washington, rescued by then-first lady Dolley Madison, and a jewelry box returned to President Franklin Delano Roosevelt in 1939 by a Canadian who said his grandfather had taken it from Washington. The bounty was lost when a fleet of British ships en route to Halifax sank off Prospect during a storm. HMS Fantome was leading a convoy of ships back to Halifax when the vessels sank in a storm on the night of Nov. 24, 1814. [http://herald.ns.ca/Metro/468063.html] HMS Fantome The White House was attacked again on August 16, 1841, when U.S. President John Tyler vetoed a bill which called for the establishment of the Second Bank of the United States. Enraged Whig Party members rioted outside the White House in what was (and still is, as of 2005) the most violent demonstration on White House grounds in U.S. history. Like the English and Irish country houses it resembled, the White House was remarkably open to the public until the early part of the twentieth century. President Thomas Jefferson held an open house for his second inaugural in 1805, when many of the people at his swearing-in ceremony at the Capitol followed him home, where he greeted them in the Blue Room. Blue Room Those open houses sometimes became rowdy: in 1829, President Andrew Jackson had to leave for a hotel when roughly 20,000 citizens celebrated his inauguration inside the White House. His aides ultimately had to lure the mob outside with washtubs filled with a potent cocktail of orange juice and whiskey. Even so, the practice continued until 1885, when newly elected Grover Cleveland arranged for a presidential review of the troops from a grandstand in front of the White House instead of the traditional open house. Jefferson also permitted public tours of his home, which have continued ever since, except during wartime, and began the tradition of annual receptions on New Year's Day and on the Fourth of July. Those receptions ended in the early 1930s. The White House remained open in other ways as well; President Abraham Lincoln complained that he was constantly beleaguered by job seekers waiting to ask him for political appointments or other favors as he began the business day. Lincoln put up with the annoyance rather than risk alienating some associate or friend of a powerful politician or opinion maker. The White House was designated a National Historic Landmark on December 19, 1960.

Structure

1960 1960 Very few people realize the size of the White House, since much of it is below ground or otherwise minimized by landscaping. In fact, the White House has:
- 6 stories and 55,000 ft² (5,100 m²) of floor space
- 132 rooms and 35 bathrooms [http://www.worldstrides.com/sitesandsnapshots/dc_sites/whitehouse.asp]
- 412 doors
- 147 windows
- 28 fireplaces
- 8 staircases
- 3 elevators
- 5 full-time chefs
- 5,000 visitors a day
- a tennis court
- a bowling lane
- a movie theater
- a jogging track
- a swimming pool landscaping It is also one of the few government buildings in Washington that is wheelchair-accessible, with modifications having been made during the presidency of Franklin D. Roosevelt, who needed to use a wheelchair as a result of polio. In 1948, President Harry S. Truman added a much-discussed balcony to the South Portico at the second-floor level. Not long after the balcony was constructed, the building was found to be structurally unsound, and in imminent danger of collapse. President Truman and family moved to Blair House across the street while the White House was renovated. The old interior was dismantled, leaving the house as a shell. It was then rebuilt using concrete and steel beams in place of its original wooden joists. Some modifications were made, with the largest being the repositioning of the grand staircase to open into the Entrance Hall, rather than the Cross Hall, as was the case previously. President Truman and family moved back into the White House on March 27, 1952. Though the structural integrity of the building had been corrected in the late 1940's and early 1950's, the interior, as a result of decades of poor maintenance and then the process of removal and reinstatement, had been allowed to deteriorate. Jacqueline Kennedy, wife of President John F. Kennedy (1961–63), remodeled the interior of many rooms with decors inspired by its early nineteenth-century appearance, often using high-quality furniture that had been put in storage in the basements and forgotten about. Many of the antiques, fine paintings, and other improvements of the Kennedy period were given to the White House by rich donors, including Jane Engelhard, Jayne Wrightsman, the Oppenheimer family of South Africa, and other moneyed individuals. The Kennedy decor, much admired then as now, had an imperial Francophile air that was the result of the decorator Stephane Boudin of Jansen, the eminent Paris design company that had planned and/or executed decors for the royal families of Belgium and Iran, the Duchess of Windsor, and Nazi Germany's Reichsbank. The rooms that had a more early American appearance were decorated by Boudin but heavily influenced by the millionaire museum founder Henry Francis du Pont. Since then, every presidential family has made changes to the decor of the White House, some subtle, others more profound and controversial. In the 1990s, for example, President and Mrs. Clinton had some of the rooms recast by Arkansas decorator Kaki Hockersmith; the result, though presumably inspired by the Kennedy years, was unveiled to general derision.

The West Wing

In the early twentieth century, new buildings were added to the wings at either side of the main White House to accommodate the President's growing staff, which had previously used an office located in the U.S. Capitol. Both new wings were largely concealed from view by being built to a lower height than the main house. The West Wing houses the President's office and offices of his political staff. It currently holds about 50 employees. U.S. Capitol As with much of the White House at the time, the West Wing was substantially remodeled and expanded for President Theodore Roosevelt by the New York architects McKim, Mead & White and contained a new cabinet room, with a small, square office next door that served as the President's office. Before the building of the new West Wing, presidential staff worked on the second floor. President William Howard Taft had the interior remodeled. Central to the remodeling was a new presidential office in the dead center of the building, which, given its shape, was nicknamed the Oval Office. On December 24, 1929 (Christmas Eve), the West Wing was significantly damaged by fire. In 1933 when Franklin D. Roosevelt became President, he undertook the third and final major reorganization with a new Oval Office being constructed; he disliked the original central location because it lacked windows and, as a result, was entirely reliant on skylights. The new office's location also allowed Presidents greater privacy, as they were now able to slip back and forth between the main White House and the West Wing without being in full view of the West Wing staff, a problem with the two earlier offices. Roosevelt also constructed a swimming pool to enable him to exercise. In 1969, to accommodate the growing number of reporters assigned to the White House and based in the West Wing, President Richard Nixon had the by-then unused pool covered over. The former swimming pool is now the location of the Press Center, where the President's spokesperson gives daily briefings. Nixon also renamed the room (which, prior to the rebuilding after the 1929 fire, had been the first Oval Office) as the Roosevelt Room, in honor of the two Presidents Roosevelt: Theodore, who first built the West Wing, and Franklin, who built the current Oval Office. By tradition, a portrait of Franklin Roosevelt hangs in the room during the administration of a president from the Democratic Party and a portrait of Theodore Roosevelt hangs during the administration of a Republican president. As presidential staffs grew substantially in the latter half of the twentieth century, the West Wing generally came to be seen as too small for its modern governmental functions. Today, some members of the President's staff are located in the adjacent Eisenhower Executive Office Building (EEOB)—originally the State, War, and Navy Building, which housed the Departments of State, War (i.e., Army) and the Navy. Beginning in 1999, a popular television show called The West Wing brought greater public attention to the workings of the Presidential staff, as well as to the location of those workings in the West Wing (rather than in the White House itself). When asked whether the show accurately captured the working environment, some former White House staffers observed that the television set appeared less crowded than the real offices. In 2003, Press Secretary Scott McClellan commented that the show portrayed more foot traffic and larger rooms than in the real wing.

The East Wing

The East Wing, which contains additional office space, was added to the White House in 1942. Among its uses, the East Wing has intermittently housed the offices and staff of the First Lady. Rosalynn Carter, in 1977, was the first to place her personal office in the East Wing and to formally call it the "Office of the First Lady." The East Wing was built during World War II in order to hide the construction of an underground bunker to be used in emergency situations. The bunker has come to be known as the Presidential Emergency Operations Center.

The White House grounds

Although the White House grounds have had many gardeners through their history, the current layout was designed in 1935 by Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr. of the Olmsted Brothers firm, under commission from President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

The Web site

The official White House website is http://www.whitehouse.gov/. It was established on October 17, 1994. This website used a very lengthy robots exclusion file to shield much of its contents from search engines (http://www.whitehouse.gov/robots.txt). As of early June 2005, the list contains over 2,200 directories. A visitor may still use the [http://www.whitehouse.gov/search/ official search tool] to retrieve information. However, the searchable contents are controlled by the U.S. government. There are still many directories not covered by the robots exclusion file. For example, www.whitehouse.gov/infocus/iraq/ is a Google searchable directory, while www.whitehouse.gov/president/100days/iraq/ is not. As of October 2005, the site is approximately the 1,899th most popular destination on the Internet in terms of traffic, according to Alexa.com. [http://www.alexa.com/data/details/main?q=&url=whitehouse.gov]

See also


- White House Communications Agency
- White House Situation Room
- White House Fellows
- The West Wing
- List of official residences
- List of U.S. Presidential residences

External links


- [http://www.whitehouse.gov WhiteHouse.gov, official White House website] (source of much information in this article)
  - Note: Before the White House had an official Internet presence, others registered the Whitehouse.org and Whitehouse.com domains. These are not official White House websites. WhiteHouse.org is a parody website, while WhiteHouse.com was once a pornography site, it is now an e-commerce directory.
- [http://www.nps.gov/whho/index.htm President's Park NPS Site]

References


-

Robots.txt


- [http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=19357 The Inquirer] - The White House site's use of robots.txt
- [http://www.whitehouse.gov/robots.txt www.whitehouse.gov/robots.txt] - The actual robots.txt Category:Buildings of the United States federal government Category:Executive Branch of the United States Government Category:Official residences Category:U.S. National Historic Landmarks Category:Washington, D.C. landmarks White House ja:ホワイトハウス

United States Geological Survey

United States Geological Survey
United States Geological Survey logo
Established:March 3, 1879
Acting Director:P. Patrick Leahy
Budget:$938 million (FY2004)
Employees:10,000 (2004)
The United States Geological Survey (USGS) is a scientific agency of the United States government. The scientists of the USGS study the landscape of the United States, its natural resources, and the natural hazards that threaten it. The organization has four major science disciplines, concerning biology, geography, geology, and hydrology. The USGS is a fact-finding research organization with no regulatory responsibility. The USGS was founded by Clarence King in March 3, 1879 from disparate regional survey agencies. Since 1962, it has been involved in global, lunar and planetary exploration and mapping. Part of the United States Department of the Interior, it is the department's sole scientific agency. The USGS employs approximately 10,000 people and is headquartered in Reston, Virginia, with major offices in Denver, Colorado, and Menlo Park, California. The USGS is the primary civilian mapping agency in the United States, and is best known for its 1:24,000 scale, 7.5-minute quadrangle topographic maps. Their recent program, the [http://nationalmap.gov/ National Map] is an attempt to be the be-all end-all of online mapping services. The USGS also has an envigorating Business Partners program through which they encourage the reselling of their maps so that the public can have quicker, easier access to information. Many sites such as [http://www.topozone.com TopoZone] have capitalized on this program to provide the web with the best mapping services possible in conjunction with the USGS. The USGS operates the National Earthquake Information Center in Golden, Colorado on the Colorado School of Mines campus which detects the location and magnitude of earthquakes worldwide. The NEIC informs both appropriate authorities and the media, domestic and worldwide, about significant earthquakes. The USGS National Geomagnetism Program monitors the magnetic field at magnetic observatories and distributes magnetometer data in real time. "The mission of the [USGS] National Wildlife Health Center is to serve the nation and its natural resources by providing sound science and technical support, and to disseminate information to promote science-based decisions affecting wildlife and ecosystem health. The NWHC provides information, technical assistance, research, education, and leadership on national and international wildlife health issues." [http://www.nwhc.usgs.gov/] It is the agency primarily responsible for surveillance of wild animal H5N1 avian flu outbreaks in the US. As of 2005, the agency is working to create a National Volcano Early Warning System by improving the instrumentation monitoring the 169 volcanoes in U.S. territory and by establishing methods for measuring the relative threats posed at each site. The motto of the USGS is "science for a changing world." The USGS also runs 17 research centers in the United States, including the Patuxent Wildlife Research Center.

See also


- Geographic Names Information System
- Volcano Disaster Assistance Program

External links


- [http://www.usgs.gov/ USGS official site]
- [http://pubs.usgs.gov/circ/c1050/ USGS Circular 1050 (History of the USGS)]
- [http://geomag.usgs.gov USGS Geomagnetism Program]
- [http://neic.usgs.gov/neis/bulletin/ Current world earthquakes]
- Major USGS Discipline sites: [http://water.usgs.gov/ Water], [http://geology.usgs.gov/index.shtml Geology], [http://geography.usgs.gov/ Geography], [http://biology.usgs.gov/ Biology]
- [http://www.terraserver-usa.com/ TerraServer-USA] and [http://www.topozone.com/ TopoZone] host USGS topographic maps (and aerial photos on TerraServer-USA); [http://historical.maptech.com/ Maptech] hosts historical USGS topos in the northeast U.S. Category:Geology Category:Cartography Category:Hydrology Category:Biology Geological Survey ja:米国地質研究所

Sea level

:For considerations of sea level change, in particular rise associated with possible global warming, see sea level rise.

Definition

Mean sea level (MSL) is the average height of the sea, with reference to a suitable reference surface. Defining the reference level [http://www.pol.ac.uk/psmsl/puscience/index.html#1], however, involves complex measurement, and accurately determining MSL can prove difficult.

Measurement

sea level rise To an operator of a tide gauge, MSL means the "still water level"—the level of the sea with motions such as wind waves averaged out—averaged over a period of time such that changes in sea level, e.g., due to the tides, also get averaged out. One measures the values of MSL in respect to the land. Hence a change in MSL can result from a real change in sea level, or from a change in the height of the land on which the tide gauge operates.

Difficulties in utilization

To extend this definition far from land means comparing the local height of the mean sea surface with a "level" reference surface, or datum, called the geoid. In a state of rest or absence of external forces, the mean sea level would coincide with this geoid surface, being an equipotential surface of the Earth's gravity field. In reality, due to currents, air pressure variations, temperature and salinity variations, etc., this does not occur, not even as a long term average. The location-dependent, but persistent in time, separation between mean sea level and the geoid is referred to as (stationary) sea surface topography. It varies globally in a range of ±2 m. Traditionally, one had to process sea-level measurements to take into account the effect of the 228-month Metonic cycle and the 223-month eclipse cycle on the tides. Mean sea level does not remain constant over the surface of the entire earth. Mean sea level at the Pacific end of the Panama Canal stands 20 cm higher than at the Atlantic end. Despite the difficulties, aviators flying under instrument flight rules (IFR) must have accurate and reliable measurements of their altitudes above (or below - see Schiphol Airport) mean sea level, and the altitude of the airports where they intend to land. That problem can compound when landing on an aircraft carrier in a gravitational anomaly. In aviation mean sea level is increasingly being defined with reference to an ellipsoid defined by the World Geodetic System. Compared to a geoid, an ellipsoid is simpler to model mathematically and therefore lends itself to use with the Global Positioning System. Several terms are used to describe the changing relationships between sea level and dry land. When the term "relative" is used, it connotes change that is not attributed to any specific cause. The term "eustatic" refers to changes in the amount of water in the oceans, usually due to climatic changes. The term "isostatic" refers to changes in the level of the land masses due to thermal buoyancy or tectonic effects and implies no real change in the amount of water in the oceans. The melting of glaciers at the end of ice ages is an example of eustatic sea level rise. The subsidence of land due to the withdrawal of groundwater is an isostatic cause of relative sea level rise. Paleoclimatologists can track sea level by examining the rocks deposited along coasts that are very tectonically stable, like the east coast of North America. Areas like volcanic islands are experiencing relative sea level rise as a result of isostatic cooling of the rock which causes the land to sink. On other planets that lack a liquid ocean, planetologists can calculate a "mean altitude" by averaging the heights of all points on the surface. This altitude, sometimes referred to as a "sea level", serves equivalently as a reference for the height of planetary features.

Changes through geologic time

planetologist planetologist Sea level has changed over geologic time. As the graph shows, sea level today is very near the lowest level ever attained (the lowest level occurred at the Permo-Triassic boundary about 250 million years ago). For this reason, sea level is more prone to rise than fall today, and small changes in climate can have noticeable effects during human lifetimes. During the most recent ice age (at its maximum about 20,000 years ago) the world's sea level was about 130 m lower than today, due to the large amount of sea water that had evaporated and been deposited as snow and ice in northern hemisphere glaciers. The majority of the glaciers had melted by about 10,000 years ago, but minor glacial melting has continued (with occasional reversals) throughout recorded human history. More detail about the changes in sea level for the past 140,000 years can be seen by accessing [http://www.grida.no/climate/ipcc_tar/wg1/fig11-4.htm this chart]. Hundreds of similar glacial cycles have occurred throughout the Earth's history. Geologists who study the positions of coastal sediment deposits through time have noted dozens of similar basinward shifts of shorelines associated with a later recovery. This results in sedimentary cycles which in some cases can be correlated around the world with great confidence. This relatively new branch of geological science linking eustatic sea level to sedimentary deposits is called sequence stratigraphy.

See also


- Above mean sea level

External links


- [http://164.214.2.59/GandG/datums/vertdatum.htm National Imaging and Mapping Agency article]
- [http://www.pol.ac.uk/psmsl/ Permanent Service for Mean Sea Level]
- [http://www.agu.org/revgeophys/dougla01/dougla01.html Global sea level change: Determination and interpretation]
- [http://yosemite.epa.gov/oar/globalwarming.nsf/content/ResourceCenterPublicationsSeaLevelRiseIndex.html Environment Protection Agency Sea level rise reports] Category:Oceanography Category:Cartography simple:Sea level

Granite

Granite is a common and widely-occurring group of intrusive felsic igneous rocks that form at great depths and pressures under continents. Granite consists of orthoclase and plagioclase feldspars, quartz, hornblende, biotite, muscovite and minor accessory minerals such as magnetite, garnet, zircon and apatite. Rarely, a pyroxene is present. Ordinary granite always carries a small amount of plagioclase, but when this is absent the rock is referred to as alkali granite. An interesting proportion of plagioclase feldspar causes granite to pass into granodiorite. A rock consisting of equal proportions of orthoclase and plagioclase plus quartz may be considered a quartz monzonite. A granite containing both muscovite and biotite micas is called a binary granite. Depending upon the proportions of feldspar and quartz, the Mohs hardness of granite ranges between 5.5 and 7 [http://www.findstone.com/daniel1.htm]. The average density is 2.75 g/cm<sup>3</sup> with a range of 1.74 to 2.80. The extrusive equivalent of plutonic granite rock is called Rhyolite. The word granite comes from the Latin granum, a grain, in reference to the coarse-grained structure of such a crystalline rock.

Occurrence

Granite occurs as relatively small, less than 100 km<sup>2</sup> stock-like masses and as large batholiths often associated with orogenic mountain ranges and is frequently of great extent. Small dikes of granitic composition called aplites are associated with granite margins. In some locations very coarse-grained pegmatite masses occur with granite. Granite has been intruded into the crust of the Earth during all geologic periods; much of it is of Precambrian age. Granite is widely distributed throughout the continental crust of the Earth and is the most abundant basement rock that underlies the relatively thin sedimentary rock veneer of the continents.

Origin

There are two theories for the origin of granite. The magmatic theory states that granite is derived by the crystal fractionation of magma. Thus granite bodies are the result of intrusion of liquid magma into the existing rocks. The granitization theory states that granite is formed in place by extreme metamorphism. There is evidence to support both theories, and both are useful to explain different observed features. The two may actually merge: as metamorphic conditions increase to the melting point of the metamorphosed granite, it will melt and become a liquid magma, and then harden into igneous granite.

Uses

Antiquity

The Red Pyramid of Ancient Egypt (c.26th century BC), named for the light crimson hue of its exposed granite surfaces, is the third largest of Egyptian pyramids. Menkaure's Pyramid, likely dating to the same era, was constructed of limestone and granite blocks. The Great Pyramid of Giza (c.2580 BC) contains a huge granite sarcophagus fashioned of "Red Aswan Granite." The mostly ruined Black Pyramid dating from the reign of Amenemhat III once had a polished granite pyramidion or capstone, now on display in the main hall of the Egyptian Museum in Cairo (see Dahshur). Other uses in Ancient Egypt, [http://www.eeescience.utoledo.edu/Faculty/Harrell/Egypt/Mosques/CAIRO_Rocks_1.htm] include columns, door lintels, sills, jambs, and wall and floor veneer. How the Egyptians worked the solid granite is still a matter of debate. Dr. Patrick Hunt [http://hebsed.home.comcast.net/hunt.htm] has postulated that the Egyptians used emery shown to have higher hardness on the Mohs scale.

Modern

Granite has been extensively used as a dimension stone and as flooring tiles in public and commercial buildings and monuments. Polished granite has been a popular choice for kitchen countertops due to its high durability and aesthetic qualities. In the world of sports, curling rocks are traditionally fashioned of granite. <center> <gallery> Image:Granite azul noce.jpg|<center>Azul Noce (Spain)</center> Image:Granite giallo.jpg|<center>Giallo Veneziano (Brazil)</center> Image:Granite_gran_violet.jpg|<center>Gran Violet (Brazil)</center> Image:Granite lavanda blue.jpg|<center>Lavanda Blue (Brazil)</center> </gallery> </center>

See also


- List of minerals
- List of rocks

External link


- [http://www.geologynet.com/granite1.htm The Emplacement and Origin of Granite] Category:Igneous rocks Category:Granite domes ko:화강암 ja:花崗岩

Milford, Massachusetts

Milford is a town located in Worcester County, Massachusetts. As of the 2000 census, the town had a total population of 26,799. For geographic and demographic information on the census-designated place Milford, please see the article Milford (CDP), Massachusetts. Sports and arts are both an integral part of the community fabric. Milford has a reputation for developing excellent musicians and athletes. Political awareness is encouraged early, and as a result, many Milford residents have embraced careers in public service, both at the local and the state level. Milford also proudly acknowledges native son Dr. Joseph E. Murray, who pioneered in the area of organ transplants. In 1990, Dr. Murray was the recipient of the Nobel Prize for medicine. Howie Long, NFL Hall of Famer (Milford High class of 1977) is from Milford Emmy-nominated TV & film producer Paul Coyne (Survivor, Big Brother, The Amazing Race, Invasion Iowa, Raising Flagg, starring Alan Arkin) is from Milford. Coyne is a 1982 graduate of Milford High School. Jazz alto saxophone player Boots Mussuli was from Milford. Mussuli played with many jazz greats, including Stan Kenton. Milford is known the world over for its unique pink granite, discovered in the 1870's and quarried for many years thereafter. Milford pink granite continues to grace the exteriors of museums, government buildings, monuments and railroad stations in Boston, New York, Washington, D.C., and Paris, France. Milford's St. Mary's Cemetery, one of the oldest Catholic cemeteries in Massachusetts, is home to the only Irish Round Tower in the United States. The original towers were erected by monks in Ireland as a safe haven to ward off invaders. Visitors and residents enjoy such annual events as the Portuguese Picnic, the Firefighters' Family Day, summer band concerts, the Welcome Santa parade and many, many others.

History

Milford was first settled in 1662 and was officially incorporated in 1780. December 31, 1741 - Incorporation of the Easterly Precinct or "Mill River". April 11, 1780 - Easterly precinct of Mendon incorporated into separate town by the name of Milford. 1790 - Census data lists Milford with 838 people. March 6, 1818 - William Claflin born; will be the Governor of Massachusetts from 1869 - 1872. 1848 - First railroad 1855 - Telegraph office opens in the mansion house. 1858 - Library established. April 7, 1880 - Telephone service installed. January 16, 1882 - Milford Water Company established. November 11, 1885 - Lighting by electricity for the first time. April 3, 1886 - Senate passes bill separating Hopedale from Milford. September 10, 1894 - High School reports 151 students enrolled. September 1, 1896 - Electric street cars make their first run to Hopedale. March 15, 1900 - Milford High School destroyed by fire. 1900 - Population of the town is 11,376. May 2, 1902 - H. M. Curtiss is the first Milford resident to own and operate an automobile on Milford roads. December 2, 1902 - Booker T. Washington gives an address to the Woman's club. July 24, 1903 - Milford Hospital presented to the town. February 7, 1905 - Robert E. Peary, discoverer of the North Pole, lectures here. August 8, 1907 - The price of milk goes from six to seven cents per quart. January 6, 1912 - The average weekly wage for a Milford worker is $10.09. October 28, 1913 - John Philip Sousa and his band gives a concert in the Milford Opera House. September 28, 1918 - The Board of Health sets up an emergency hospital to deal with the Influenza epidemic. By November, 90 people have died. September, 1920 - 156 Milford Women vote for the first time and Franklin D. Roosevelt addresses 600 people in Lincoln Square. November 25, 1922 - One ton of hard coal sells for $15. April 29, 1923 - Rudolph Valentino performs here. June 20-22, 1930 - Milford celebrates its sesquicentennial with a parade and fireworks. September 21, 1938 - A powerful hurricane washes out roads and blocks the railroad, paralyzing the town. October 1946 - Welcome home celebration for WWII veterans. June 1952 - Tornado hits Worcester County. Fino Field becomes a lake and much of Milford is flooded. Water Street lives up to its name, turning into a river. February 1962 - Proposal for the construction of Route 495 through Milford is presented. April 25, 1971 - Ground broken for the new Milford High School. February 7, 1978 - Blizzard brings 80 MPH winds and 27 inches of snow causing a state of emergency and closing area businesses for days. The roof of a large Milford supermarket collapses under the weight of the snow, though there were no injuries. January 1, 1980 - Bi-centenial celebrate with the ringing of fire alarms and church bells.

Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 38.5 km² (14.9 mi²). 37.8 km² (14.6 mi²) of it is land and 0.7 km² (0.3 mi²) of it is water. The total area is 1.82% water.

Demographics

As of the census2 of 2000, there are 26,799 people, 10,420 households, and 7,200 families residing in the town. The population density is 708.7/km² (1,835.6/mi²). There are 10,713 housing units at an average density of 283.3/km² (733.8/mi²). The racial makeup of the town is 92.95% White, 1.35% Black or African American, 0.11% Native American, 1.76% Asian, 0.06% Pacific Islander, 1.99% from other races, and 1.77% from two or more races. 4.36% of the population are Hispanic or Latino of any race. There are 10,420 households out of which 33.4% have children under the age of 18 living with them, 54.0% are married couples living together, 11.2% have a female householder with no husband present, and 30.9% are non-families. 25.6% of all households are made up of individuals and 9.5% have someone living alone who is 65 years of age or older. The average household size is 2.54 and the average family size is 3.08. In the town the population is spread out with 24.8% under the age of 18, 6.5% from 18 to 24, 33.2% from 25 to 44, 22.6% from 45 to 64, and 12.9% who are 65 years of age or older. The median age is 37 years. For every 100 females there are 94.3 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there are 90.6 males. The median income for a household in the town is $50,856, and the median income for a family is $61,029. Males have a median income of $42,173 versus $30,989 for females. The per capita income for the town is $23,742. 7.2% of the population and 5.8% of families are below the poverty line. Out of the total population, 8.9% of those under the age of 18 and 10.4% of those 65 and older are living below the poverty line.

External link


- [http://www.milford.ma.us/ Milford official website] Category:Towns in Massachusetts Category:Worcester County, Massachusetts

Portolan chart

A portolan is an early modern European navigation chart, dating from the fourteenth century or later, in manuscript, usually with rhumb lines, shorelines and place names. The portolan combined the exact notations of the periplus with the decorative illustrations of the conceptual T and O map but on the whole it offered a realistic depiction of the shore and was meant for practical use by a mariner of the period. The portolan did not take into account the curvature of the Earth, so it was a misleading document for crossing an Ocean. It was useful for navigation in smaller bodies of water such as the Mediterranean or the Red sea. The oldest portolan which has survived to our era dates from 1296. The cartographer Angelino Dulcert produced a portolan in 1339. Category: Cartography

Pierre Charles L'Enfant

Pierre Charles L'Enfant (2 August 1754 – 14 June 1825) designed the street plan of the Federal City in the United States, now known as Washington, D.C.. Born in France, he came to the American colonies as a military engineer with General Lafayette and became closely identified with the United States, adopting the name Peter. He was wounded at the siege of Savannah in 1779, but recovered and served in General Washington's staff for the remainder of the Revolutionary War. Following the war, he achieved some fame as an architect by redesigning Federal Hall in New York City. He designed coins, medals, furniture and houses of the wealthy. He was a friend of treasurer Alexander Hamilton. Shortly thereafter, as a result of his connections, L'Enfant was appointed by George Washington to design a new federal capital. The layout was begun in 1791. Because of his temperament and insistence on the city being realised as a whole, L'Enfant's plan for the Federal City was only partially executed during his lifetime. The District Commissioners wanted to direct the limited funds available into the construction of the federal buildings; in this they had the support of Thomas Jefferson. L'Enfant was dismissed from the execution of the project. The plan was put in the hands of the surveyors, Andrew and Joseph Ellicott who had conducted the original surveys of the Federal District of Columbia with the assistance of Benjamin Banneker, a mathematician. L'Enfant was not paid for his work, and fell into disgrace, spending much of the rest of his life trying to persuade Congress what he felt he was due. He was offered a position as Professor of Engineering at West Point in 1812 but declined. L'Enfant died in poverty and was buried at the farm of a friend in Prince George's County, Maryland. In 1901 the McMillan Commission used the original design of L'Enfant as the cornerstone of its 1902 report, which laid out a plan for a sweeping National Mall. His adopted nation finally recognizing his genius, L'Enfant was reinterred in Arlington National Cemetery with a ceremony at the U.S. Capitol Rotunda in 1909 and honored with a monument at his grave in 1911. L'Enfant, Pierre Charles L'Enfant, Pierre Charles L'Enfant, Pierre Charles L'Enfant, Pierre Charles L'Enfant, Pierre Charles L'Enfant, Pierre Charles L'Enfant, Pierre Charles L'Enfant, Pierre Charles

United States Capitol

:For other uses of "Capitol Hill," see Capitol Hill (disambiguation). The United States Capitol is the capitol building which serves as home for Congress, the legislative branch of the United States federal government. It is located in Washington, D.C., atop Capitol Hill at the east end of the National Mall. The building is marked by its central dome above a rotunda and two wings, one for each chamber of Congress: the north wing is the Senate chamber and the south wing is the House of Representatives chamber. Above these chambers are galleries where people can watch the Senate and House of Representatives. There are 100 senators and 435 representatives.

History of the Capitol Building

House of Representatives House of Representatives The current building is the fourth to serve as the U.S. capitol, after the Maryland State House in Annapolis, Maryland (1783–1784), Federal Hall in New York (1789–1790) and Congress Hall in Philadelphia (1790–1800). Construction of the current Capitol building began in 1793. It is known that George Washington laid the cornerstone, but the exact whereabouts of that stone are now unknown. The Senate wing was completed in 1800, while the House wing was completed in 1811. The Capitol building held its first session of U.S. Congress on November 17, 1800. The Supreme Court also met in the Capitol until its own building (behind the East Front) was completed in 1935. Shortly after completion, it was partially burned by the British during the War of 1812. Reconstruction began in 1815, and was completed by 1830. The architect Benjamin Latrobe is principally connected with the original construction and many innovative interior features; his succesor, noted architect Charles Bulfinch, also played a major role. Charles Bulfinch The building was expanded dramatically in the 1850s. The original timber-framed dome of 1818 would no longer be appropriately scaled. Thomas U. Walter was responsible for the wing extensions and the "wedding cake" cast-iron dome, three times the height of the original dome and 30 m in diameter, which had to be supported on the existing masonry piers. Like Mansart's dome at Les Invalides (which he had visited in 1838), Walter's dome is double, with a large oculus in the inner dome, through which one views the Apotheosis of Washington painted on a shell suspended from the supporting ribs, which also support the visible exterior structure and the tholos that supports the Freedom, a colossal statue that was added to the top of the dome in 1863. The weight of the cast-iron for the dome has been published as 8,909,200 lb of iron (4,041,100 kg). For construction details, see links. 1863 When the dome of the Capitol was finally completed, but to a significantly enlarged design than had initially been planned, its massive visual weight overpowered the proportions of the columns of the East Portico, built in 1828. The East Front of the Capitol building was rebuilt in 1904, following a design of the architects Carrère and Hastings, who also designed the Senate and House Office Buildings. A marble duplicate of the sandstone East Front was built 33.5 feet from the old Front during 1958-1962, and a connecting extension incorporated what formerly was an outside wall as an inside wall. In the process, removal of the old entrance rendered homeless the historic Corinthian columns, until landcape designer Russell Page created a suitable setting for them in a large meadow at the National Arboretum, where they are combined with a reflecting pool in an ensemble that reminds some visitors disconcertingly of Persepolis. Underground tunnels (and even a private subway) connect the main Capitol building with each of the Congressional Office Buildings in the surrounding complex. All rooms in the Capitol are designated as either HOB (House Office Building) or SOB (Senate Office Building), depending on whether they are north (Senate) or south (House) of the Rotunda. Additionally, all addresses in Washington, DC are designated NE, NW, SE, or SW, in relationship to the Rotunda. (Becuase the Capitol Rotunda is not located in the center of the District - but is rather slightly further east - this means that the four DC quadrants themselves are not the same shape and size) On June 20, 2000, ground was broken for the Capitol Vistor Center, which is due to open in Fall 2006. Since 2001, the East Front of the Capitol (site of all Presidential Inaugurations until Ronald Reagan broke with tradition in 1984) has been the site of construction for this massive underground complex, designed to facilitate a more orderly entrance for visitors to the Capitol. (When construction is complete, the East Front will be restored to its earlier, pre-pavement appearance.) Prior to the center being built, visitors to the Capitol had to queue on the parking lot and ascend the stairs, whereupon entry was made through the massive sculpted Columbus Doors, through a small narthex (with cramped security) and thence directly into the Rotunda. The new underground facility will provide a grand entrance hall, a visitors theater, and room for exhibits, in addition to space for building necessities such as an underground tunnel for the removal of trash.

The Capitol grounds

The Capitol Grounds cover approximately 274 acres (1.1 km²), with grounds proper consisting mostly of lawns, walkways, streets, drives, and planting areas. Today's grounds were designed by noted American landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted, who planned the expansion and landscaping performed from 1874 to 1892. In 1875, as one of his first recommendations, Olmsted proposed the construction of the marble terraces on the north, west, and south sides of the building that we see today. Olmsted also designed the Summer House, the open-air brick building that sits just north of the Capitol. Three arches open into the hexagonal structure, which encloses a fountain and twenty-two brick chairs. A fourth wall holds a small window that looks onto an artificial grotto. Built between 1879 and 1881, the Summer House was intended to answer complaints that visitors to the Capitol had no place to sit or water their horses and themselves. Modern drinking fountains have since replaced Olmsted's fountain for the latter purpose, but the horses ridden by the Capitol's mounted police unit can still occasionally be seen dipping into the original stone basin. Olmsted intended to build a second, matching Summer House on the southern side of the Capitol, but Congressional objections led to the project's cancelation.

House Chamber

The House of Representatives Chamber is adorned with relief portraits of famous lawmakers throughout history. In order clockwise around the chamber:
- George Mason
- Robert Joseph Pothier
- Jean Baptiste Colbert
- Edward I
- Alfonso X
- Pope Gregory IX
- Saint Louis
- Justinian I
- Tribonian
- Lycurgus
- Hammurabi
- Moses
- Solon
- Papinian
- Gaius
- Maimonides
- Suleiman
- Innocent III
- Simon de Montfort
- Hugo Grotius
- Sir William Blackstone
- Napoleon I
- Thomas Jefferson

Miscellany

The Capitol houses a variety of works of art, including the National Statuary Hall Collection, which is comprised of statues donated by the fifty states to honor persons notable in their histories. On July 24, 1998, Russell Eugene Weston Jr. burst into the Capitol and opened fire, killing two United States Capitol Police officers. He was later ruled to be incompetent to stand trial. In 1975, a bomb detonated in the lobby outside the Senate chamber. In 1954, Puerto Rican nationalists opened fire on members of Congress from the vistors gallery. The Capitol is on the back of the U.S. $50 bill. There are 365 steps on the Capitol, one for each day of the year. Under the Rotunda there is an area known as the Crypt, designed to be the final resting place for George Washington. At the request of his wife, Martha, however, he was buried at Mount Vernon, and as such the area remains open to visitors.

Major Events

George Washington The United States Capitol, as well as the grounds of Capitol Hill, have played host to major events. Every year since 1990, people gather on the west lawn on the Sunday before Memorial Day for the National Memorial Day Concert, broadcast on PBS. Every July 4, people gather on Capitol Hill to celebrate Independence Day. Among the major events the United States Capitol has hosted:
- Presidential inaugurations
- Americans lying in state. Among them:
  - President Ronald Reagan
  - Civil rights icon Rosa Parks: the first woman and second African American to lay in state in the Capitol.

See also


- Architect of the Capitol
- Congressional Subway
- U.S. Capitol shooting incident (1954)
- U.S. Capitol shooting incident (1998)

External links

U.S. Capitol shooting incident (1998)
- [http://www.aoc.gov/ Architect of the Capitol Website]
- [http://www.usna.usda.gov/Gardens/collections/columns.html National Capitol Columns]
- [http://www.aoc.gov/cvc/cvc_overview.htm Capitol Visitors Center]
- [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/national/longterm/shooting/stories/security072598.htm WashingtonPost.com: Protection vs. 'the People's House']
- [http://www.cupola.com/html/bldgstru/statecap/slide/uscap1e.htm Cupolas of Capitalism Gallery - United States Capitol (1 of 8)]
- [http://www.senate.gov/pagelayout/visiting/a_three_sections_with_teasers/visitors_home.htm U.S. Senate: Visitors Center Home]
- [http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/us.capitol/s0.html Temple of Liberty: Building the Capitol for a New Nation]
- [http://www.pubs.asce.org/ceonline/1000feat.html "Examining the Capitol dome,"] in Civil Engineering Magazine, October 2000
- [http://www.fona.org/members/spring99/tramtour.html Arbor Friends, Spring 1999: Take the Tram Tour for a Taste of the Arboretum's Pleasures]
- Balloon View of [http://www.sonofthesouth.net/leefoundation/civil-war/1861/july/washington-dc-pictures.htm Washington DC] showing Construction of US Capitol
- Capitol Category:Historic civil engineering landmarks Capitol Category:Legislative buildings Category:Neoclassicism Capitol Capitol Category:Buildings and structures in Washington, D.C.

1804

1804 was a leap year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar).

Events


- January 1 - End of French rule in Haiti
- February 14 - First Serbian Uprising began.
- February 15 - New Jersey becomes the last northern state to abolish slavery
- February 16 - First Barbary War: Stephen Decatur leads a raid to burn the pirate-held frigate Philadelphia.
- February 21 - The first self-propelling steam engine or steam locomotive makes its outing at the Pen-y-Darren ironworks in Wales. Designed by Richard Trevithick, a Cornishman.
- March 7 - John Wedgwood founds The Royal Horticultural Society
- March 10 - Louisiana Purchase: In St. Louis, a formal ceremony is conducted to transfer ownership of Louisiana Territory from France to the United States.
- March 20 - Execution of the Duc d’Enghien for plotting against Napoleon
- March 21 - Code Napoleon adopted as French civil law
- April 26 - Henry Addington resigns as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
- May 10 - William Pitt the younger begins his second term as a Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
- May 14 - The Lewis and Clark Expedition departs from Camp Dubois and begin their historic journey by traveling up the Missouri River.
- May 18 - Napoleon Bonaparte is proclaimed Emperor of France by the French Senate.
- June 15 - The Twelfth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution ratified by New Hampshire, and arguably becomes effective (subsequently vetoed by the Governor of New Hampshire)
- July 11 - Duel between Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr results in the death of Alexander Hamilton.
- July 27 - The Twelfth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution ratified by Tennessee, removing doubt surrounding adoption.
- August 20 - Lewis and Clark Expedition: The "Corps of Discovery", whose purpose is to explore the Louisiana Purchase, suffers it first and last death when Sergeant Charles Floyd dies, apparently from acute appendicitis.
- September 1 - German astronomer K. L. Harding discovers the asteroid Juno
- Thomas Jefferson defeats Charles C. Pinckney in U.S. presidential election
- November 30 - The Jeffersonian Republican-controlled United States Senate begin an impeachment trial against Federalist-partisan Supreme Court of the United States Justice Samuel Chase (he was charged with political bias but was acquitted by the Senate of all charges on March 1, 1805).
- December 2 - At Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, Napoleon Bonaparte crowns himself as the first Emperor of the French in a thousand years (the Napoleonic Code is adopted).
- December 12 - Spain declares war on Britain

Unknown date


- Père Lachaise Cemetery a 118 acre (0.5 km²) cemetery in Paris, France is founded.
- Nicolas-François Appert (1750-1841) develops a method to preserve food by means of canning.

Ongoing events


- Napoleonic Wars (1799-1815)

Births


- January 1 - James Fannin, Texas revolutionary (d. 1836)
- January 20 - Eugène Sue, French novelist (d. 1857)
- January 21 - Eliza Roxcy Snow, American poet (d. 1887)
- February 7 - John Deere, American industrialist (d. 1886)
- March 14 - Johann Strauss Senior, Austrian composer (d. 1849)
- March 17 - Jim Bridger, American trapper and explorer (d. 1881)
- June 1 - Mikhail Glinka, Russian composer (d. 1857)
- June 1 - George Sand, French writer (d. 1876)
- June 24 - Willard Richards, American religious leader (d. 1854)
- July 4 - Nathaniel Hawthorne, American writer (d. 1864)
- July 28 - Ludwig Feuerbach, German philosopher (d. 1872)
- September 8 - Eduard Mörike, German poet (d. 1875)
- November 18 - Alfonso Ferrero la Marmora, Italian general and statesman (d. 1878)
- November 23 - Franklin Pierce, 14th President of the United States (d. 1869)
- December 10 - Carl Gustav Jakob Jacobi, German mathematician (d. 1851)
- December 13 - Joseph Howe, Canadian politican (d. 1873)
- December 21 - Benjamin Disraeli, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 1881)
- December 23 - Charles Augustin Sainte-Beuve, French literary critic (d. 1869)

Deaths


- January 4 - Charlotte Ramsey Lennox, English author and poet (b. 1727)
- January 15 - Dru Drury, English entomologist (b. 1725)
- February 6 - Joseph Priestley, English chemist (b. 1733)
- February 12 - Immanuel Kant, German philosopher (b. 1724)
- March 21 - Louis-Antoine-Henri de Bourbon-Condé, duc d'Enghien (executed) (b. 1772)
- March 30 - Victor-François, 2nd duc de Broglie, Marshal of France (b. 1718)
- April 9 - Jacques Necker, French statesman (b. 1732)
- April 15 - Charles Pichegru, French general (strangled in prison) (b. 1761)
- July 12 - Alexander Hamilton, American statesman (killed in a duel)
- September 4 - Richard Somers, American naval officer (killed in battle)
- October 2 - Nicolas-Joseph Cugnot, French automobile pioneer (b. 1725)
- November 23 - Richard Graves, English writer (b. 1715) Category:1800s Category:1804 ko:1804년 ms:1804 simple:1804 th:พ.ศ. 2347

Washington Monument

The Washington Monument usually refers to the large white-colored obelisk in the center of the National Mall in Washington, D.C., built as a memorial to George Washington, the first President of the United States and the leader of the revolutionary Continental Army, which won independence from the British following the American Revolutionary War. Other monuments to honor Washington, also known as the "Washington Monument", are in Baltimore, Maryland and Annapolis, Maryland. The monument is made of marble, granite, and sandstone. It was designed by Robert Mills, a prominent American architect of the 1840s. Its cornerstone was laid on July 4, 1848; the capstone was set on December 6, 1884, and the completed monument was dedicated on February 21 of the following year. It officially opened to the public on October 9, 1888. Upon completion, it became the world's tallest structure at 169 m, a title it held until 1889, when the Eiffel Tower was finished in Paris, France. The Washington Monument reflection can be seen in the aptly named Reflecting Pool, an edged rectangular pool extending westward in the direction of the Lincoln Memorial.

History

The motivation for the monument

Alone among the Founders of the United States, George Washington earned the title "Father of the Country" in recognition of his leadership in the cause of American independence. Appointed commander of the Continental Army in 1775, he molded a fighting force that won independence from Great Britain. In 1787, as President of the Constitutional Convention, he helped guide the deliberations to form a government that has lasted for more than 200 years. Two years later he was unanimously elected the first President of the United States. Washington defined the Presidency and helped develop the relationships among the three branches of government. He established precedents that successfully launched the new government on its course. He refused the trappings of power and veered from monarchical government and traditions and twice, despite considerable pressure to do otherwise, gave up the most powerful position in the Americas. Washington remained ever mindful of the ramifications of his decisions and actions, for he was a consummate statesman. With this monument the citizens of the United States show their enduring gratitude and respect. When the Revolutionary War ended, no man in the United States commanded more respect than George Washington. Americans celebrated his ability to win the war despite limited supplies and inexperienced men, and they admired his decision to refuse a salary and accept only reimbursements for his expenses. Their regard increased further when it became known that he had rejected a proposal by some of his officers to make him king of the new country. It was not only what Washington did but the way he did it: Abigail Adams, wife of John Adams, described him as "polite with dignity, affable without familiarity, distant without haughtiness, grave without austerity, modest, wise, and good." Washington retired to his plantation at Mount Vernon after the war, but he soon had to decide whether to return to public life. As it became clear that the Articles of Confederation had left the Federal Government too weak to levy taxes, regulate trade, or control its borders, men such as James Madison began calling for a convention that would strengthen its authority. Washington was reluctant to attend, as he had business affairs to manage at Mount Vernon. If he did not go to Philadelphia, however, he worried about his reputation and about the future of the country. He finally decided that, since "to see this nation happy… is so much the wish of my soul," he would serve as one of Virginia's representatives. The other delegates during the summer of 1787 chose him to preside over their deliberations, which ultimately produced the U.S. Constitution. A key part of the Constitution was the development of the office of President of the United States. No one seemed more qualified to fill that position than Washington, and in 1789 began the first of his two terms. He used the nation's respect for him to develop respect for this new office, but he simultaneously tried to quiet fears that the President would become as powerful as the king the new country had fought against. He tried to create the kind of solid government he thought the nation needed, supporting a national bank, collecting taxes to pay for expenses, and strengthening the Army and Navy. Though many people wanted him to stay for a third term, in 1797 he again retired to Mount Vernon. Washington died suddenly two years later. His death produced great sadness, and it restarted attempts to honor him. As early as 1783, the Continental Congress had resolved "That an equestrian statue of George Washington be erected at the place where the residence of Congress shall be established." The proposal called for engraving on the statue that explained that it had been erected "in honor of George Washington, the illustrious Commander-in-Chief of the Armies of the United States of America during the war which vindicated and secured their liberty, sovereignty, and independence." Though it was easy to understand why nothing happened while the government lacked a permanent home, there was little progress even after Congress had settled on Washington, D.C. as the new capital. Ten days after President Washington's death, a Congressional committee recommended a different type of monument. John Marshall, a Representative from Virginia who would soon become Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, proposed that a tomb be erected within the Capitol. But a lack of funds, disagreement over what type of memorial would best honor the country's first president, and the Washington family's reluctance to move his body prevented progress on any project. That inaction would prove typical in the coming years.

Design

Progress towards a memorial finally began in 1833. That year, which marked the 100th anniversary of Washington's birth, a large group of concerned citizens formed the Washington National Monument Society. They began collecting donations, much in the way Blodgett had suggested. By the middle of the 1830s, they had raised over $28,000 and announced a competition for the design of the memorial. On September 23, 1835, the board of managers of the Society described their expectations: : It is proposed that the contemplated monument shall be like him in whose honor it is to be constructed, unparalleled in the world, and commensurate with the gratitude, liberality, and patriotism of the people by whom it is to be erected… [It] should blend stupendousness with elegance, and be of such magnitude and beauty as to be an object of pride to the American people, and of admiration to all who see it. Its material is intended to be wholly American, and to be of marble and granite brought from each state, that each state may participate in the glory of contributing material as well as in funds to its construction. 1835 The Society held a competition for designs in 1836. The winner, architect Robert Mills, was well-qualified for the commission. In 1814 the citizens of Baltimore had chosen him to build a monument to Washington, and he had designed a tall Greek column surmounted by a statue of the President. Mills also knew the capital well, having just been chosen Architect of Public Buildings for Washington. His design called for a 900-foot (270 m) tall obelisk—an upright, four-sided pillar that tapers as it rises—with a nearly flat top. He surrounded the obelisk with a circular colonnade, the top of which would feature Washington standing in a chariot. Inside the colonnade would be statues of 30 prominent Revolutionary War heroes. Yet criticism of Mills' design and its estimated price tag of more than $1 million caused the Society to hesitate. In 1848 its members decided to start building the obelisk and to leave the question of the colonnade for later. They believed that if they used the $87,000 they had already collected to start work, the appearance of the Monument would spur further donations that would allow them to complete the project. About this time Congress donated 37 acres (150,000 m²) of land for the project. The spot Pierre Charles L'Enfant had chosen was swampy and unstable, making it unsuitable for supporting what would be an enormously heavy structure. The new location was slightly south and east of the original but still offered many advantages. It "presents a beautiful view of the Potomac," wrote a member of the Society, and "is so elevated that the monument will be seen from all parts of the surrounding country." Because it is public land, he continued, "it is safe from any future obstruction of the view… [and it] would be in full view of Mount Vernon, where rests the ashes of the chief."

Construction

Potomac Excavation for the foundation of the Washington Monument began in the spring of 1848. The cornerstone was laid as part of an elaborate Fourth of July ceremony hosted by the Freemasons, a world-wide fraternal organization that Washington belonged to and that still exists today. Speeches that day showed that the country continued to revere Washington: one celebrant noted that "No more Washingtons shall come in our time… But his virtues are stamped on the heart of mankind. He who is great in the battlefield looks upward to the generalship of Washington. He who grows wise in counsel feels that he is imitating Washington. He who can resign power against the wishes of a people, has in his eye the bright example of Washington." Construction continued until 1854, when donations ran out. The next year Congress voted to appropriate $200,000 to continue the work, but it changed its mind before the money could be spent. This reversal came because of a new policy the Society had adopted in 1849. It had agreed, after a request from some Alabamians, to encourage all states and territories to donate memorial stones that could be fitted into the interior walls. Members of the Society believed this practice would make citizens feel they had a part in building the Monument, and it would cut costs by limiting the amount of stone that had to be bought. Alabamians Blocks of marble, granite, and sandstone steadily appeared at the site. American Indian tribes, professional organizations, societies, businesses, and foreign nations donated stones that were four feet by two feet by 12 to 18 inches (1.2 by 0.6 by 0.3 to 0.5 m). Many, however, carried inscriptions irrelevant to a memorial for George Washington. For example, one from the Templars of Honor and Temperance stated "We will not buy, sell, or use as a beverage, any spiritous or malt liquors, Wine, Cider, or any other Alcoholic Liquor." It was just one memorial stone that started the events that stopped the Congressional appropriation and ultimately construction altogether. In the early 1850s, Pope Pius IX contributed a block of marble. In March 1854, members of the anti-Catholic, anti-immigrant American Party—better known as the "Know-Nothings"—stole the Pope's stone as a protest and supposedly threw it into the Potomac. Then, in order to make sure the Monument fit their definition of "American," the Know-Nothings conducted a fraudulent election so they could take over the entire Society. Congress immediately rescinded its $200,000 contribution. The Know-Nothings retained control of the Society until 1858, adding 13 courses of the masonry to the Monument—all of which was of such poor quality that it was later removed. Unable to collect enough money to finish work, they increasingly lost public support. The Know-Nothings eventually gave up and returned all records to the original Society, but the stoppage in construction continued into, then after, the Civil War. Interest in the Monument grew after the Civil War ended. Engineers studied the foundation several times to see whether it remained strong enough. In 1876, the Centennial of the Declaration of Independence, Congress agreed to appropriate another $200,000 to resume construction. The Monument, which had stood for nearly 20 years at less than one-third of its proposed height, now seemed ready for completion. Declaration of Independence Before work could begin again, however, arguments about the most appropriate design resumed. Many people thought that a simple obelisk, one without the colonnade, would be too bare. Architect Mills was reputed to have said that omitti