1.
Pierre L'Enfant (painter)
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Pierre LEnfant was a French painter. He was born in Anet on the 26 August 1704, after studying under Charles Parrocel, he was admitted as an adémicien to the Académie de peinture et de sculpture in 1745. The Palace of Versailles has four of his paintings, Prise de Menin, Siège de Fribourg, Siège de Tournai, and Siège de Mons. Together, they had, Pierre Joseph LEnfant, firstborn, died aged six Pierre Peter Charles LEnfant, designer of Washington, Pierre Lenfant in Joconde database, a database of French painting. This Wikipedia entry relies heavily on the French Wikipedia entry, which was accessed for translation on 9 November 2016
2.
Paris
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Paris is the capital and most populous city of France. It has an area of 105 square kilometres and a population of 2,229,621 in 2013 within its administrative limits, the agglomeration has grown well beyond the citys administrative limits. By the 17th century, Paris was one of Europes major centres of finance, commerce, fashion, science, and the arts, and it retains that position still today. The aire urbaine de Paris, a measure of area, spans most of the Île-de-France region and has a population of 12,405,426. It is therefore the second largest metropolitan area in the European Union after London, the Metropole of Grand Paris was created in 2016, combining the commune and its nearest suburbs into a single area for economic and environmental co-operation. Grand Paris covers 814 square kilometres and has a population of 7 million persons, the Paris Region had a GDP of €624 billion in 2012, accounting for 30.0 percent of the GDP of France and ranking it as one of the wealthiest regions in Europe. The city is also a rail, highway, and air-transport hub served by two international airports, Paris-Charles de Gaulle and Paris-Orly. Opened in 1900, the subway system, the Paris Métro. It is the second busiest metro system in Europe after Moscow Metro, notably, Paris Gare du Nord is the busiest railway station in the world outside of Japan, with 262 millions passengers in 2015. In 2015, Paris received 22.2 million visitors, making it one of the top tourist destinations. The association football club Paris Saint-Germain and the rugby union club Stade Français are based in Paris, the 80, 000-seat Stade de France, built for the 1998 FIFA World Cup, is located just north of Paris in the neighbouring commune of Saint-Denis. Paris hosts the annual French Open Grand Slam tennis tournament on the red clay of Roland Garros, Paris hosted the 1900 and 1924 Summer Olympics and is bidding to host the 2024 Summer Olympics. The name Paris is derived from its inhabitants, the Celtic Parisii tribe. Thus, though written the same, the name is not related to the Paris of Greek mythology. In the 1860s, the boulevards and streets of Paris were illuminated by 56,000 gas lamps, since the late 19th century, Paris has also been known as Panam in French slang. Inhabitants are known in English as Parisians and in French as Parisiens and they are also pejoratively called Parigots. The Parisii, a sub-tribe of the Celtic Senones, inhabited the Paris area from around the middle of the 3rd century BC. One of the areas major north-south trade routes crossed the Seine on the île de la Cité, this place of land and water trade routes gradually became a town
3.
Kingdom of France
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The Kingdom of France was a medieval and early modern monarchy in Western Europe. It was one of the most powerful states in Europe and a great power since the Late Middle Ages and it was also an early colonial power, with possessions around the world. France originated as West Francia, the half of the Carolingian Empire. A branch of the Carolingian dynasty continued to rule until 987, the territory remained known as Francia and its ruler as rex Francorum well into the High Middle Ages. The first king calling himself Roi de France was Philip II, France continued to be ruled by the Capetians and their cadet lines—the Valois and Bourbon—until the monarchy was overthrown in 1792 during the French Revolution. France in the Middle Ages was a de-centralised, feudal monarchy, in Brittany and Catalonia the authority of the French king was barely felt. Lorraine and Provence were states of the Holy Roman Empire and not yet a part of France, during the Late Middle Ages, the Kings of England laid claim to the French throne, resulting in a series of conflicts known as the Hundred Years War. Subsequently, France sought to extend its influence into Italy, but was defeated by Spain in the ensuing Italian Wars, religiously France became divided between the Catholic majority and a Protestant minority, the Huguenots, which led to a series of civil wars, the Wars of Religion. France laid claim to large stretches of North America, known collectively as New France, Wars with Great Britain led to the loss of much of this territory by 1763. French intervention in the American Revolutionary War helped secure the independence of the new United States of America, the Kingdom of France adopted a written constitution in 1791, but the Kingdom was abolished a year later and replaced with the First French Republic. The monarchy was restored by the great powers in 1814. During the later years of the elderly Charlemagnes rule, the Vikings made advances along the northern and western perimeters of the Kingdom of the Franks, after Charlemagnes death in 814 his heirs were incapable of maintaining political unity and the empire began to crumble. The Treaty of Verdun of 843 divided the Carolingian Empire into three parts, with Charles the Bald ruling over West Francia, the nucleus of what would develop into the kingdom of France. Viking advances were allowed to increase, and their dreaded longboats were sailing up the Loire and Seine rivers and other waterways, wreaking havoc. During the reign of Charles the Simple, Normans under Rollo from Norway, were settled in an area on either side of the River Seine, downstream from Paris, that was to become Normandy. With its offshoots, the houses of Valois and Bourbon, it was to rule France for more than 800 years. Henry II inherited the Duchy of Normandy and the County of Anjou, and married Frances newly divorced ex-queen, Eleanor of Aquitaine, after the French victory at the Battle of Bouvines in 1214, the English monarchs maintained power only in southwestern Duchy of Guyenne. The death of Charles IV of France in 1328 without male heirs ended the main Capetian line, under Salic law the crown could not pass through a woman, so the throne passed to Philip VI, son of Charles of Valois
4.
Prince George's County, Maryland
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Prince George’s County, also known as P. G. County, is a county in the U. S. state of Maryland, bordering the eastern portion of Washington, D. C. As of the 2010 U. S. Census, the population was 863,420 and its county seat is Upper Marlboro. Prince George’s County is included in the Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV Metropolitan Statistical Area, the official name of the county, as specified in the countys charter, is Prince George’s County, Maryland. The county is named after Prince George of Denmark, the husband of Anne, Queen of Great Britain, the countys demonym is Prince Georgian and its motto is Semper Eadem, a phrase used by Queen Anne. Prince Georges County is frequently referred to as P. G. or P. G, County, an abbreviation viewed as pejorative by some residents. The Cretaceous Era brought dinosaurs to the area left a number of fossils. The site, which among other finds has yielded fossilized teeth from Astrodon and Priconodon species, has called the most prolific in the eastern United States. In the mid to late Holocene era, the area was occupied by Paleo-Native Americans and then later, when the first European settlers arrived, what is now Prince Georges County was inhabited by people of the Piscataway Indian Nation. Three branches of the tribe are living today, two of which are headquartered in Prince Georges County. Prince Georges County was created by the English Council of Maryland in the Province of Maryland in 1696 from portions of Charles, the county was divided into six districts referred to as Hundreds, Mattapany, Petuxant, Collington, Mount Calvert, Piscattoway and New Scotland. A portion was detached in 1748 to form Frederick County, during the War of 1812, the British marched through the county by way of Bladensburg to burn the White House. On their return, they kidnapped a prominent doctor, William Beanes, lawyer Francis Scott Key was asked to negotiate for his release, which resulted in his writing The Star-Spangled Banner. Since much of the part of the county was tobacco farms that were worked by enslaved Africans. After the Civil War, many African Americans attempted to become part of Maryland politics, in April 1865, John Wilkes Booth made his escape through Prince Georges County after shooting President Abraham Lincoln. He was on his way to Virginia, the population of African Americans declined during the first half of the 20th century, but was renewed to over 50% in the early 1990s when the county again became majority African American. The first African American County Executive was Wayne K. Curry and this was done after city residents voted to be under the sole jurisdiction of Montgomery County, and subsequent approval by both counties and the Maryland General Assembly. This was the first change in Prince Georges Countys boundaries since 1968, the county has a number of properties on the National Register of Historic Places
5.
Arlington National Cemetery
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The United States Department of the Army, a component of the United States Department of Defense, controls the cemetery. The national cemetery was established during the Civil War on the grounds of Arlington House, like nearly all federal installations in Arlington County, it has a Washington, D. C. mailing address. George Washington Parke Custis, grandson of Martha Washington, acquired the land now is Arlington National Cemetery in 1802. The estate passed to Custis daughter, Mary Anna, who had married United States Army officer Robert E. Lee. Custis will gave an inheritance to Mary Lee, allowing her to live at and run Arlington Estate for the rest of her life. Upon her death, the Arlington estate passed to her eldest son, on May 7, troops of the Virginia militia occupied Arlington and Arlington House. With Confederate forces occupying Arlingtons high ground, the capital of the Union was left in a military position. Although unwilling to leave Arlington House, Mary Lee believed her estate would soon be infested with federal soldiers, so she buried many of her family treasures on the grounds and left for her sisters estate at Ravensworth in Fairfax County, Virginia, on May 14. On May 3, General Winfield Scott ordered Brigadier General Irvin McDowell to clear Arlington, McDowell occupied Arlington without opposition on May 24. In May 1864, Union forces suffered large numbers of dead in the Battle of the Wilderness, Meigs ordered that an examination of eligible sites be made for the establishment for a large new national military cemetery. Within weeks, his staff reported that Arlington Estate was the most suitable property in the area, the property was high and free from floods, it had a view of the District of Columbia, and it was aesthetically pleasing. It was also the home of the leader of the forces of the Confederate States of America. The first military burial at Arlington, for William Henry Christman, was made on May 13,1864, however, Meigs did not formally authorize establishment of burials until June 15,1864. Arlington did not desegregate its burial practices until President Harry S. Truman issued Executive Order 9981 on July 26,1948, the government acquired Arlington at a tax sale in 1864 for $26,800, equal to $410,000 today. Mrs. Lee had not appeared in person but rather had sent an agent, the government turned away her agent, refusing to accept the tendered payment. In 1874, Custis Lee, heir under his grandfathers will passing the estate in trust to his mother, sued the United States claiming ownership of Arlington. In December,1882, the U. S. Supreme Court ruled 5-4 in Lees favor in United States v. Lee, deciding that Arlington had been confiscated without due process. After that decision, Congress returned the estate to him, and on March 3,1883, the land then became a military reservation
6.
L'Enfant Plaza
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LEnfant Plaza is a complex of four commercial buildings grouped around a large plaza in the Southwest section of Washington, D. C. Immediately below the plaza and the buildings is the La Promenade shopping mall, the plaza is located south of Independence Avenue SW between 12th and 9th Streets SW. It was built perpendicular to LEnfant Promenade, a north-south running street, the plaza is named for Pierre Charles LEnfant, the architect and planner who first designed a street layout for the capital city. It was dedicated in 1968 after completion of the north and south buildings, LEnfant Plaza was part of the Southwest D. C. urban renewal project, one of the earliest urban renewal projects in the U. S. and the first such in D. C. The rapid expansion of the population of Washington, D. C. during World War II led to the construction of suburban office buildings. Congress also gave the National Capital Planning Commission the authority to designate which land would be redeveloped, the RLA was not funded, however, until passage of the Housing Act of 1949. A1950 study by the NCPC found that the small Southwest quarter of the city suffered from high concentrations of old and poorly maintained buildings, overcrowding, and threats to public health. Competing visions for the redevelopment ranged from renovation to wholesale leveling of neighborhoods, demolition faced almost all structures in Southwest Washington and was to have begun in 1950, but legal challenges led to piecemeal razing of the area until the mid-1950s. Most of the dwellings in Southwest D. C. were Victorian row houses, in 1954, Southwest D. C. had about 3,900 buildings housing 4,500 families. About 60 percent of the residents were African American, and the remainder Caucasian, only 20 percent of the residents owned their own home, and 72 percent of the buildings were rated as substandard. The area which became LEnfant Plaza was primarily Victorian townhouses, although a shuttered slaughterhouse also stood in the area, the RLA was the first to propose a major plaza along 10th Street NW. It commissioned architects Robert Justement and Chloethiel Woodard Smith to devise a master plan for Southwest D. C. The Justement-Smith plan, released in 1952, called for wholesale clearance of the area, notably, the Justement-Smith plan also proposed building an esplanade above 10th Street SW which would connect with Maine Avenue SW. The RLA later said it had studied putting the mall anywhere from 5th Street to 12th Street, parks would border the esplanade east and west, with a goal of providing an unobstructed view of the Smithsonian Institution headquarters and the National Mall. In November 1952, the NCPC released a report supporting the Justement-Smith plan. The NCPC report also approved of the plan to build an esplanade above 10th Street SW, in 1953, the RLA asked developers to submit plans based on the NCPCs November 1952 compromise report. C. As originally laid out, a circle would be built on Independence Avenue SW in front of the Smithsonian Castle. A 400-foot wide, grass-lined pedestrian mall replaced 10th Street SW, a concert hall, convention center, and opera house would line the pedestrian mall, which would be built over the railroad tracks and Southeast Freeway and connect with the Potomac River waterfront
7.
Washington, D.C.
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Washington, D. C. formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, the District, or simply D. C. is the capital of the United States. The signing of the Residence Act on July 16,1790, Constitution provided for a federal district under the exclusive jurisdiction of the Congress and the District is therefore not a part of any state. The states of Maryland and Virginia each donated land to form the federal district, named in honor of President George Washington, the City of Washington was founded in 1791 to serve as the new national capital. In 1846, Congress returned the land ceded by Virginia, in 1871. Washington had an population of 681,170 as of July 2016. Commuters from the surrounding Maryland and Virginia suburbs raise the population to more than one million during the workweek. The Washington metropolitan area, of which the District is a part, has a population of over 6 million, the centers of all three branches of the federal government of the United States are in the District, including the Congress, President, and Supreme Court. Washington is home to national monuments and museums, which are primarily situated on or around the National Mall. The city hosts 176 foreign embassies as well as the headquarters of international organizations, trade unions, non-profit organizations, lobbying groups. A locally elected mayor and a 13‑member council have governed the District since 1973, However, the Congress maintains supreme authority over the city and may overturn local laws. D. C. residents elect a non-voting, at-large congressional delegate to the House of Representatives, the District receives three electoral votes in presidential elections as permitted by the Twenty-third Amendment to the United States Constitution, ratified in 1961. Various tribes of the Algonquian-speaking Piscataway people inhabited the lands around the Potomac River when Europeans first visited the area in the early 17th century, One group known as the Nacotchtank maintained settlements around the Anacostia River within the present-day District of Columbia. Conflicts with European colonists and neighboring tribes forced the relocation of the Piscataway people, some of whom established a new settlement in 1699 near Point of Rocks, Maryland. 43, published January 23,1788, James Madison argued that the new government would need authority over a national capital to provide for its own maintenance. Five years earlier, a band of unpaid soldiers besieged Congress while its members were meeting in Philadelphia, known as the Pennsylvania Mutiny of 1783, the event emphasized the need for the national government not to rely on any state for its own security. However, the Constitution does not specify a location for the capital, on July 9,1790, Congress passed the Residence Act, which approved the creation of a national capital on the Potomac River. The exact location was to be selected by President George Washington, formed from land donated by the states of Maryland and Virginia, the initial shape of the federal district was a square measuring 10 miles on each side, totaling 100 square miles. Two pre-existing settlements were included in the territory, the port of Georgetown, Maryland, founded in 1751, many of the stones are still standing
8.
Freedom Plaza
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Freedom Plaza, originally known as Western Plaza, is an open plaza in Northwest Washington, D. C. United States, located at the corner of 14th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue NW, three large hotels are to the north and west. The National Park Service administers the Plaza as part of its Pennsylvania Avenue National Historic Site, the Plaza is a modification of an original design by Robert Venturi that the United States Commission of Fine Arts approved. The Plaza, which is composed mostly of stone, is inlaid with a depiction of Pierre Charles LEnfants plan for the City of Washington. Most of the plaza is raised above street level, the eastern end of the plaza contains an equestrian statue of Kazimierz Pułaski that had been installed at its site in 1910. The surface of the portion of the Plaza, consisting of dark and light marble. Brass outlines mark the sites of the White House and the Capitol, quotes about the city from its visitors and residents are carved into the marble surface. Granite retaining walls, marked at intervals by planted urns, edge the plaza, a granite-walled fountain flows in the western portion of the plaza. Flagpoles flying flags of the District of Columbia and the United States rise from the plaza opposite the entrance of the District Building, the Plaza also contains a metallic plaque containing the Great Seal of the United States. Followed by an inscription describing the history and usage of the seal, the plaza is one block south of the Freedom Plaza historical marker at stop number W.7 of the Civil War to Civil Rights Downtown Heritage Trail at 13th and E Streets, NW. Western Plaza was constructed by the Pennsylvania Avenue Development Corporation and was dedicated on November 1,1980, the plaza was renamed in 1988 to Freedom Plaza in honor of Martin Luther King, Jr. who worked on his I Have a Dream speech in the nearby Willard Hotel. During that year, a capsule containing a Bible, a robe. The capsule will be reopened in 2088, Freedom Plaza is a popular place for political protests and civic events. In 2011, the Plaza was one of the sites of an Occupy DC protest, the Plaza is also a popular location for skateboarding, although this activity is illegal and has resulted in police actions. Skateboarding has damaged sculpture, stonework, walls, benches, steps, Skateboarding presents a persistent law enforcement and management challenge, as popular websites advertise the Plazas attractiveness for the activity. Further, vandals have removed No Skateboarding signs, the Plaza is one of the settings in Dan Browns 2009 novel The Lost Symbol. The American Planning Association noted in 2014 that Freedom Plaza is a location for political protests. However, a reporter for the Washington Business Journal stated but that not mean the concrete expanse across from the John A. Wilson Building was well planned
9.
Military engineering
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Military engineering is loosely defined as the art and practice of designing and building military works and maintaining lines of military transport and communications. Military engineers are responsible for logistics behind military tactics. Modern military engineering differs from civil engineering, in the 20th and 21st centuries, military engineering also includes other engineering disciplines such as mechanical and electrical engineering techniques. According to NATO, military engineering is that engineer activity undertaken, regardless of component or service, Military engineering does not encompass the activities undertaken by those engineers who maintain, repair and operate vehicles, vessels, aircraft, weapon systems and equipment. Military engineering is a subject taught in military academies or schools of military engineering. The construction and demolition tasks related to engineering are usually performed by military engineers including soldiers trained as sappers or pioneers. In modern armies, soldiers trained to perform such tasks while well forward in battle, the word engineer was initially used in the context of warfare, dating back to 1325 when engine’er referred to a constructor of military engines. In this context, engine referred to a machine, i. e. A mechanical contraption used in war, in its place, the term military engineering has come to be used. Modern military engineering can be divided into three main tasks or fields, combat engineering, strategic support, and ancillary support, combat engineering is associated with engineering on the battlefield. Combat engineers are responsible for increasing mobility on the front lines of war such as digging trenches, strategic support is associated with providing service in communication zones such as the construction of airfields and the improvement and upgrade of ports, roads and railways communication. Ancillary support includes provision and distribution of maps as well as the disposal of unexploded warheads, Military engineers construct bases, airfields, roads, bridges, ports, and hospitals. During peacetime before modern warfare, military engineers took the role of civil engineers by participating in the construction of civil-works projects, nowadays, military engineers are almost entirely engaged in war logistics and preparedness. Combat engineers clear routes, repair airfields and harbours, bridge rivers all at top speed, the first civilization to have a dedicated force of military engineering specialists were the Romans, whose army contained a dedicated corps of military engineers known as architecti. This group was pre-eminent among its contemporaries, such military engineering feats would have been completely new, and probably bewildering and demoralizing, to the Gallic defenders. The best known of these Roman army engineers due to his writings surviving is Vitruvius, alexander the Great also used engineers in his army. In ancient times, military engineers were responsible for warfare and building field fortifications, temporary camps. The most notable engineers of ancient times were the Romans and Chinese, the Romans were responsible for constructing fortified wooden camps and paved roads for their legions
10.
Architect
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An architect is someone who plans, designs, and reviews the construction of buildings. Etymologically, architect derives from the Latin architectus, which derives from the Greek, practical, technical, and academic requirements for becoming an architect vary by jurisdiction. The terms architect and architecture are used in the disciplines of landscape architecture, naval architecture. In most jurisdictions, the professional and commercial uses of the terms architect, throughout ancient and medieval history, most architectural design and construction was carried out by artisans—such as stone masons and carpenters, rising to the role of master builder. Until modern times, there was no distinction between architect and engineer. In Europe, the architect and engineer were primarily geographical variations that referred to the same person. It is suggested that various developments in technology and mathematics allowed the development of the gentleman architect. Paper was not used in Europe for drawing until the 15th century, pencils were used more often for drawing by 1600. The availability of both allowed pre-construction drawings to be made by professionals, until the 18th-century, buildings continued to be designed and set out by craftsmen with the exception of high-status projects. In most developed countries, only qualified people with appropriate license, certification, or registration with a relevant body, such licensure usually requires an accredited university degree, successful completion of exams, and a training period. To practice architecture implies the ability to independently of supervision. In many places, independent, non-licensed individuals may perform design services outside the professional restrictions, such design houses, in the architectural profession, technical and environmental knowledge, design and construction management, and an understanding of business are as important as design. However, design is the force throughout the project and beyond. An architect accepts a commission from a client, the commission might involve preparing feasibility reports, building audits, the design of a building or of several buildings, structures, and the spaces among them. The architect participates in developing the requirements the client wants in the building, throughout the project, the architect co-ordinates a design team. Structural, mechanical, and electrical engineers and other specialists, are hired by the client or the architect, the architect hired by a client is responsible for creating a design concept that meets the requirements of that client and provides a facility suitable to the required use. In that, the architect must meet with and question the client to ascertain all the requirements, often the full brief is not entirely clear at the beginning, entailing a degree of risk in the design undertaking. The architect may make proposals to the client which may rework the terms of the brief
11.
L'Enfant Plan
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The LEnfant Plan for the city of Washington is the urban plan developed in 1791 by Major Pierre Charles LEnfant for George Washington, the first President of the United States. Major LEnfant was a French engineer who served in the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War, in 1789, when discussions were underway regarding a new federal capital city for the United States, LEnfant wrote to President Washington asking to be commissioned to plan the city. However, any decision on the capital was put on hold until July 1790 when Congress passed the Residence Act, included in the new district were the river port towns of Georgetown and Alexandria. LEnfant arrived in Georgetown on March 9,1791, and began his work, Washington arrived later on March 28, to meet with LEnfant and the Commissioners for several days. On June 22, LEnfant presented his first plan for the city to the President. On August 19, he appended a new map to a letter that he sent to the President, President Washington retained a copy of one of LEnfants plans, showed it to the Congress, and later gave it to the three Commissioners. In this, they had the support of Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson, Ellicott, with the aid of his brother, Benjamin Ellicott, then revised the plan, despite LEnfants protests. Ellicotts revisions, which included the straightening of the longer avenues,15, created changes to the citys layout. Andrew Ellicott stated in his letters that, although he was refused the original plan and it is therefore possible that Ellicott recreated the plan. After LEnfant departed, Andrew Ellicott continued the city survey in accordance with the revised plan, as a result, Ellicotts revisions subsequently became the basis for the capital citys development. The work of André Le Nôtre, particularly his Gardens of Versailles, is said to have influenced LEnfant’s master plan for the capital, LEnfants Plan of the city intended for the permanent seat of the government of the United States. Encompassed an area bounded by the Potomac River, the Eastern Branch, the base of the escarpment of the Atlantic Seaboard Fall Line and his plan specified locations for two buildings, the Congress House and the Presidents House. The Congress House would be built on Jenkins Hill, which LEnfant described as a pedestal awaiting a monument, the Presidents House would be situated on a ridge parallel to the Potomac River north of the mouth of Tiber Creek, which LEnfant proposed to canalize. LEnfant envisioned the Presidents House to have gardens and monumental architecture. Emphasizing the importance of the new legislature, the Congress House would be located on a longitude designated as 0,0. The plan specified that most streets would be out in a grid. To form the grid, some streets would travel in an east-west direction, diagonal broader avenues, later named after the states of the Union, crossed the north/south-east/west grid. The diagonal avenues intersected with the north-south and east-west streets at circles and rectangular plazas that would later honor notable Americans, a prominent geometric feature of LEnfants plan was a large right triangle whose hypotenuse was a wide avenue connecting the Presidents Houseand the Congress House
12.
Continental Army
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The Continental Army was formed by the Second Continental Congress after the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War by the colonies that became the United States of America. Established by a resolution of the Congress on June 14,1775, the Continental Army was supplemented by local militias and troops that remained under control of the individual states or were otherwise independent. General George Washington was the commander-in-chief of the army throughout the war, most of the Continental Army was disbanded in 1783 after the Treaty of Paris ended the war. The 1st and 2nd Regiments went on to form the nucleus of the Legion of the United States in 1792 under General Anthony Wayne and this became the foundation of the United States Army in 1796. The Continental Army consisted of soldiers from all 13 colonies, and after 1776, when the American Revolutionary War began at the Battles of Lexington and Concord on April 19,1775, the colonial revolutionaries did not have an army. As tensions with Great Britain increased in the leading to the war. Training of militiamen increased after the passage of the Intolerable Acts in 1774, colonists such as Richard Henry Lee proposed forming a national militia force, but the First Continental Congress rejected the idea. On April 23,1775, the Massachusetts Provincial Congress authorized the raising of an army consisting of 26 company regiments. New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Connecticut soon raised similar, on July 18,1775, the Congress requested all colonies form militia companies from all able bodied effective men, between sixteen and fifty years of age. It was not uncommon for men younger than sixteen to enlist as most colonies had no requirement of consent for those under twenty-one. Four major-generals and eight brigadier-generals were appointed by the Second Continental Congress in the course of a few days, after Pomeroy did not accept, John Thomas was appointed in his place. As the Continental Congress increasingly adopted the responsibilities and posture of a legislature for a sovereign state, as a result, the army went through several distinct phases, characterized by official dissolution and reorganization of units. Soldiers in the Continental Army were citizens who had volunteered to serve in the army, early in the war the enlistment periods were short, as the Continental Congress feared the possibility of the Continental Army evolving into a permanent army. The army never numbered more than 17,000 men, turnover proved a constant problem, particularly in the winter of 1776–77, and longer enlistments were approved. Major General Philip Schuylers ten regiments in New York were sent to invade Canada, the Continental Army of 1776, reorganized after the initial enlistment period of the soldiers in the 1775 army had expired. Despite attempts to broaden the recruiting base beyond New England, the 1776 army remained skewed toward the Northeast both in terms of its composition and of its geographical focus. This army consisted of 36 regiments, most standardized to a battalion of 768 men strong and formed into eight companies. Enlistment terms extended to three years or to the length of the war to avoid the crises that depleted forces
13.
Major (United States)
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In the United States Army, Marine Corps, and Air Force, major is a field grade military officer rank above the rank of captain and below the rank of lieutenant colonel. It is equivalent to the rank of lieutenant commander in the other uniformed services. Although lieutenant commanders are considered junior officers by their respective services, the pay grade for the rank of major is O-4. The insignia for the rank consists of an oak leaf. Promotion to major is governed by Department of Defense policies derived from the Defense Officer Personnel Management Act of 1980, a major in the U. S. Army typically serves as a battalion executive officer or as the battalion operations officer. A major can also serve as a staff officer for a regiment, brigade or task force in the areas concerning personnel, logistics. A major will also be a staff officer / action officer on higher staffs, in addition, majors command augmented companies in Combat Service and Service Support units. U. S. Army majors also command Special operations companies, during the American Civil War the Union Army continued to use the existing titles of rank and rank insignia established for the US Army. The number of rows of lace increased with the rank of the officer. A major in the Air Force typically has duties as a staff officer at the squadron. In flying squadrons majors are generally flight commanders or assistant directors of operations, in the mission support and maintenance groups majors may occasionally be squadron commanders. In the medical corps, a major may be the head of a clinic or flight, many police agencies in the United States use the rank of major for officers in senior administrative and supervisory positions. The position is most often found in larger agencies, where the number of sworn personnel requires an expanded and complex rank structure. The term major is not always used in scenarios, and some police departments prefer to use titles such as Deputy Chief, Commander, or similar. However, there are agencies, particularly state police, which prefer to use both the insignia and title. The rank may also be used in conjunction with, rather than instead of, confederate Army rank insignia, A guide Officer rank insignia Rank history
14.
United States Army Corps of Engineers
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The United States Army Corps of Engineers, also sometimes shortened to CoE is a U. S. Although generally associated with dams, canals and flood protection in the United States, the Corps of Engineers provides outdoor recreation opportunities to the public, and provides 24% of U. S. hydropower capacity. The corps mission is to Deliver vital public and military engineering services, partnering in peace and war to strengthen our Nations security, energize the economy and their most visible missions include, Planning, designing, building, and operating locks and dams. Other civil engineering projects include flood control, beach nourishment, design and construction of flood protection systems through various federal mandates. Design and construction management of military facilities for the Army, Air Force, Army Reserve and Air Force Reserve and other Defense and Federal agencies. The history of United States Army Corps of Engineers can be traced back to 16 June 1775, colonel Richard Gridley became General George Washingtons first chief engineer, however, it was not until 1779 that Congress created a separate Corps of Engineers. One of its first tasks was to build fortifications near Boston at Bunker Hill, the first Corps of Engineers was mostly composed of French subjects who had been hired by General Washington from the service of Louis XVI. that the said Corps. Shall be stationed at West Point in the State of New York, until 1866, the superintendent of the United States Military Academy was always an officer of engineer. During the first half of the 19th century, West Point was the major and, for a while, the General Survey Act of 1824 authorized the use of Army engineers to survey road and canal routes. Separately authorized on 4 July 1838, the U. S and it was merged with the Corps of Engineers on 31 March 1863, at which point the Corps of Engineers also assumed the Lakes Survey District mission for the Great Lakes. In 1841, Congress created the Lake Survey, the survey, based in Detroit, Mich. was charged with conducting a hydrographical survey of the Northern and Northwestern Lakes and preparing and publishing nautical charts and other navigation aids. The Lake Survey published its first charts in 1852, in the mid-19th century, Corps of Engineers officers ran Lighthouse Districts in tandem with U. S. Naval officers. The Army Corps of Engineers played a significant role in the American Civil War, many of the men who would serve in the top leadership in this institution were West Point graduates who rose to military fame and power during the Civil War. Some of these men were Union Generals George McClellan, Henry Halleck, George Meade, and Confederate generals Robert E. Lee, Joseph Johnston, the versatility of officers in the Army Corps of Engineers contributed to the success of numerous missions throughout the Civil War. They were responsible for building pontoon and railroad bridges, forts and batteries, the destruction of supply lines. The Army Corps of Engineers served as a function in making the war effort logistically feasible. This method of building trenches was known as the zigzag pattern, from the beginning, many politicians wanted the Corps of Engineers to contribute to both military construction and works of a civil nature. During World War II the mission grew to more than 27,000 military, included were aircraft, tank assembly, and ammunition plants, camps for 5.3 million soldiers, depots, ports, and hospitals, as well as the Manhattan Project, and the Pentagon
15.
American Revolutionary War
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From about 1765 the American Revolution had led to increasing philosophical and political differences between Great Britain and its American colonies. The war represented a culmination of these differences in armed conflict between Patriots and the authority which they increasingly resisted. This resistance became particularly widespread in the New England Colonies, especially in the Province of Massachusetts Bay. On December 16,1773, Massachusetts members of the Patriot group Sons of Liberty destroyed a shipment of tea in Boston Harbor in an event that became known as the Boston Tea Party. Named the Coercive Acts by Parliament, these became known as the Intolerable Acts in America. The Massachusetts colonists responded with the Suffolk Resolves, establishing a government that removed control of the province from the Crown outside of Boston. Twelve colonies formed a Continental Congress to coordinate their resistance, and established committees, British attempts to seize the munitions of Massachusetts colonists in April 1775 led to the first open combat between Crown forces and Massachusetts militia, the Battles of Lexington and Concord. Militia forces proceeded to besiege the British forces in Boston, forcing them to evacuate the city in March 1776, the Continental Congress appointed George Washington to take command of the militia. Concurrent to the Boston campaign, an American attempt to invade Quebec, on July 2,1776, the Continental Congress formally voted for independence, issuing its Declaration on July 4. Sir William Howe began a British counterattack, focussing on recapturing New York City, Howe outmaneuvered and defeated Washington, leaving American confidence at a low ebb. Washington captured a Hessian force at Trenton and drove the British out of New Jersey, in 1777 the British sent a new army under John Burgoyne to move south from Canada and to isolate the New England colonies. However, instead of assisting Burgoyne, Howe took his army on a campaign against the revolutionary capital of Philadelphia. Burgoyne outran his supplies, was surrounded and surrendered at Saratoga in October 1777, the British defeat in the Saratoga Campaign had drastic consequences. Giving up on the North, the British decided to salvage their former colonies in the South, British forces under Lieutenant-General Charles Cornwallis seized Georgia and South Carolina, capturing an American army at Charleston, South Carolina. British strategy depended upon an uprising of large numbers of armed Loyalists, in 1779 Spain joined the war as an ally of France under the Pacte de Famille, intending to capture Gibraltar and British colonies in the Caribbean. Britain declared war on the Dutch Republic in December 1780, in 1781, after the British and their allies had suffered two decisive defeats at Kings Mountain and Cowpens, Cornwallis retreated to Virginia, intending on evacuation. A decisive French naval victory in September deprived the British of an escape route, a joint Franco-American army led by Count Rochambeau and Washington, laid siege to the British forces at Yorktown. With no sign of relief and the situation untenable, Cornwallis surrendered in October 1781, Whigs in Britain had long opposed the pro-war Tory majority in Parliament, but the defeat at Yorktown gave the Whigs the upper hand
16.
Siege of Savannah
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The Siege of Savannah or the Second Battle of Savannah was an encounter of the American Revolutionary War in 1779. The year before, the city of Savannah, Georgia, had captured by a British expeditionary corps under Lieutenant-Colonel Archibald Campbell. The siege itself consisted of a joint Franco-American attempt to retake Savannah, on October 9 a major assault against the British siege works failed. During the attack, Polish nobleman Count Casimir Pułaski, leading the cavalry forces on the American side, was mortally wounded. With the failure of the joint American-French attack, the failed. This was one of the most significant foreign contributions to the American Revolutionary War and this French-colonial force had been established six months earlier and included hundreds of soldiers of color in addition to white soldiers and a couple black slaves. Their first step was to control of the southern ports of Savannah, Georgia and Charleston. An expedition in December 1778 took Savannah with modest resistance from ineffective militia, the Continental Army regrouped, and by June 1779 the combined army and militia forces guarding Charleston numbered between 5,000 and 7,000 men. French Admiral the Comte dEstaing spent the first part of 1779 in the Caribbean, where his fleet and he took advantage of conditions to capture Grenada in July before acceding to American requests for support in operations against Savannah. Lincoln and the French emissaries agreed on a plan of attack on Savannah, captain Moncrief of the Royal Engineers was tasked with constructing fortifications to repulse the invaders. The British Royal Navy contributed two frigates, both over-age and they landed their guns and most of their men to reinforce the land forces. In addition, the British also deployed the armed brig Keppel and the armed ship Germaine, there were two galleys, Comet, and Thunder, the latter too from East Florida. Lastly, the British armed two merchant vessels, Savannah, and Venus, dEstaing began landing troops below the city on September 12. By September 16 he was moving in on the city, confident of victory, and believing that Maitland would be prevented from reaching Savannah by Lincoln, he offered Prevost the opportunity to surrender. Prevost temporized and asked for 24 hours of truce, prevosts response to dEstaings offer was a polite refusal, even though Lincoln had also arrived outside the city. On 19 September, as Charles-Marie de Trolong du Rumain moved his squadron up the river, he exchanged fire with Comet, Thunder, Savannah, and Venus. The next day the British scuttled Rose, which was leaking badly and they also burnt Savannah and Venus. By scuttling Rose in a part of the channel, the British effectively blocked it
17.
United States
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Forty-eight of the fifty states and the federal district are contiguous and located in North America between Canada and Mexico. The state of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America, bordered by Canada to the east, the state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean. The U. S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean, the geography, climate and wildlife of the country are extremely diverse. At 3.8 million square miles and with over 324 million people, the United States is the worlds third- or fourth-largest country by area, third-largest by land area. It is one of the worlds most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, paleo-Indians migrated from Asia to the North American mainland at least 15,000 years ago. European colonization began in the 16th century, the United States emerged from 13 British colonies along the East Coast. Numerous disputes between Great Britain and the following the Seven Years War led to the American Revolution. On July 4,1776, during the course of the American Revolutionary War, the war ended in 1783 with recognition of the independence of the United States by Great Britain, representing the first successful war of independence against a European power. The current constitution was adopted in 1788, after the Articles of Confederation, the first ten amendments, collectively named the Bill of Rights, were ratified in 1791 and designed to guarantee many fundamental civil liberties. During the second half of the 19th century, the American Civil War led to the end of slavery in the country. By the end of century, the United States extended into the Pacific Ocean. The Spanish–American War and World War I confirmed the status as a global military power. The end of the Cold War and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 left the United States as the sole superpower. The U. S. is a member of the United Nations, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Organization of American States. The United States is a developed country, with the worlds largest economy by nominal GDP. It ranks highly in several measures of performance, including average wage, human development, per capita GDP. While the U. S. economy is considered post-industrial, characterized by the dominance of services and knowledge economy, the United States is a prominent political and cultural force internationally, and a leader in scientific research and technological innovations. In 1507, the German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller produced a map on which he named the lands of the Western Hemisphere America after the Italian explorer and cartographer Amerigo Vespucci
18.
Louis XV of France
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Louis XV, known as Louis the Beloved, was a monarch of the House of Bourbon who ruled as King of France and Navarre from 1 September 1715 until his death. He succeeded his great-grandfather Louis XIV at the age of five, Cardinal Fleury was his chief minister from 1726 until the Cardinals death in 1743, at which time the young king took sole control of the kingdom. During his reign, Louis returned the Austrian Netherlands, territory won at the Battle of Fontenoy of 1745, Louis also ceded New France in North America to Spain and Great Britain at the conclusion of the Seven Years War in 1763. He incorporated the territories of Lorraine and Corsica into the kingdom of France and he was succeeded by his grandson Louis XVI in 1774. French culture and influence were at their height in the first half of the eighteenth century, however, many scholars believe that Louis XVs decisions damaged the power of France, weakened the treasury, discredited the absolute monarchy, and made it more vulnerable to distrust and destruction. Evidence for this view is provided by the French Revolution, which broke out 15 years after his death, norman Davies characterized Louis XVs reign as one of debilitating stagnation, characterized by lost wars, endless clashes between the Court and Parliament, and religious feuds. A few scholars defend Louis, arguing that his negative reputation was based on propaganda meant to justify the French Revolution. Jerome Blum described him as a perpetual adolescent called to do a mans job, Louis XV was born in the Palace of Versailles on 15 February 1710 during the reign of Louis XIV. His grandfather, Louis Le Grand Dauphin, had three sons with his wife Marie Anne Victoire of Bavaria, Louis, Duke of Burgundy, Philippe, Duke of Anjou, and Charles, Duke of Berry. Louis XV was the son of the Duke of Burgundy and his wife Marie Adélaïde of Savoy, the eldest daughter of Victor Amadeus II, Duke of Savoy. At birth, Louis XV received a title for younger sons of the French royal family. In April 1711, Louis Le Grand Dauphin suddenly died, making Louis XVs father, the Duke of Burgundy, at that time, Burgundy had two living sons, Louis, Duke of Brittany and his youngest son, the future Louis XV. A year later, Marie Adélaïde, Duchess of Burgundy, contracted smallpox and her husband, said to be heartbroken by her death, died the same week, also having contracted smallpox. Within a week of his death, it was clear that the two children had also been infected. The elder son was treated by bloodletting in an unsuccessful effort to save him. Fearing that the Dauphin would die, the Court had both the Dauphin and the Duke of Anjou baptised, the Dauphin died the same day,8 March 1712. His younger brother, the Duke of Anjou, was treated by his governess, Madame de Ventadour. The two year old Dauphin survived the smallpox, on 1 September 1715, Louis XIV died of gangrene, having reigned for 72 years
19.
Louvre
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The Louvre or the Louvre Museum is the worlds largest museum and a historic monument in Paris, France. A central landmark of the city, it is located on the Right Bank of the Seine in the citys 1st arrondissement, approximately 38,000 objects from prehistory to the 21st century are exhibited over an area of 72,735 square metres. The Louvre is the second most visited museum after the Palace Museum in China. The museum is housed in the Louvre Palace, originally built as a fortress in the late 12th century under Philip II, remnants of the fortress are visible in the basement of the museum. Due to the expansion of the city, the fortress eventually lost its defensive function and. The building was extended many times to form the present Louvre Palace, in 1692, the building was occupied by the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles Lettres and the Académie Royale de Peinture et de Sculpture, which in 1699 held the first of a series of salons. The Académie remained at the Louvre for 100 years, during the French Revolution, the National Assembly decreed that the Louvre should be used as a museum to display the nations masterpieces. The museum opened on 10 August 1793 with an exhibition of 537 paintings, because of structural problems with the building, the museum was closed in 1796 until 1801. The collection was increased under Napoleon and the museum renamed Musée Napoléon, the collection was further increased during the reigns of Louis XVIII and Charles X, and during the Second French Empire the museum gained 20,000 pieces. Holdings have grown steadily through donations and bequests since the Third Republic, whether this was the first building on that spot is not known, it is possible that Philip modified an existing tower. According to the authoritative Grand Larousse encyclopédique, the name derives from an association with wolf hunting den, in the 7th century, St. Fare, an abbess in Meaux, left part of her Villa called Luvra situated in the region of Paris to a monastery. This territory probably did not correspond exactly to the modern site, the Louvre Palace was altered frequently throughout the Middle Ages. In the 14th century, Charles V converted the building into a residence and in 1546, Francis acquired what would become the nucleus of the Louvres holdings, his acquisitions including Leonardo da Vincis Mona Lisa. After Louis XIV chose Versailles as his residence in 1682, constructions slowed, however, on 14 October 1750, Louis XV agreed and sanctioned a display of 96 pieces from the royal collection, mounted in the Galerie royale de peinture of the Luxembourg Palace. Under Louis XVI, the museum idea became policy. The comte dAngiviller broadened the collection and in 1776 proposed conversion of the Grande Galerie of the Louvre – which contained maps – into the French Museum, many proposals were offered for the Louvres renovation into a museum, however, none was agreed on. Hence the museum remained incomplete until the French Revolution, during the French Revolution the Louvre was transformed into a public museum. In May 1791, the Assembly declared that the Louvre would be a place for bringing together monuments of all the sciences, on 10 August 1792, Louis XVI was imprisoned and the royal collection in the Louvre became national property
20.
Pierre Beaumarchais
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Pierre-Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais was a French polymath. At various times in his life, he was a watchmaker, inventor, playwright, musician, diplomat, spy, publisher, horticulturist, arms dealer, satirist, financier, and revolutionary. Born a provincial watchmakers son, Beaumarchais rose in French society and became influential in the court of Louis XV as an inventor, an early French supporter of American independence, Beaumarchais lobbied the French government on behalf of the American rebels during the American War of Independence. Beaumarchais oversaw covert aid from the French and Spanish governments to supply arms and he later struggled to recover money he had personally invested in the scheme. Beaumarchais was also a participant in the stages of the French Revolution. He is probably best known, however, for his theatrical works, Beaumarchais was born Pierre-Augustin Caron in the Rue Saint-Denis, Paris on 24 January 1732. He was the boy among the six surviving children of André-Charles Caron. The family had previously been Huguenots, but had converted to Roman Catholicism in the wake of the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, the family was comfortably middle-class and Beaumarchais had a peaceful and happy childhood. As the only son, he was spoiled by his parents and he took an interest in music and played several instruments. Though born a Catholic, Beaumarchais retained a sympathy for Protestants, from the age of ten, Beaumarchais had some schooling at a country school where he learned some Latin. Two years later, Beaumarchais left school at twelve to work as an apprentice under his father and he may have used his own experiences during these years as the inspiration for the character of Cherubin when he wrote the Marriage of Figaro. He generally neglected his work, and at one point was evicted by his father, at the time, pocket watches were commonly unreliable for timekeeping and were worn more as fashion accessories. In response to this, Beaumarchais spent nearly a year researching improvements, in July 1753, at the age of twenty one, he invented an escapement for watches that allowed them to be made substantially more accurate and compact. The first man to take an interest in this new invention was Jean-André Lepaute, if there was a clock chiming in the wealthy homes of Paris, you can bet Lepaute built it himself. Lepaute had been a mentor to Beaumarchais after discovering the talent in a chance encounter. He encouraged him as he worked on the new invention, earned his trust and you can imagine Beaumarchais’ surprise when he read in the September issue of Le Mercure de France that M. Lepaute had just invented the most wonderful mechanism for a more portable clock. “C’est normal, ” said his father, “C’est comme ca. ”It’s normal for the class to step on those beneath them. Well, Beaumarchais did not want any of that life and he wrote a strongly worded letter to that same newspaper defending the invention as his own and urging the Royal Academy of Sciences to see the proof for themselves
21.
Major general
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Major general is a military rank used in many countries. It is derived from the rank of sergeant major general. In the Commonwealth, major general is equivalent to the rank of rear admiral. In some countries, including much of Eastern Europe, major general is the lowest of the officer ranks. In the old Austro-Hungarian Army, the general was called a Generalmajor. Todays Austrian Federal Army still uses the same term, see also Rank insignias of the Austro-Hungarian armed forces General de Brigade is the lowest rank amongst general officers in the Brazilian Army. AGeneral de Brigada wears two-stars as this is the level for general officers in the Brazilian Army. In tha Brazilian Air Force, the two-star, three-star and four-star rank are known as Brigadeiro, Major-Brigadeiro, see Military ranks of Brazil and Brigadier for more information. In the Canadian Armed Forces, the rank of major-general is both a Canadian Army and Royal Canadian Air Force rank equivalent to the Royal Canadian Navys rank of rear-admiral, a major-general is a general officer, the equivalent of a naval flag officer. The major-general rank is senior to the ranks of brigadier-general and commodore, prior to 1968, the Air Force used the rank of air vice-marshal, instead. In the Canadian Army, the insignia is a wide braid on the cuff. It is worn on the straps of the service dress tunic. On the visor of the cap are two rows of gold oak leaves. Major-generals are initially addressed as general and name, as are all general officers, major-generals are normally entitled to staff cars. In the Estonian military, the general rank is called kindralmajor. The Finnish military equivalent is kenraalimajuri in Finnish, and generalmajor in Swedish and Danish, the French equivalent to the rank of major general is général de division. In the French military, major général is not a rank but an appointment conferred on some generals, usually of général de corps darmée rank, the position of major général can be considered the equivalent of a deputy chief of staff. In the French Army, Major General is a position and the general is normally of the rank of corps general
22.
Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette
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A close friend of George Washington, Alexander Hamilton, and Thomas Jefferson, Lafayette was a key figure in the French Revolution of 1789 and the July Revolution of 1830. Born in Chavaniac, in the province of Auvergne in south central France and he followed its martial tradition, and was commissioned an officer at age 13. He became convinced that the American cause in its war was noble. There, he was made a general, however, the 19-year-old was initially not given troops to command. Wounded during the Battle of Brandywine, he managed to organize an orderly retreat. He served with distinction in the Battle of Rhode Island, in the middle of the war, he returned home to lobby for an increase in French support. He again sailed to America in 1780, and was given positions in the Continental Army. In 1781, troops in Virginia under his command blocked forces led by Cornwallis until other American, Lafayette returned to France and, in 1787, was appointed to the Assembly of Notables, which was convened in response to the fiscal crisis. He was elected a member of the Estates-General of 1789, where representatives met from the three orders of French society—the clergy, the nobility, and the commoners. He helped write the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, after the storming of the Bastille, Lafayette was appointed commander-in-chief of the National Guard and tried to steer a middle course through the French Revolution. In August 1792, the radical factions ordered his arrest, fleeing through the Austrian Netherlands, he was captured by Austrian troops and spent more than five years in prison. Lafayette returned to France after Napoleon Bonaparte secured his release in 1797, after the Bourbon Restoration of 1814, he became a liberal member of the Chamber of Deputies, a position he held for most of the remainder of his life. During Frances July Revolution of 1830, Lafayette declined an offer to become the French dictator, instead, he supported Louis-Philippe as king, but turned against him when the monarch became autocratic. Lafayette died on 20 May 1834, and is buried in Picpus Cemetery in Paris, for his accomplishments in the service of both France and the United States, he is sometimes known as The Hero of the Two Worlds. Lafayettes lineage was likely one of the oldest and most distinguished in Auvergne and, perhaps, males of the Lafayette family enjoyed a reputation for courage and chivalry and were noted for their contempt for danger. One of Lafayettes early ancestors, Gilbert de Lafayette III, a Marshal of France, had been a companion-at-arms of Joan of Arcs army during the Siege of Orléans in 1429, according to legend, another ancestor acquired the crown of thorns during the Sixth Crusade. Lafayettes father likewise died on the battlefield, on 1 August 1759, Michel de Lafayette was struck by a cannonball while fighting a British-led coalition at the Battle of Minden in Westphalia. Lafayette became marquis and Lord of Chavaniac, but the estate went to his mother, in 1768, when Lafayette was 11, he was summoned to Paris to live with his mother and great-grandfather at the comtes apartments in Luxembourg Palace
23.
Valley Forge
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Valley Forge was the military camp 18 miles northwest of Philadelphia where the American Continental Army spent the winter of 1777–78 during the American Revolutionary War. Starvation, disease, malnutrition, and exposure killed more than 2,500 American soldiers by the end of February 1778, General George Washington sought quarters for his men with winter almost setting in, and with greatly diminishing prospects for campaigning. Washington and his troops had fought in early December what was the last major engagement of 1777 at the Battle of White Marsh and he devised to pull his troops from their present encampment in the White Marsh area and move to a more secure location for the coming winter. Several locations were considered for the winter quarters, but Washington selected Valley Forge. Valley Forge was named for a forge on Valley Creek in Whitemarsh. It was not the best place to set up camp for the Continental Army. This location also left the vulnerable under-supplied army in striking distance of the British, the area was close enough to the British to keep their raiding and foraging parties out of the interior of Pennsylvania, yet far enough away to halt the threat of British surprise attacks. The densely forested plateau of Mount Joy and the adjoining two-mile-long plateau of Mount Misery made the area easily defensible and it also provided abundant forests of timber that were used to construct thousands of log huts. Seventy-eight of the huts in the camp housed the soldiers, on December 19,1777, Washingtons poorly fed, ill-equipped army staggered into Valley Forge, weary from long marches. Winds blew as the 12,000 Continentals prepared for winters fury, only about one in four of them had shoes, and many of their feet had left bloody footprints from the marching. Grounds were selected for brigade encampments, and defense lines were planned, the first properly constructed hut appeared in three days. One hut required 80 logs, and timber had to be collected from miles away and it went up in one week with the use of only one axe. These huts provided sufficient protection from the cold and wet conditions of a typical Pennsylvania winter. By the beginning of February, construction was completed on 2,000 huts and they provided shelter, but did little to offset the critical shortages that continually plagued the army. Washington ordered that two windows should be cut into each hut during the springtime, as the climate grew considerably warmer, mud was also chipped between the logs to improve ventilation. The soldiers received inadequate supplies of meat and bread, some getting their only nourishment from firecake, occasionally, there would be pepper pot soup, a black pepper-flavored tripe broth. So severe were conditions at times that Washington despaired that unless some great, starve, dissolve, or disperse, in order to obtain subsistence in the best manner they can. Snow was limited and small in amounts, the layer of snow was often too thin to be collected and melted into drinking water
24.
Prisoner of war
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A prisoner of war is a person, whether combatant or non-combatant, who is held in custody by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the prisoner of war dates to 1660. The first Roman gladiators were prisoners of war and were named according to their ethnic roots such as Samnite, Thracian, typically, little distinction was made between enemy combatants and enemy civilians, although women and children were more likely to be spared. Sometimes, the purpose of a battle, if not a war, was to capture women, a known as raptio. Typically women had no rights, and were legally as chattel. For this he was eventually canonized, during Childerics siege and blockade of Paris in 464, the nun Geneviève pleaded with the Frankish king for the welfare of prisoners of war and met with a favourable response. Later, Clovis I liberated captives after Genevieve urged him to do so, many French prisoners of war were killed during the Battle of Agincourt in 1415. In the later Middle Ages, a number of religious wars aimed to not only defeat, in Christian Europe, the extermination of heretics was considered desirable. Examples include the 13th century Albigensian Crusade and the Northern Crusades, likewise, the inhabitants of conquered cities were frequently massacred during the Crusades against the Muslims in the 11th and 12th centuries. Noblemen could hope to be ransomed, their families would have to send to their captors large sums of wealth commensurate with the status of the captive. In feudal Japan there was no custom of ransoming prisoners of war, in Termez, on the Oxus, all the people, both men and women, were driven out onto the plain, and divided in accordance with their usual custom, then they were all slain. The Aztecs were constantly at war with neighbouring tribes and groups, for the re-consecration of Great Pyramid of Tenochtitlan in 1487, between 10,000 and 80,400 persons were sacrificed. During the early Muslim conquests, Muslims routinely captured large number of prisoners, aside from those who converted, most were ransomed or enslaved. Christians who were captured during the Crusades, were either killed or sold into slavery if they could not pay a ransom. The freeing of prisoners was highly recommended as a charitable act, there also evolved the right of parole, French for discourse, in which a captured officer surrendered his sword and gave his word as a gentleman in exchange for privileges. If he swore not to escape, he could gain better accommodations, if he swore to cease hostilities against the nation who held him captive, he could be repatriated or exchanged but could not serve against his former captors in a military capacity. Early historical narratives of captured colonial Europeans, including perspectives of literate women captured by the peoples of North America. The writings of Mary Rowlandson, captured in the fighting of King Philips War, are an example
25.
Charleston, South Carolina
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Charleston had an estimated population of 132,609 in 2015. Charleston was founded as Charles Town—honoring King Charles II of England—in 1670 and its initial location at Albemarle Point on the west bank of the Ashley River was abandoned in 1680 for its present site, which became the 5th-largest city in North America within 10 years. Despite its size, it remained unincorporated throughout the period, its government was handled directly by the state legislature and by its Anglican parish wardens. It adopted its present spelling with its incorporation as a city in 1783 at the close of the Revolutionary War. The Confederates burned the town prior to its evacuation but continued demand for the cotton and rice, along with growing industry. In 2016, Charleston was ranked the Worlds Best City by Travel + Leisure, the city proper consists of six distinct areas, the Peninsula or Downtown, West Ashley, Johns Island, James Island, Daniel Island, and the Cainhoy Peninsula. The old town fit into 4–5 square miles as late as the First World War, the city limits also have expanded across the Cooper River, encompassing Daniel Island and the Cainhoy area. The present city has an area of 127.5 square miles. North Charleston blocks any expansion up the peninsula, and Mount Pleasant occupies the land directly east of the Cooper River, Charleston Harbor runs about 7 miles southeast to the Atlantic with an average width of about 2 miles, surrounded on all sides except its entrance. Sullivans Island lies to the north of the entrance and Morris Island to itself south, the entrance itself is about 1 mile wide, it was originally only 18 feet deep, but began to be enlarged in the 1870s. The tidal rivers are evidence of a submergent or drowned coastline, there is a submerged river delta off the mouth of the harbor and the Cooper River is deep. Charleston has a subtropical climate, with mild winters, hot, humid summers. Summer is the wettest season, almost half of the rainfall occurs from June to September in the form of thundershowers. Fall remains relatively warm through November, winter is short and mild, and is characterized by occasional rain. Measurable snow only occurs several times per decade at the most, however,6.0 in fell at the airport on December 23,1989, the largest single-day fall on record, contributing to a single-storm and seasonal record of 8.0 in snowfall. The highest temperature recorded within city limits was 104 °F on June 2,1985, and June 24,1944, and the lowest was 7 °F on February 14,1899. At the airport, where records are kept, the historical range is 105 °F on August 1,1999. Hurricanes are a threat to the area during the summer and early fall
26.
George Washington
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George Washington was an American politician and soldier who served as the first President of the United States from 1789 to 1797 and was one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. He served as Commander-in-Chief of the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War and he is popularly considered the driving force behind the nations establishment and came to be known as the father of the country, both during his lifetime and to this day. Washington was widely admired for his leadership qualities and was unanimously elected president by the Electoral College in the first two national elections. Washingtons incumbency established many precedents still in use today, such as the system, the inaugural address. His retirement from office two terms established a tradition that lasted until 1940 when Franklin Delano Roosevelt won an unprecedented third term. The 22nd Amendment now limits the president to two elected terms and he was born into the provincial gentry of Colonial Virginia to a family of wealthy planters who owned tobacco plantations and slaves, which he inherited. In his youth, he became an officer in the colonial militia during the first stages of the French. In 1775, the Second Continental Congress commissioned him as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army in the American Revolution, in that command, Washington forced the British out of Boston in 1776 but was defeated and nearly captured later that year when he lost New York City. After crossing the Delaware River in the middle of winter, he defeated the British in two battles, retook New Jersey, and restored momentum to the Patriot cause and his strategy enabled Continental forces to capture two major British armies at Saratoga in 1777 and Yorktown in 1781. In battle, however, Washington was repeatedly outmaneuvered by British generals with larger armies, after victory had been finalized in 1783, Washington resigned as commander-in-chief rather than seize power, proving his opposition to dictatorship and his commitment to American republicanism. Washington presided over the Constitutional Convention in 1787, which devised a new form of government for the United States. Following his election as president in 1789, he worked to unify rival factions in the fledgling nation and he supported Alexander Hamiltons programs to satisfy all debts, federal and state, established a permanent seat of government, implemented an effective tax system, and created a national bank. In avoiding war with Great Britain, he guaranteed a decade of peace and profitable trade by securing the Jay Treaty in 1795 and he remained non-partisan, never joining the Federalist Party, although he largely supported its policies. Washingtons Farewell Address was a primer on civic virtue, warning against partisanship, sectionalism. He retired from the presidency in 1797, returning to his home, upon his death, Washington was eulogized as first in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his countrymen by Representative Henry Lee III of Virginia. He was revered in life and in death, scholarly and public polling consistently ranks him among the top three presidents in American history and he has been depicted and remembered in monuments, public works, currency, and other dedications to the present day. He was born on February 11,1731, according to the Julian calendar, the Gregorian calendar was adopted within the British Empire in 1752, and it renders a birth date of February 22,1732. Washington was of primarily English gentry descent, especially from Sulgrave and his great-grandfather John Washington emigrated to Virginia in 1656 and began accumulating land and slaves, as did his son Lawrence and his grandson, Georges father Augustine
27.
Civil engineering
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Civil engineering is traditionally broken into a number of sub-disciplines. It is the second-oldest engineering discipline after military engineering, and it is defined to distinguish non-military engineering from military engineering, Civil engineering takes place in the public sector from municipal through to national governments, and in the private sector from individual homeowners through to international companies. Engineering has been an aspect of life since the beginnings of human existence, during this time, transportation became increasingly important leading to the development of the wheel and sailing. The construction of pyramids in Egypt were some of the first instances of large structure constructions, the Romans developed civil structures throughout their empire, including especially aqueducts, insulae, harbors, bridges, dams and roads. In the 18th century, the civil engineering was coined to incorporate all things civilian as opposed to military engineering. The first self-proclaimed civil engineer was John Smeaton, who constructed the Eddystone Lighthouse, in 1771 Smeaton and some of his colleagues formed the Smeatonian Society of Civil Engineers, a group of leaders of the profession who met informally over dinner. Though there was evidence of some meetings, it was little more than a social society. In 1818 the Institution of Civil Engineers was founded in London, the institution received a Royal Charter in 1828, formally recognising civil engineering as a profession. The first private college to teach engineering in the United States was Norwich University. The first degree in engineering in the United States was awarded by Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in 1835. The first such degree to be awarded to a woman was granted by Cornell University to Nora Stanton Blatch in 1905, throughout ancient and medieval history most architectural design and construction was carried out by artisans, such as stonemasons and carpenters, rising to the role of master builder. Knowledge was retained in guilds and seldom supplanted by advances, structures, roads and infrastructure that existed were repetitive, and increases in scale were incremental. Brahmagupta, an Indian mathematician, used arithmetic in the 7th century AD, based on Hindu-Arabic numerals, Civil engineers typically possess an academic degree in civil engineering. The length of study is three to five years, and the degree is designated as a bachelor of engineering. The curriculum generally includes classes in physics, mathematics, project management, design, after taking basic courses in most sub-disciplines of civil engineering, they move onto specialize in one or more sub-disciplines at advanced levels. In most countries, a degree in engineering represents the first step towards professional certification. After completing a degree program, the engineer must satisfy a range of requirements before being certified. Once certified, the engineer is designated as a engineer, a chartered engineer
28.
New York City
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The City of New York, often called New York City or simply New York, is the most populous city in the United States. With an estimated 2015 population of 8,550,405 distributed over an area of about 302.6 square miles. Located at the tip of the state of New York. Home to the headquarters of the United Nations, New York is an important center for international diplomacy and has described as the cultural and financial capital of the world. Situated on one of the worlds largest natural harbors, New York City consists of five boroughs, the five boroughs – Brooklyn, Queens, Manhattan, The Bronx, and Staten Island – were consolidated into a single city in 1898. In 2013, the MSA produced a gross metropolitan product of nearly US$1.39 trillion, in 2012, the CSA generated a GMP of over US$1.55 trillion. NYCs MSA and CSA GDP are higher than all but 11 and 12 countries, New York City traces its origin to its 1624 founding in Lower Manhattan as a trading post by colonists of the Dutch Republic and was named New Amsterdam in 1626. The city and its surroundings came under English control in 1664 and were renamed New York after King Charles II of England granted the lands to his brother, New York served as the capital of the United States from 1785 until 1790. It has been the countrys largest city since 1790, the Statue of Liberty greeted millions of immigrants as they came to the Americas by ship in the late 19th and early 20th centuries and is a symbol of the United States and its democracy. In the 21st century, New York has emerged as a node of creativity and entrepreneurship, social tolerance. Several sources have ranked New York the most photographed city in the world, the names of many of the citys bridges, tapered skyscrapers, and parks are known around the world. Manhattans real estate market is among the most expensive in the world, Manhattans Chinatown incorporates the highest concentration of Chinese people in the Western Hemisphere, with multiple signature Chinatowns developing across the city. Providing continuous 24/7 service, the New York City Subway is one of the most extensive metro systems worldwide, with 472 stations in operation. Over 120 colleges and universities are located in New York City, including Columbia University, New York University, and Rockefeller University, during the Wisconsinan glaciation, the New York City region was situated at the edge of a large ice sheet over 1,000 feet in depth. The ice sheet scraped away large amounts of soil, leaving the bedrock that serves as the foundation for much of New York City today. Later on, movement of the ice sheet would contribute to the separation of what are now Long Island and Staten Island. The first documented visit by a European was in 1524 by Giovanni da Verrazzano, a Florentine explorer in the service of the French crown and he claimed the area for France and named it Nouvelle Angoulême. Heavy ice kept him from further exploration, and he returned to Spain in August and he proceeded to sail up what the Dutch would name the North River, named first by Hudson as the Mauritius after Maurice, Prince of Orange
29.
1st United States Congress
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With the initial meeting of the First Congress, the United States federal government officially began operations under the new frame of government established by the 1787 Constitution. The apportionment of seats in the House of Representatives was based on the provisions of Article I, Section 2, both chambers had a Pro-Administration majority. April 1,1789, House of Representatives first achieved a quorum and elected its officers April 6,1789, Senate first achieved a quorum and elected its officers. Held March 4,1789, through September 29,1789, at Federal Hall in New York City June 1,1789, An act to regulate the time and manner of administering certain oaths, ch. 1,1 Stat.23 July 4,1789, Hamilton Tariff,2,1 Stat.24 July 27,1789, United States Department of State, was established, originally named the Department of Foreign Affairs, ch. Regulation of the Collection of Duties on Tonnage and Merchandise, ch.5,1 Stat.29, august 7,1789, Department of War was established, ch. September 2,1789, United States Department of the Treasury was established,12,1 Stat.65 September 24,1789, Judiciary Act of 1789, ch. 2,1 Stat.101 March 26,1790, Naturalization Act of 1790,3,1 Stat.103 April 10,1790, Patent Act of 1790, ch. 7,1 Stat.109 April 30,1790, Crimes Act of 1790,9,1 Stat.112 May 31,1790, Copyright Act of 1790, ch. 15,1 Stat.124 July 6,1790, Residence Act,130, established Washington, D. C. as the seat of government of the United States. July 22,1790, Indian Intercourse Act of 1790, ch,137, regulated commerce with the Indian tribes. Held December 6,1790, through March 3,1791, at Congress Hall in Philadelphia February 25,1791, First Bank of the United States,10,1 Stat.191 March 3,1791, Whiskey Act, ch. 199, which triggered the Whiskey Rebellion September 25,1789, Constitution establishing specific guarantees of personal freedoms and rights, clear limitations on government power, and submitted them to the state legislatures for ratification. 97, Article one has not been ratified and is pending before the states. Article two was later ratified on May 7,1992 as the Twenty-seventh Amendment. Articles three through twelve, known as the Bill of Rights, were ratified on December 15,1791. November 21,1789, North Carolina became the 12th state to ratify the United States Constitution, may 26,1790, Territory South of the River Ohio organized from land ceded by North Carolina. May 29,1790, Rhode Island became the 13th state to ratify the United States Constitution, there were no political parties in this Congress
30.
Federal Hall
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It was also where the United States Bill of Rights was introduced in the First Congress. The building was demolished in 1812, Federal Hall National Memorial was built in 1842 as the United States Custom House, on the site of the old Federal Hall on Wall Street, and later served as a sub-Treasury building. It is now operated by the National Park Service as a memorial commemorating the historic events that occurred there. The original structure on the site was built as New Yorks second City Hall in 1699 -1703, on Wall Street, in 1735, John Peter Zenger, an American newspaper publisher, was arrested for committing libel against the British royal governor and was imprisoned and tried there. His acquittal on the grounds that the material he had printed was true established freedom of the press as it was defined in the Bill of Rights. In October 1765, delegates from nine of the 13 colonies met as the Stamp Act Congress in response to the levying of the Stamp Act by the Parliament of Great Britain. After the American Revolution, the City Hall served as the place for the Congress of the Confederation of the United States under the Articles of Confederation. In 1788, the building was remodeled and enlarged under the direction of Pierre Charles LEnfant and this was the first example of Federal Style architecture in the United States. It was renamed Federal Hall when it became the first Capitol of the United States under the Constitution in 1789 and he was inaugurated on the balcony of the building on April 30,1789. Many of the most important legislative actions in the United States occurred with the 1st Congress at Federal Hall, part of the original railing and balcony floor where Washington was inaugurated are on display in the memorial. The current structure, one of the best surviving examples of architecture in New York, was built as the first purpose-built U. S. Custom House for the Port of New York, designed by John Frazee, it was constructed of Tuckahoe marble and took more than a decade to complete. In 1862, Customs moved to 55 Wall Street and the served as one of six United States Sub-Treasury locations. Millions of dollars of gold and silver were kept in the basement vaults until the Federal Reserve Bank replaced the Sub-Treasury system in 1920. In 1882, John Quincy Adams Wards bronze George Washington statue was erected on its front steps, in 1920, a bomb was detonated across the street from Federal Hall at 23 Wall Street, in what became known as the Wall Street bombing. Thirty-eight people were killed and 400 injured, and 23 Wall Street was visibly damaged, a famous photograph of the event shows the destruction and effects of the bombing, but also shows the statue of Washington standing stoically in the face of chaos. The building was designated as Federal Hall Memorial National Historic Site on May 26,1939, as with all historic areas administered by the National Park Service, the memorial was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on October 15,1966. Federal Hall was designated a landmark by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission on December 21,1965, held just four blocks from the World Trade Center site, the meeting was the first by Congress in New York since 1790
31.
Society of the Cincinnati
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Now in its third century, the Society promotes the public interest in the revolution through its library and museum collections, publications, and other activities. It is the oldest hereditary society in the United States, the concept of the Society of the Cincinnati was that of Major General Henry Knox. The first meeting of the Society was held in May 1783 at a dinner at Mount Gulian in Fishkill, New York, the meeting was chaired by Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Hamilton, and the participants agreed to stay in contact with each other after the war. Membership was generally limited to officers who had served at least three years in the Continental Army or Navy, it included officers of the French Army and Navy above certain ranks. Officers in the Continental Line who died during the War were also entitled to be recorded as members, Members of the considerably larger fighting forces comprising the Colonial Militias and Minutemen were not entitled to join the Society. Later in the 18th century, the Societys rules adopted a system of primogeniture wherein membership was passed down to the eldest son after the death of the original member, each officer may be represented by only one descendant at any given time, following the rules of primogeniture. The requirement for primogeniture made the society controversial in its early years, the Society is named after Lucius Quinctius Cincinnatus, who left his farm to accept a term as Roman Consul and served as Magister Populi. He assumed lawful dictatorial control of Rome to meet a war emergency, when the battle was won, he returned power to the Senate and went back to plowing his fields. The Societys motto reflects that ethic of service, Omnia reliquit servare rempublicam. The Society has had three goals, To preserve the rights so dearly won, to promote the union of the states, and to assist members in need, their widows. Within 12 months of the founding, a constituent Society had been organized in each of the 13 states, of about 5,500 men originally eligible for membership,2,150 had joined within a year. King Louis XVI ordained the French Society of the Cincinnati, which was organized on July 4,1784. Up to that time, the King of France had not allowed his officers to wear any foreign decorations, George Washington was elected the first President General of the Society. He served from December 1783 until his death in 1799, the second President General was Alexander Hamilton. Upon Hamiltons death due to his duel with Aaron Burr, the third President General of the Society was Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, in 1808, he ran unsuccessfully for President of the United States against James Madison. Its members have included military and political leaders, including 23 signers of the United States Constitution. James Armstrong, Samuel Elbert, George Mathews, John Milton, bernardus Swartwout, Cornelius Swartwout, BG Philip Van Cortlandt, Frederick Von Weisenfels. Count Axel von Fersen, Baron Curt von Stedingk, on June 19,1783, the General Society of the Cincinnati adopted the bald eagle as its insignia
32.
Alexander Hamilton
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Alexander Hamilton was an American statesman and one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. As the first Secretary of the Treasury, Hamilton was the author of the economic policies of the George Washington administration. He took the lead in the funding of the debts by the Federal government, as well as the establishment of a national bank, a system of tariffs. His vision included a central government led by a vigorous executive branch. This was challenged by Virginia agrarians Thomas Jefferson and James Madison who formed a rival party and they favored strong states based in rural America and protected by state militias as opposed to a strong national army and navy. They denounced Hamilton as too friendly toward Britain and toward monarchy in general, Hamilton was born out of wedlock in Charlestown, to a married mother of British and French Huguenot ancestry and a Scottish father. His father, James A. Hamilton, was the son of laird Alexander Hamilton of Grange. Orphaned as a child by his mothers death and his fathers abandonment, Hamilton was taken in by an older cousin and he was recognized for his intelligence and talent, and sponsored by a group of wealthy local men to travel to New York City to pursue his education. Hamilton attended Kings College, choosing to stay in the Thirteen Colonies to seek his fortune, discontinuing his studies before graduating when the college closed its doors during British occupation of the city, Hamilton played a major role in the American Revolutionary War. At the start of the war in 1775, he joined a militia company, in early 1776, he raised a provincial artillery company, to which he was appointed captain. He soon became the aide to General Washington, the American forces commander-in-chief. Hamilton was dispatched by Washington on numerous missions to convey plans to his generals, after the war, Hamilton was elected as a representative to the Congress of the Confederation from New York. He resigned to practice law, and founded the Bank of New York, Hamilton was among those dissatisfied with the weak national government. He led the Annapolis Convention, which successfully influenced Congress to issue a call for the Philadelphia Convention in order to create a new constitution, Hamilton became the leading cabinet member in the new government under President Washington. These programs were funded primarily by a tariff on imports, to overcome localism, Hamilton mobilized a nationwide network of friends of the government, especially bankers and businessmen, which became the Federalist Party. A major issue in the emergence of the American two-party system was the Jay Treaty and it established friendly trade relations with Britain, to the chagrin of France and the supporters of the French Revolution. Hamilton played a role in the Federalist party, which dominated national. In 1795, he returned to the practice of law in New York and he tried to control the policies of President Adams
33.
Library of Congress
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The Library of Congress is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the de facto national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the United States, the Library is housed in three buildings on Capitol Hill in Washington, D. C. it also maintains the Packard Campus in Culpeper, Virginia, which houses the National Audio-Visual Conservation Center. The Library of Congress claims to be the largest library in the world and its collections are universal, not limited by subject, format, or national boundary, and include research materials from all parts of the world and in more than 450 languages. Two-thirds of the books it acquires each year are in other than English. The Library of Congress moved to Washington in 1800, after sitting for years in the temporary national capitals of New York. John J. Beckley, who became the first Librarian of Congress, was two dollars per day and was required to also serve as the Clerk of the House of Representatives. The small Congressional Library was housed in the United States Capitol for most of the 19th century until the early 1890s, most of the original collection had been destroyed by the British in 1814, during the War of 1812. To restore its collection in 1815, the bought from former president Thomas Jefferson his entire personal collection of 6,487 books. After a period of growth, another fire struck the Library in its Capitol chambers in 1851, again destroying a large amount of the collection. The Library received the right of transference of all copyrighted works to have two copies deposited of books, maps, illustrations and diagrams printed in the United States. It also began to build its collections of British and other European works and it included several stories built underground of steel and cast iron stacks. Although the Library is open to the public, only high-ranking government officials may check out books, the Library promotes literacy and American literature through projects such as the American Folklife Center, American Memory, Center for the Book, and Poet Laureate. James Madison is credited with the idea for creating a congressional library, part of the legislation appropriated $5,000 for the purchase of such books as may be necessary for the use of Congress. And for fitting up an apartment for containing them. Books were ordered from London and the collection, consisting of 740 books and 3 maps, was housed in the new Capitol, as president, Thomas Jefferson played an important role in establishing the structure of the Library of Congress. The new law also extended to the president and vice president the ability to borrow books and these volumes had been left in the Senate wing of the Capitol. One of the only congressional volumes to have survived was a government account book of receipts and it was taken as a souvenir by a British Commander whose family later returned it to the United States government in 1940. Within a month, former president Jefferson offered to sell his library as a replacement
34.
Freemasonry
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The degrees of freemasonry retain the three grades of medieval craft guilds, those of Apprentice, Journeyman or fellow, and Master Mason. These are the degrees offered by Craft Freemasonry, members of these organisations are known as Freemasons or Masons. There are additional degrees, which vary with locality and jurisdiction, the basic, local organisational unit of Freemasonry is the Lodge. The Lodges are usually supervised and governed at the level by a Grand Lodge or Grand Orient. There is no international, worldwide Grand Lodge that supervises all of Freemasonry, each Grand Lodge is independent, modern Freemasonry broadly consists of two main recognition groups. Continental Freemasonry is now the term for the liberal jurisdictions who have removed some, or all. The Masonic Lodge is the organisational unit of Freemasonry. The Lodge meets regularly to conduct the formal business of any small organisation. In addition to business, the meeting may perform a ceremony to confer a Masonic degree or receive a lecture, at the conclusion of the meeting, the Lodge might adjourn for a formal dinner, or festive board, sometimes involving toasting and song. The bulk of Masonic ritual consists of degree ceremonies, candidates for Freemasonry are progressively initiated into Freemasonry, first in the degree of Entered Apprentice. Some time later, in a ceremony, they will be passed to the degree of Fellowcraft. In all of ceremonies, the candidate is entrusted with passwords, signs. Another ceremony is the installation of the Master and officers of the Lodge. In some jurisdictions Installed Master is valued as a separate rank, in other jurisdictions, the grade is not recognised, and no inner ceremony conveys new secrets during the installation of a new Master of the Lodge. Most Lodges have some sort of calendar, allowing Masons. Often coupled with events is the obligation placed on every Mason to contribute to charity. This occurs at both Lodge and Grand Lodge level, Masonic charities contribute to many fields from education to disaster relief. These private local Lodges form the backbone of Freemasonry, and a Freemason will necessarily have been initiated into one of these, there also exist specialist Lodges where Masons meet to celebrate anything from sport to Masonic research
35.
History of Washington, D.C.
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The history of Washington, D. C. is tied to its role as the capital of the United States. Originally inhabited by an Algonquian-speaking people known as the Nacotchtank, the site of the District of Columbia along the Potomac River was first selected by President George Washington, the city came under attack during the War of 1812 in an episode known as the Burning of Washington. Upon the governments return to the capital, it had to manage reconstruction of public buildings, including the White House. The McMillan Plan of 1901 helped restore and beautify the downtown area, including establishing the National Mall, along with numerous monuments. Unique among cities with a percentage of African Americans, Washington has had a significant black population since the citys creation. As a result, Washington became both a center of African American culture and a center of Civil Rights Movement. Since the city government was run by the U. S. federal government, black and it was not until the administration of Woodrow Wilson, a southern Democrat who had numerous southerners in his cabinet, that federal offices and workplaces were segregated, starting in 1913. This situation persisted for decades, the city was segregated in certain facilities until the 1950s. Today, D. C. is marked by contrasts, neighborhoods on the eastern periphery of the central city, and east of the Anacostia River tend to be disproportionately lower-income. Following World War II, many whites moved out of the citys central and eastern sections to newer, affordable suburban housing. The assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. in 1968 sparked major riots in chiefly African American neighborhoods east of Rock Creek Park, large sections of the central city remained blighted for decades. During the early 20th century, the U Street Corridor served as an important center for African American culture in DC, the Washington Metro opened in 1976. A rising economy and gentrification in the late 1990s and early 2000s led to revitalization of many downtown neighborhoods, article One, Section 8, of the United States Constitution places the District under the exclusive legislation of Congress. Throughout its history, Washington, D. C. residents have therefore lacked voting representation in Congress, the Twenty-third Amendment to the United States Constitution, ratified in 1961, gave the District representation in the Electoral College. The 1973 District of Columbia Home Rule Act provided the government more control of affairs, including direct election of the city council. Archaeological evidence indicates Native Americans settled in the area at least 4,000 years ago, Early European exploration of the region took place early in the 17th century, including explorations by Captain John Smith in 1608. At the time, the Patawomeck and the Doeg lived on the Virginia side, as well as on Theodore Roosevelt Island, Native inhabitants within the present-day District of Columbia included the Nacotchtank, at Anacostia, who were affiliated with the Conoy. Another village was located between Little Falls and Georgetown, and English fur trader Henry Fleet documented a Nacotchtank village called Tohoga on the site of present-day Georgetown
36.
United States Constitution
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The United States Constitution is the supreme law of the United States of America. The Constitution, originally comprising seven articles, delineates the national frame of government, Articles Four, Five and Six entrench concepts of federalism, describing the rights and responsibilities of state governments and of the states in relationship to the federal government. Article Seven establishes the procedure used by the thirteen States to ratify it. In general, the first ten amendments, known collectively as the Bill of Rights, offer specific protections of individual liberty, the majority of the seventeen later amendments expand individual civil rights protections. Others address issues related to federal authority or modify government processes and procedures, Amendments to the United States Constitution, unlike ones made to many constitutions worldwide, are appended to the document. All four pages of the original U. S, according to the United States Senate, The Constitutions first three words—We the People—affirm that the government of the United States exists to serve its citizens. From September 5,1774 to March 1,1781, the Continental Congress functioned as the government of the United States. The process of selecting the delegates for the First and Second Continental Congresses underscores the revolutionary role of the people of the colonies in establishing a governing body. The Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union was the first constitution of the United States and it was drafted by the Second Continental Congress from mid-1776 through late-1777, and ratification by all 13 states was completed by early 1781. Under the Articles of Confederation, the governments power was quite limited. The Confederation Congress could make decisions, but lacked enforcement powers, implementation of most decisions, including modifications to the Articles, required unanimous approval of all thirteen state legislatures. The Continental Congress could print money but the currency was worthless, Congress could borrow money, but couldnt pay it back. No state paid all their U. S. taxes, some paid nothing, some few paid an amount equal to interest on the national debt owed to their citizens, but no more. No interest was paid on debt owed foreign governments, by 1786, the United States would default on outstanding debts as their dates came due. Internationally, the Articles of Confederation did little to enhance the United States ability to defend its sovereignty, most of the troops in the 625-man United States Army were deployed facing – but not threatening – British forts on American soil. They had not been paid, some were deserting and others threatening mutiny, spain closed New Orleans to American commerce, U. S. officials protested, but to no effect. Barbary pirates began seizing American ships of commerce, the Treasury had no funds to pay their ransom, if any military crisis required action, the Congress had no credit or taxing power to finance a response. Domestically, the Articles of Confederation was failing to bring unity to the sentiments and interests of the various states
37.
United States Congress
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The United States Congress is the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States consisting of two chambers, the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Congress meets in the Capitol in Washington, D. C, both senators and representatives are chosen through direct election, though vacancies in the Senate may be filled by a gubernatorial appointment. Members are usually affiliated to the Republican Party or to the Democratic Party, Congress has 535 voting members,435 Representatives and 100 Senators. The House of Representatives has six non-voting members in addition to its 435 voting members and these members can, however, sit on congressional committees and introduce legislation. Puerto Rico, American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, the members of the House of Representatives serve two-year terms representing the people of a single constituency, known as a district. Congressional districts are apportioned to states by using the United States Census results. Each state, regardless of population or size, has two senators, currently, there are 100 senators representing the 50 states. Each senator is elected at-large in their state for a term, with terms staggered. The House and Senate are equal partners in the legislative process—legislation cannot be enacted without the consent of both chambers, however, the Constitution grants each chamber some unique powers. The Senate ratifies treaties and approves presidential appointments while the House initiates revenue-raising bills, the House initiates impeachment cases, while the Senate decides impeachment cases. A two-thirds vote of the Senate is required before a person can be forcibly removed from office. The term Congress can also refer to a meeting of the legislature. A Congress covers two years, the current one, the 115th Congress, began on January 3,2017, the Congress starts and ends on the third day of January of every odd-numbered year. Members of the Senate are referred to as senators, members of the House of Representatives are referred to as representatives, congressmen, or congresswomen. One analyst argues that it is not a solely reactive institution but has played a role in shaping government policy and is extraordinarily sensitive to public pressure. Several academics described Congress, Congress reflects us in all our strengths, Congress is the governments most representative body. Congress is essentially charged with reconciling our many points of view on the public policy issues of the day. —Smith, Roberts, and Wielen Congress is constantly changing and is constantly in flux, most incumbents seek re-election, and their historical likelihood of winning subsequent elections exceeds 90 percent
38.
Article One of the United States Constitution
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Article One of the United States Constitution establishes the legislative branch of the federal government, the United States Congress. The Congress is a legislature consisting of a House of Representatives. All legislative Powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress of the United States, Section 1 is a vesting clause that bestows federal legislative power exclusively to Congress. Similar clauses are found in Articles II and III, the former confers executive power upon the President alone, and the latter grants judicial power solely to the federal judiciary. These three articles create a separation of powers among the three branches of the federal government and this separation of powers, by which each department may exercise only its own constitutional powers and no others, is fundamental to the idea of a limited government accountable to the people. The separation of powers principle is particularly noteworthy in regard to the Congress, the Constitution declares that the Congress may exercise only those legislative powers herein granted within Article I. It also, by implied extension, prohibits Congress from delegating its authority to either of the other branches of government. That the power assigned to each branch must remain with that branch, although not specifically mentioned in the Constitution, Congress has also long asserted the power to investigate and the power to compel cooperation with an investigation. The Supreme Court has affirmed these powers as an implication of Congresss power to legislate, since the power to investigate is an aspect of Congresss power to legislate, it is as broad as Congresss powers to legislate. However, it is limited to inquiries that are in aid of the legislative function. The courts are highly deferential to Congresss exercise of its investigation powers, Congress has the power to investigate that which it could regulate, and the courts have interpreted Congresss regulatory powers broadly since the Great Depression. Section Two provides for the election of the House of Representatives every second year, since Representatives are to be chosen. At the time of its creation, the Constitution did not explicitly give citizens an inherent right to vote, rather, it provided that those qualified to vote in elections for the largest chamber of a states legislature may vote in Congressional elections. Since the Civil War, several amendments have been enacted that have curbed the states broad powers to set voter qualification standards. The Fifteenth Amendment prohibits the denial of the right to vote based on race, the Nineteenth Amendment prohibits the denial of the right to vote based on sex. The Twenty-fourth Amendment prohibits the revocation of voting due to the non-payment of a poll tax. The Twenty-sixth Amendment prohibits the denial of the right of US citizens, eighteen years of age or older, in the 1960s, the Supreme Court started to view voting as a fundamental right covered by the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. There is no requirement that a Representative reside within the district in which he or she represents, although this is usually the case, there have been occasional exceptions
39.
Residence Act
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The federal government was located in New York City at the time the bill was passed and had previously been located in Philadelphia, Annapolis, and several other locations. Congress passed the Residence Act as part of a compromise brokered between James Madison, Thomas Jefferson, and Alexander Hamilton, Madison and Jefferson favored a southerly site for the capital on the Potomac River, but they lacked a majority to pass the measure through Congress. Meanwhile, Hamilton was pushing for Congress to pass the Assumption Bill, with the compromise, Hamilton was able to muster support from the New York State delegates for the Potomac site, while four delegates switched from opposition to support for the Assumption Bill. The Residence Act gave authority to President George Washington to select a site for the capital, along the Potomac. In the meantime, Philadelphia was chosen as a temporary capital, Washington had authority to appoint three commissioners and oversee the construction of Federal buildings in the District, something to which he gave much personal attention. Thomas Jefferson was a key adviser to Washington, and helped organize a competition to solicit designs for the United States Capitol, during the American Revolutionary War, the Second Continental Congress convened in Philadelphia at the Pennsylvania State House. On account of British military actions, the Continental Congress was forced to relocate to Baltimore, Lancaster, Pennsylvania, Congress requested that John Dickinson, the governor of Pennsylvania, call up the militia to defend Congress from attacks by the protesters. In what became known as the Pennsylvania Mutiny of 1783, Dickinson sympathized with the protesters, as a result, Congress was forced to flee to Princeton, New Jersey on June 21,1783, and met in Annapolis and Trenton, before ending up in New York City. The United States Congress was established upon ratification of the United States Constitution in 1789, the question of where to establish the capital was raised in 1783. The Southern states refused to accept a capital in the North, another suggestion was for there to be two capitals, one in the North and one in the South. Congress approved a plan in 1783 for a capital on the Potomac, near Georgetown, in Maryland, and another capital on the Delaware River, this plan was rescinded the following year. Establishing the capital was put on hold for years, until the Constitutional Convention was held in 1787. The Constitution said nothing about where the district would be. The debate heated up in 1789 when Congress convened for the first time under the Constitution, two sites were favored by members of Congress, one site on the Potomac River near Georgetown, and another site on the Susquehanna River near Wrights Ferry. The Susquehanna River site was approved by the House in September 1789, while the Senate bill specified a site on the Delaware River near Germantown, Congress did not reach an agreement at the time. The selection of a location for the capital resurfaced in the summer of 1790, at the same time, Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton was pushing for Congress to pass a financial plan. A key provision of Hamiltons plan involved the Federal government assuming states debts incurred during the American Revolutionary War, northern states had accumulated a huge amount of debt during the war, amounting to 21.5 million dollars, and wanted the federal government to assume their burden. The Southern states, whose citizens would effectively be forced to pay a portion of debt if the Federal Government assumed it
40.
Potomac River
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The Potomac River /pəˈtoʊmək/ is located along the mid-Atlantic Ocean coast of the United States and flows into the Chesapeake Bay. The river is approximately 405 miles long, with an area of about 14,700 square miles. In terms of area, this makes the Potomac River the fourth largest river along the Atlantic coast of the United States, over 5 million people live within the Potomac watershed. The river forms part of the borders between Maryland and Washington, D. C. on the left descending bank and West Virginia and Virginia on the right descending bank. The majority of the lower Potomac River is part of the State of Maryland, exceptions include a small tidal portion within the District of Columbia, and the border with Virginia being delineated from point to point. Except for a portion of its headwaters in West Virginia. The South Branch Potomac River lies completely within the state of West Virginia except for its headwaters, the Potomac River runs 405 miles from the Fairfax Stone in West Virginia on the Allegheny Plateau to Point Lookout, Maryland, and drains 14,679 square miles. The length of the river from the junction of its North and South Branches to Point Lookout is 302 miles, the average flow is 10,800 ft³/s. The largest flow recorded on the Potomac at Washington, D. C. was in March 1936 when it reached 425,000 ft³/s. The lowest flow recorded at the same location was 600 ft³/s in September,1966. The source of the North Branch is at the Fairfax Stone located at the junction of Grant, Tucker, the source of the South Branch is located near Hightown in northern Highland County, Virginia. The rivers two branches converge just east of Green Spring in Hampshire County, West Virginia, to form the Potomac. Once the Potomac drops from the Piedmont to the Coastal Plain at Little Falls, tides further influence the river as it passes through Washington, D. C. salinity in the Potomac River Estuary increases thereafter with distance downstream. The estuary also widens, reaching 11 statute miles wide at its mouth, Potomac is a European spelling of Patowmeck, the Algonquian name of a Native American village, perhaps meaning something brought. Native Americans had different names for different parts of the river, calling the river above Great Falls Cohongarooton, meaning honking geese and Patawomke below the fall, meaning river of swans. The spelling of the name has many forms over the years from Patawomeke to Patawomeck, Patowmack. The rivers name was decided upon as Potomac by the Board on Geographic Names in 1931. The river itself is at least two years old, likely extending back ten to twenty million years before present when the Atlantic Ocean lowered and exposed coastal sediments along the fall line
41.
Cabinet of the United States
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The Cabinet of the United States is composed of the most senior appointed officers of the executive branch of the government serving under the President. Aside from the Attorney General, the heads of the executive departments all receive the title of Secretary, all members of the Cabinet serve at the pleasure of the President, who can dismiss them at will for no cause. There is no definition of the term Cabinet in the United States Constitution. The name comes from a 17th-century usage for a room where advisors would meet. The term principal officers of the departments is also mentioned in the Twenty-fifth Amendment. The executive departments are listed in 5 U. S. C, under the 1967 Federal Anti-Nepotism statute, federal officials are prohibited from appointing their immediate family members to certain governmental positions, including those in the Cabinet. Under the Federal Vacancies Reform Act of 1998, an incoming administration may appoint acting heads of department from employees of the relevant department and these may be existing high-level career employees, from political appointees of the outgoing administration, or sometimes lower-level appointees of the incoming administration. The heads of the departments and all other federal agency heads are nominated by the President. If approved, they receive their commission scroll, are sworn in, an elected Vice President does not require Senate confirmation, nor does the White House Chief of Staff, which is an appointed staff position of the Executive Office of the President. 21 positions, including the heads of the departments and others. §5312, and those 46 positions on Level II pay are listed in 5 U. S. C, as of 2015, Level I annual pay, was set at $203,700. The annual salary of the Vice President is $235,300, the salary level was set by the Government Salary Reform Act of 1989, which also provides an automatic cost of living adjustment for federal employees. For a full list of people nominated for Cabinet positions, see Formation of Donald Trumps Cabinet, the Cabinet includes the Vice President and the heads of 15 executive departments, listed here according to their order of succession to the Presidency. The following officials hold positions that are considered to be Cabinet-level positions, Department of the Navy, headed by the Secretary of the Navy, became a military department within the Department of Defense. Post Office Department, headed by the Postmaster General, reorganized as the United States Postal Service, National Military Establishment, headed by the Secretary of Defense, created by the National Security Act of 1947 and recreated as the Department of Defense in 1949. Department of the Army, headed by the Secretary of the Army, Department of the Air Force, headed by the Secretary of the Air Force, became a military department within the Department of Defense. Secretary of Foreign Affairs, created in July 1781 and renamed Secretary of State in September 1789, Secretary of War, created in 1789 and was renamed as Secretary of the Army by the National Security Act of 1947. The 1949 Amendments to the National Security Act of 1947 made the Secretary of the Army a subordinate to the Secretary of Defense
42.
United States Secretary of the Treasury
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This position in the Federal Government of the United States is analogous to the Minister of Finance in many other countries. The Secretary of the Treasury is a member of the Presidents Cabinet, nominees for The Secretary of the Treasury undergo a confirmation hearing before the United States Senate Committee on Finance before being confirmed by the United States Senate. The Secretary of the Treasury is a member of the U. S. National Security Council. The Secretary along with the Treasurer must sign Federal Reserve notes before they can become legal tender, the Secretary also manages the United States Emergency Economic Stabilization fund. Most of the Departments law enforcement agencies such as the U. S. Customs Service, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, secret Service were reassigned to other Departments in 2003 in conjunction with the creation of the Department of Homeland Security. The Secretary of the Treasury salary is $205,700 annually,2 Deputy Secretary of the Treasury M. Peter McPherson served as Acting Secretary of the Treasury from August 17,1988, to September 15,1988. 4 Deputy Secretary of the Treasury Kenneth W. Dam served as Acting Secretary of the Treasury from December 31,2002,5 Deputy Secretary of the Treasury Robert M. Kimmitt served as Acting Secretary of the Treasury from June 30,2006, to July 9,2006. 7 Deputy Secretary of the Treasury Neal Wolin served as Acting Secretary of the Treasury from January 25,2013, as of April 2017, there are eleven living former Secretaries of the Treasury, the oldest being George P. Shultz. The most recent Secretary of the Treasury to die was Lloyd M. Bentsen, United States Department of the Treasury
43.
New York (state)
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New York is a state in the northeastern United States, and is the 27th-most extensive, fourth-most populous, and seventh-most densely populated U. S. state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south and Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Vermont to the east. With an estimated population of 8.55 million in 2015, New York City is the most populous city in the United States, the New York Metropolitan Area is one of the most populous urban agglomerations in the world. New York City makes up over 40% of the population of New York State, two-thirds of the states population lives in the New York City Metropolitan Area, and nearly 40% lives on Long Island. Both the state and New York City were named for the 17th-century Duke of York, the next four most populous cities in the state are Buffalo, Rochester, Yonkers, and Syracuse, while the state capital is Albany. New York has a diverse geography and these more mountainous regions are bisected by two major river valleys—the north-south Hudson River Valley and the east-west Mohawk River Valley, which forms the core of the Erie Canal. Western New York is considered part of the Great Lakes Region and straddles Lake Ontario, between the two lakes lies Niagara Falls. The central part of the state is dominated by the Finger Lakes, New York had been inhabited by tribes of Algonquian and Iroquoian-speaking Native Americans for several hundred years by the time the earliest Europeans came to New York. The first Europeans to arrive were French colonists and Jesuit missionaries who arrived southward from settlements at Montreal for trade, the British annexed the colony from the Dutch in 1664. The borders of the British colony, the Province of New York, were similar to those of the present-day state, New York is home to the Statue of Liberty, a symbol of the United States and its ideals of freedom, democracy, and opportunity. In the 21st century, New York has emerged as a node of creativity and entrepreneurship, social tolerance. On April 17,1524 Verrazanno entered New York Bay, by way of the now called the Narrows into the northern bay which he named Santa Margherita. Verrazzano described it as a vast coastline with a delta in which every kind of ship could pass and he adds. This vast sheet of water swarmed with native boats and he landed on the tip of Manhattan and possibly on the furthest point of Long Island. Verrazannos stay was interrupted by a storm which pushed him north towards Marthas Vineyard, in 1540 French traders from New France built a chateau on Castle Island, within present-day Albany, due to flooding, it was abandoned the next year. In 1614, the Dutch under the command of Hendrick Corstiaensen, rebuilt the French chateau, Fort Nassau was the first Dutch settlement in North America, and was located along the Hudson River, also within present-day Albany. The small fort served as a trading post and warehouse, located on the Hudson River flood plain, the rudimentary fort was washed away by flooding in 1617, and abandoned for good after Fort Orange was built nearby in 1623. Henry Hudsons 1609 voyage marked the beginning of European involvement with the area, sailing for the Dutch East India Company and looking for a passage to Asia, he entered the Upper New York Bay on September 11 of that year
44.
United States Secretary of State
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Secretary of State is a Level I position in the Executive Schedule and thus earns the salary prescribed for that level. The current Secretary of State is former ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson and those that remain include storage and use of the Great Seal of the United States, performance of protocol functions for the White House, and the drafting of certain proclamations. The Secretary also negotiates with the individual States over the extradition of fugitives to foreign countries, under Federal Law, the resignation of a President or of a Vice President is only valid if declared in writing, in an instrument delivered to the office of the Secretary of State. Accordingly, the resignations of President Nixon and of Vice-President Spiro Agnew, domestic issues, were formalized in instruments delivered to the Secretary of State, six Secretaries of State have gone on to be elected President. Former Secretaries of State retain the right to add the title Secretary to their surnames, as the head of the United States Foreign Service, the Secretary of State is responsible for management of the diplomatic service of the United States. The foreign service employs about 12,000 people domestically and internationally, the U. S. Secretary of State has the power to remove any foreign diplomat from U. S. soil for any reason. The nature of the means that Secretaries of State engage in travel around the world. The record for most countries visited in a secretarys tenure is 112, second is Madeleine Albright with 96. The record for most air miles traveled in a secretarys tenure is 1.380 million miles, second is Condoleezza Rices 1.059 million miles and third is Clintons 956,733 miles. S
45.
Thomas Jefferson
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Thomas Jefferson was an American Founding Father who was the principal author of the Declaration of Independence and later served as the third President of the United States from 1801 to 1809. Previously, he was elected the second Vice President of the United States, Jefferson was primarily of English ancestry, born and educated in colonial Virginia. He graduated from the College of William & Mary and briefly practiced law and he became the United States Minister to France in May 1785, and subsequently the nations first Secretary of State in 1790–1793 under President George Washington. Jefferson and James Madison organized the Democratic-Republican Party to oppose the Federalist Party during the formation of the First Party System, as President, Jefferson pursued the nations shipping and trade interests against Barbary pirates and aggressive British trade policies. He also organized the Louisiana Purchase, almost doubling the countrys territory, as a result of peace negotiations with France, his administration reduced military forces. Jeffersons second term was beset with difficulties at home, including the trial of former Vice President Aaron Burr, American foreign trade was diminished when Jefferson implemented the Embargo Act of 1807, responding to British threats to U. S. shipping. In 1803, Jefferson began a process of Indian tribe removal to the newly organized Louisiana Territory. Jefferson mastered many disciplines, which ranged from surveying and mathematics to horticulture and he was a proven architect in the classical tradition. Jeffersons keen interest in religion and philosophy earned him the presidency of the American Philosophical Society and he shunned organized religion, but was influenced by both Christianity and deism. He was well versed in linguistics and spoke several languages and he founded the University of Virginia after retiring from public office. He was a letter writer and corresponded with many prominent and important people throughout his adult life. His only full-length book is Notes on the State of Virginia, Jefferson owned several plantations which were worked by hundreds of slaves. Most historians now believe that, after the death of his wife in 1782, he had a relationship with his slave Sally Hemings and fathered at least one of her children. Various modern scholars are more critical of Jeffersons private life, pointing out the discrepancy between his ownership of slaves and his political principles, for example. Presidential scholars, however, consistently rank Jefferson among the greatest presidents, Thomas Jefferson was born on April 13,1743, at the family home in Shadwell in the Colony of Virginia, the third of ten children. He was of English and possibly Welsh descent and was born a British subject and his father Peter Jefferson was a planter and surveyor who died when Jefferson was fourteen, his mother was Jane Randolph. Peter Jefferson moved his family to Tuckahoe Plantation in 1745 upon the death of a friend who had named him guardian of his children, the Jeffersons returned to Shadwell in 1752, where Peter died in 1757, his estate was divided between his sons Thomas and Randolph. Thomas inherited approximately 5,000 acres of land, including Monticello and he assumed full authority over his property at age 21
46.
Virginia
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Virginia is a state located in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, as well as in the historic Southeast. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth are shaped by the Blue Ridge Mountains and the Chesapeake Bay, the capital of the Commonwealth is Richmond, Virginia Beach is the most populous city, and Fairfax County is the most populous political subdivision. The Commonwealths estimated population as of 2014 is over 8.3 million, the areas history begins with several indigenous groups, including the Powhatan. In 1607 the London Company established the Colony of Virginia as the first permanent New World English colony, slave labor and the land acquired from displaced Native American tribes each played a significant role in the colonys early politics and plantation economy. Although the Commonwealth was under one-party rule for nearly a century following Reconstruction, the Virginia General Assembly is the oldest continuous law-making body in the New World. The state government was ranked most effective by the Pew Center on the States in both 2005 and 2008 and it is unique in how it treats cities and counties equally, manages local roads, and prohibits its governors from serving consecutive terms. Virginias economy changed from agricultural to industrial during the 1960s and 1970s. Virginia has an area of 42,774.2 square miles, including 3,180.13 square miles of water. Virginias boundary with Maryland and Washington, D. C. extends to the mark of the south shore of the Potomac River. The southern border is defined as the 36° 30′ parallel north, the border with Tennessee was not settled until 1893, when their dispute was brought to the U. S. Supreme Court. The Chesapeake Bay separates the portion of the Commonwealth from the two-county peninsula of Virginias Eastern Shore. The bay was formed from the river valleys of the Susquehanna River. Many of Virginias rivers flow into the Chesapeake Bay, including the Potomac, Rappahannock, York, and James, the Tidewater is a coastal plain between the Atlantic coast and the fall line. It includes the Eastern Shore and major estuaries of Chesapeake Bay, the Piedmont is a series of sedimentary and igneous rock-based foothills east of the mountains which were formed in the Mesozoic era. The region, known for its clay soil, includes the Southwest Mountains around Charlottesville. The Blue Ridge Mountains are a province of the Appalachian Mountains with the highest points in the state. The Ridge and Valley region is west of the mountains and includes the Great Appalachian Valley, the region is carbonate rock based and includes Massanutten Mountain. The Cumberland Plateau and the Cumberland Mountains are in the southwest corner of Virginia, in this region, rivers flow northwest, with a dendritic drainage system, into the Ohio River basin
47.
Anacostia River
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The Anacostia River /ænəˈkɒstiə/ is a river in the Mid Atlantic region of the United States. It flows from Prince Georges County in Maryland into Washington, D. C. where it joins with the Washington Channel to empty into the Potomac River at Buzzard Point and it is approximately 8.7 miles long. The name Anacostia derives from the early history as Nacotchtank. Heavy pollution in the Anacostia and weak investment and development along its banks have led to it becoming what many have called D. C. s forgotten river, in recent years, however, private organizations, local businesses, and the D. C. Maryland and federal governments have made joint efforts to reduce its pollution levels in order to protect the ecologically valuable Anacostia watershed, the mainstem of the Anacostia is formed by the confluence of the Northwest Branch and the Northeast Branch just north of Bladensburg, Maryland. Tributaries of these sources include Sligo Creek, Paint Branch, Little Paint Branch, Indian Creek, Upper Beaverdam Creek, Dueling Branch, tributaries of the mainstem Anacostia include Watts Branch, Lower Beaverdam Creek and Hickory Run. The watershed of the river roughly covers 176 sq mi in eastern Montgomery County and northern Prince Georges County, as well as parts of Washington, on earlier maps, the river was known as the Eastern Branch of the Potomac River until it received its current, official name. The Washington City Canal operated from 1815 until the mid-1850s, initially connecting the Anacostia to Tiber Creek and the Potomac River, the city canal fell into disuse in the late 19th century, and the city government covered over or filled in various sections. One of the biggest problems facing the Anacostia River is raw sewage that enters the river, the sewage creates a public health threat because of fecal coliform bacteria and other pathogens, it also impairs water quality and can create hypoxic conditions that lead to large fish kills. The Anacostia Watershed Society sued the Washington, D. C, water and Sewer Authority in 1999 for allowing more than 2,000,000,000 US gallons of combined sewage and urban runoff to flow into the river via its antiquated combined sewer overflow system. In settling the lawsuit, WASA agreed to invest $140 million on pump station rehabilitation, pipe cleaning and maintenance, the governments of Montgomery County and Prince Georges County also operate stormwater management programs in their respective jurisdictions. In late 2004, AWS and other organizations announced plans to sue the Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission over similar problems with contamination from the Maryland suburbs. According to WSSC, more than 4,000,000 US gallons of raw sewage were released into Anacostia tributaries between January 2001 and June 2004. Another large source of pollution is the Washington Navy Yard. In May 2009, a Bandalong Litter Trap floating litter-control system was placed in the Watts Branch tributary of the Anacostia River as part of Mayor Adrian Fentys Green DC Agenda. In its first year of operation, it removed more than 500 pounds of litter per month from the river. The Bladensburg Waterfront Park, part of the Prince Georges County Department of Parks and Recreation, the Port Towns Community Boathouse at the park is home to the rowing crews of the University of Maryland, The Catholic University of America, and several local high schools. 11th Street Bridges Anacostia Frederick Douglass Memorial Bridge John Philip Sousa Bridge List of rivers of Washington, D. C
United States
Continental Army
Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Pierre-Charles L'Enfant". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "
