American Civil War
The American Civil War was a war fought in the United States from 1861 to 1865, between the North and the South. The Civil War is the most studied and written about episode in U. S. history. As a result of the long-standing controversy over the enslavement of black people, war broke out in April 1861 when secessionist forces attacked Fort Sumter in South Carolina shortly after Abraham Lincoln had been inaugurated as the President of the United States; the loyalists of the Union in the North proclaimed support for the Constitution. They faced secessionists of the Confederate States in the South, who advocated for states' rights to uphold slavery. Among the 34 U. S. states in February 1861, secessionist partisans in seven Southern slave states declared state secessions from the country and unveiled their defiant formation of a Confederate States of America in rebellion against the U. S. Constitutional government; the Confederacy grew to control over half the territory in eleven states, it claimed the additional states of Kentucky and Missouri by assertions from exiled native secessionists without territory or population.
These were given full representation in the Confederate Congress throughout the Civil War. The two remaining slave holding states of Delaware and Maryland were invited to join the Confederacy, but nothing substantial developed; the Confederate States was never diplomatically recognized by the government of the United States or by that of any foreign country. The states that remained loyal to the U. S. were known as the Union. The Union and the Confederacy raised volunteer and conscription armies that fought in the South over the course of four years. Intense combat left 620,000 to 750,000 people dead, more than the number of U. S. military deaths in all other wars combined. The war ended when General Robert E. Lee surrendered to General Ulysses S. Grant at the Battle of Appomattox Court House. Confederate generals throughout the southern states followed suit. Much of the South's infrastructure was destroyed the transportation systems; the Confederacy collapsed, slavery was abolished, four million black slaves were freed.
During the Reconstruction Era that followed the war, national unity was restored, the national government expanded its power, civil rights were granted to freed black slaves through amendments to the Constitution and federal legislation. In the 1860 presidential election, led by Abraham Lincoln, supported banning slavery in all the U. S. territories. The Southern states viewed this as a violation of their constitutional rights and as the first step in a grander Republican plan to abolish slavery; the three pro-Union candidates together received an overwhelming 82% majority of the votes cast nationally: Republican Lincoln's votes centered in the north, Democrat Stephen A. Douglas' votes were distributed nationally and Constitutional Unionist John Bell's votes centered in Tennessee and Virginia; the Republican Party, dominant in the North, secured a plurality of the popular votes and a majority of the electoral votes nationally. He was the first Republican Party candidate to win the presidency.
However, before his inauguration, seven slave states with cotton-based economies declared secession and formed the Confederacy. The first six to declare secession had the highest proportions of slaves in their populations, with an average of 49 percent. Of those states whose legislatures resolved for secession, the first seven voted with split majorities for unionist candidates Douglas and Bell, or with sizable minorities for those unionists. Of these, only Texas held a referendum on secession. Eight remaining slave states continued to reject calls for secession. Outgoing Democratic President James Buchanan and the incoming Republicans rejected secession as illegal. Lincoln's March 4, 1861, inaugural address declared that his administration would not initiate a civil war. Speaking directly to the "Southern States", he attempted to calm their fears of any threats to slavery, reaffirming, "I have no purpose, directly or indirectly to interfere with the institution of slavery in the United States where it exists.
I believe I have no lawful right to do so, I have no inclination to do so." After Confederate forces seized numerous federal forts within territory claimed by the Confederacy, efforts at compromise failed and both sides prepared for war. The Confederates assumed that European countries were so dependent on "King Cotton" that they would intervene, but none did, none recognized the new Confederate States of America. Hostilities began on April 1861, when Confederate forces fired upon Fort Sumter. While in the Western Theater the Union made significant permanent gains, in the Eastern Theater, the battle was inconclusive during 1861–1862. In September 1862, Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, which made ending slavery a war goal. To the west, by summer 1862 the Union destroyed the Confederate river navy much of its western armies, seized New Orleans; the successful 1863 Union siege of Vicksburg split the Confederacy in two at the Mississippi River. In 1863, Robert E. Lee's Confederate incursion north ended at the Battle of Gettysburg.
Western successes led to Ulysses S. Grant's command of all Union armies in 1864. Inflicting an ever-tightening naval blockade of Confederate ports, the Union marshaled the resources and manpower to attack the Confederacy from all directions, leading to the fall of Atlanta to William T. Sherman and his march to th
September 11 attacks
The September 11 attacks were a series of four coordinated terrorist attacks by the Islamic terrorist group al-Qaeda against the United States on the morning of Tuesday, September 11, 2001. The attacks killed 2,996 people, injured over 6,000 others, caused at least $10 billion in infrastructure and property damage. Additional people died of 9/11-related cancer and respiratory diseases in the months and years following the attacks. Four passenger airliners operated by two major U. S. passenger air carriers —all of which departed from airports in the northeastern United States bound for California—were hijacked by 19 al-Qaeda terrorists. Two of the planes, American Airlines Flight 11 and United Airlines Flight 175, were crashed into the North and South towers of the World Trade Center complex in Lower Manhattan. Within an hour and 42 minutes, both 110-story towers collapsed. Debris and the resulting fires caused a partial or complete collapse of all other buildings in the World Trade Center complex, including the 47-story 7 World Trade Center tower, as well as significant damage to ten other large surrounding structures.
A third plane, American Airlines Flight 77, was crashed into the Pentagon in Arlington County, which led to a partial collapse of the building's west side. The fourth plane, United Airlines Flight 93, was flown toward Washington, D. C. but crashed into a field in Stonycreek Township near Shanksville, after its passengers thwarted the hijackers. 9/11 is the single deadliest terrorist attack in human history and the single deadliest incident for firefighters and law enforcement officers in the history of the United States, with 343 and 72 killed, respectively. Suspicion fell on al-Qaeda; the United States responded by launching the War on Terror and invaded Afghanistan to depose the Taliban, which had failed to comply with U. S. demands to extradite Osama bin expel al-Qaeda from Afghanistan. Many countries strengthened their anti-terrorism legislation and expanded the powers of law enforcement and intelligence agencies to prevent terrorist attacks. Although Osama bin Laden, al-Qaeda's leader denied any involvement, in 2004 he claimed responsibility for the attacks.
Al-Qaeda and bin Laden cited U. S. support of Israel, the presence of U. S. troops in Saudi Arabia, sanctions against Iraq as motives. After evading capture for a decade, bin Laden was located in Pakistan and killed by SEAL Team Six of the U. S. Navy in May 2011; the destruction of the World Trade Center and nearby infrastructure harmed the economy of Lower Manhattan and had a significant effect on global markets, which resulted in the closing of Wall Street until September 17 and the civilian airspace in the U. S. and Canada until September 13. Many closings and cancellations followed, out of respect or fear of further attacks. Cleanup of the World Trade Center site was completed in May 2002, the Pentagon was repaired within a year. On November 18, 2006, construction of One World Trade Center began at the World Trade Center site; the building was opened on November 3, 2014. Numerous memorials have been constructed, including the National September 11 Memorial & Museum in New York City, the Pentagon Memorial in Arlington County and the Flight 93 National Memorial in a field in Stonycreek Township near Shanksville, Pennsylvania.
Although not confirmed, there is evidence of alleged Saudi Arabian involvement in the attacks. Given as main evidence in these charges are the contents of the 28 redacted pages of the December 2002 Joint Inquiry into Intelligence Community Activities before and after the Terrorist Attacks of September 11, 2001 conducted by the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence and the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence; these 28 pages contain information regarding the material and financial assistance given to the hijackers and their affiliates leading up to the attacks by the Saudi Arabian government. The origins of al-Qaeda can be traced to 1979. Osama bin Laden helped organize Arab mujahideen to resist the Soviets. Under the guidance of Ayman al-Zawahiri, bin Laden became more radical. In 1996, bin Laden issued his first fatwā. In a second fatwā in 1998, bin Laden outlined his objections to American foreign policy with respect to Israel, as well as the continued presence of American troops in Saudi Arabia after the Gulf War.
Bin Laden used Islamic texts to exhort Muslims to attack Americans until the stated grievances are reversed. Muslim legal scholars "have throughout Islamic history unanimously agreed that the jihad is an individual duty if the enemy destroys the Muslim countries", according to bin Laden. Bin Laden orchestrated the attacks and denied involvement but recanted his false statements. Al Jazeera broadcast a statement by bin Laden on September 16, 2001, stating, "I stress that I have not carried out this act, which appears to have been carried out by individuals with their own motivation." In November 2001, U. S. forces recovered a videotape from a destroyed house in Afghanistan. In the video, bin Laden admits foreknowledge of the attacks. On December 27, 2001, a second bin Laden video was released. In the video, he said: It has become clear that the West in general and America in particular have an unspeakable hatred for Islam.... It is the hatred of crusaders. Terrorism against America deserves to be praised because it was a response to injustice, aimed at forcing America to stop its support for Israel, which kills our people....
We
Eisenhower Executive Office Building
The Eisenhower Executive Office Building —formerly known as the Old Executive Office Building and earlier as the State and Navy Building—is a U. S. government building situated just west of the White House in the U. S. capital of Washington, D. C. Maintained by the General Services Administration, it is occupied by the Executive Office of the President, including the Office of the Vice President of the United States. Located on 17th Street NW, between Pennsylvania Avenue and State Place, West Executive Drive, the building was commissioned by President Ulysses S. Grant, it was built between 1871 and 1888, on the site of the original 1800 War/State/Navy Building and the White House stables, in the French Second Empire style. While the building exterior received substantial criticism at first, it has since been designated as a National Historic Landmark, it was for years the world's largest office building, with 566 rooms and about ten acres of floor space. Many White House employees have their offices in the EEOB.
In 1802, the Washington Jockey Club lay at the rear of what is now the site of Decatur House at H Street and Jackson Place, crossing Seventeenth Street and Pennsylvania Avenue to Twentieth Street—today the Eisenhower Executive Office Building—having been completed only four years earlier in 1798, as the stonemasons had finished the brick and painters applied white paint to the President's House. The building—originally called the State and Navy Building because it housed the Departments of State and the Navy—was built between 1871 and 1888 in the French Second Empire style, it was designed by Alfred B. Mullett, Supervising Architect. Patterned after French Second Empire architecture that clashed with the neoclassical style of the other Federal buildings in the city, it was regarded with scorn and disdain, Mullett, the exterior architect, ended his life by suicide, while in litigation; the OEOB was referred to by Mark Twain as "the ugliest building in America." President Harry S. Truman called it "the greatest monstrosity in America."
Historian Henry Adams called it Mullett's “architectural infant asylum.”Much of the interior was designed by Richard von Ezdorf using fireproof cast-iron structural and decorative elements, including massive skylights above each of the major stairwells and doorknobs with cast patterns indicating which of the original three occupying departments occupied a particular space. The total cost to construct the building came in at $10,038,482.42 when construction ended in 1888, after 17 years. The original tenants of the building outgrew it and vacated it in the late 1930s; the building came to be seen as inefficient and was nearly demolished in 1957. In 1969, the building received the highest recognition possible, becoming a National Historic Landmark. In 1981, plans began to restore all the "secretary of" suites; the main office of the Secretary of the Navy was restored in 1987 and is now used as the ceremonial office of the Vice President of the United States. Shortly after September 11, 2001, the 17th Street side of the building was vacated and has since been modernized.
The building continues to house various agencies that compose the President's Executive Office, such as the Office of the Vice President, the Office of Management and Budget, the National Security Council. Its most public function is that of the Vice President's Ceremonial Office, used for special meetings and press conferences. Many celebrated national figures have participated in historical events that have taken place within the Old Executive Office Building. Presidents Theodore Roosevelt, William Howard Taft, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Lyndon B. Johnson, Gerald Ford, George H. W. Bush all had offices in this building before becoming President, it has housed 16 Secretaries of the Navy, 21 Secretaries of War, 24 Secretaries of State. Sir Winston Churchill once walked its corridors and Japanese emissaries met there with Secretary of State Cordell Hull after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. Presidents have occupied space in the EEOB as well. Herbert Hoover worked out of the Secretary of the Navy's office for a few months following a fire in the Oval Office on Christmas Eve 1929.
President Dwight D. Eisenhower held the first televised Presidential news conference in the building's Indian Treaty Room on January 19, 1955. President Richard Nixon maintained a private "hideaway" office in room 180 of the EEOB during his presidency, from where he preferred to work, using the Oval Office only for ceremonial occasions. Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson was the first in a succession of Vice Presidents who have had offices in the building; the first wife of a Vice President to have an office in the building was Marilyn Quayle, wife of Dan Quayle, Vice President to George H. W. Bush; the Old Executive Office Building was renamed the Dwight D. Eisenhower Executive Office Building when President Bill Clinton approved legislation changing the name on November 9, 1999. President George W. Bush participated in a rededication ceremony on May 7, 2002. A small fire on December 19, 2007 damaged an office of the vice-president's staff and included the VP ceremonial office. According to media reporting, the office of the Vice President's Political Director, Amy Whitelaw, was damaged in the fire.
Theodore Roosevelt – while Assistant Secretary of the Navy William Howard Taft – while Secretary of War Herbert Hoover – temporary offices after White House fire Franklin Roosevelt – while Assistant Secretary of the Navy Harry S. Truman – temporary offices during reconstruction of the White House Dwight Eisenhower – while assigned to the Army General Staff Lyndon Johnson – while Vice President Richard Nixon – had "hideaway" office Gerald Ford – wh
South Lawn (White House)
The South Lawn at the White House in Washington, DC, is located directly south of the house, is bordered on the east by East Executive Drive and the Treasury Building, on the west by West Executive Drive and the Old Executive Office Building, along its curved southern perimeter by South Executive Drive and a large circular public lawn called The Ellipse. Since the address of the White House is 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, the North Lawn faces Pennsylvania Avenue, the South Lawn is sometimes described as the back lawn of the White House; the South Lawn presents a long north-south vista from the house. Open to the public until the Second World War, it is now a closed part of the White House grounds that provides a setting for official events like the State Arrival Ceremony as well as informal gatherings including the annual White House Egg Rolling Contest and staff barbecues. Marine One, the presidential helicopter, lands on the South Lawn; when the White House was first occupied in 1800 the site of the South Lawn was an open meadow descending to a large marsh, the Tiber Creek, Potomac River beyond.
Thomas Jefferson completed grading of the South Lawn, building up mounds on either side of a central lawn. Jefferson, working with architect Benjamin Henry Latrobe located a triumphal arch as a main entry point to the grounds, just southeast of the White House. Pierre-Charles L'Enfant's 1793 plan of the city of Washington, indicates a setting of terraced formal gardens descending to Tiber Creek. In 1850, landscape designer Andrew Jackson Davis attempted to soften the geometry of the L'Enfant plan, incorporating a semicircular southern boundary and meandering paths. Andrew Jackson Davis's changes included enlarging the South Lawn, creating a large circular lawn he termed the "Parade or President's Park" and bordered by densely planted shrubs and trees. During the administration of Ulysses S. Grant the marsh to the south was drained, the South Lawn received additional grading and 8 to 10 feet of fill to make the descent to the Potomac more gradual. During the administrations of Rutherford B. Hayes and Grover Cleveland the U.
S. Army Corps of Engineers were engaged to reconfigure the South Lawn, reducing the size of Downing's circular parade, creating the current boundaries much as they presently are. Theodore Roosevelt who had engaged the architectural firm of McKim and White to reconfigure and rebuild parts of the White House in 1902, was influenced to remove the complex of Victorian era glass houses built up the West Colonnade and the site of the present West Wing. In 1934, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt engaged Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr. to evaluate the grounds and recommend changes. Olmsted understood the need to offer presidents and their families a modicum of privacy balancing with the requirement for public views of the White House; the Olmsted plan presented the landscape as seen today: retaining or planting large specimen trees and shrubs on the perimeter to create boundaries for visual privacy, but punctuated with generous sight lines of the house from north and south. The lawn is planted with a grass variety called tall fescue.
Trees on the South Lawn include the earliest remaining trees on the grounds to have been planted by a United States president – President Andrew Jackson's southern magnolias on either side of the South portico, Japanese threadleaf maple, American elm, white oak, white saucer magnolia, Atlas cedar, sugar maple, northern red oak. The South Lawn pool and fountain is planted seasonally with borders of tulips edged by grape hyacinth for spring, red geranium and Dusty Miller in summer, chrysanthemum in fall; the two ceremonial gardens of the White House face the South Lawn. The Rose Garden is located south-west of the main residence along the west colonnade, just outside the Oval Office; the Jacqueline Kennedy Garden is located south-east of the main residence along the east colonnade. The garden was dedicated by Lady Bird Johnson as the Jacqueline Kennedy Garden on April 22, 1965, although it has been called the "First Lady's Garden" by some administrations. A tennis court was first installed during the Theodore Roosevelt administration on the south lawn.
Since the court has been moved several times landing in its current position in the south-west area. President Obama had basketball court lines and removable baskets installed so he could play full court basketball. Located just west of the tennis/basketball court is a half-court basketball area that housed a horseshoe pit; the pool was installed in 1975 by President Gerald Ford. It is located directly south of the West Wing; the original pool at The White House was indoors, located in between the main residence and the West Wing, however President Nixon turned it into an area for the press. The putting green was first installed in 1954 by President Dwight D. Eisenhower, an avid golfer, it was removed by President Nixon and reinstalled by President George H. W. Bush in 1991; however President Clinton moved it to its current location just south of the Rose Garden, a short walk from the Oval Office. The children's garden is located between the tennis court and basketball court to the south-west area of the property.
The garden was a gift to the White House in 1968 from his wife. The garden supplies a secluded location for children to play in private; the garden features a goldfish pond in t
China Room
The China Room is one of the rooms on the Ground Floor of the White House, the home of the President of the United States. The White House's collection of state china is displayed there; the collection ranges from George Washington's Chinese export china to Bill Clinton's ivory and burnished gold china. The room is used by the first lady for teas and smaller receptions; until late 1902 when the room was refinished as a public entertainment space during renovations directed by Charles Follen McKim, this room, along with most of the ground floor of the residence, was used for household work and general storage. McKim rebuilt the room with details from the late Georgian period including robust cove moldings. After becoming first lady in 1889, china painting enthusiast Mrs. Benjamin Harrison began to gather and restore china from previous administrations, which she arranged within the mansion's private Family Dining Room. Harrison successor Mrs. Theodore Roosevelt celebrated the newly initiated efforts of journalist Abby Gunn Baker to research the growing collection, allowing her to both expand and arrange the collection in Arts and Crafts Movement cabinets in the semi-public ground floor corridor—a space newly defined as a gallery during the 1902 McKim and White renovation of the White House.
This relocation of the china collection represented a burgeoning recognition of and appreciation for the historic artifacts associated with the American Presidency. In 1917, First Lady Edith Bolling Wilson acknowledged the need for more space for displaying the collection through the suggestions of both Mrs. Baker and White House Chief-Usher Irwin Hood Hoover. Baker had continued to research the history of the mansion—and that of its celebrated tableware—and argued that the history of the house would slip away without official intervention. In response, Mrs. Wilson surveyed the Ground Floor with Hoover, designating a large room located towards the southeast, next to the oval Diplomatic Reception Room, as the new "Presidential Collections Room." She approved its outfitting with built-in cabinetry for the display of the china. Above each of the three bays of built-in wall cabinets was raised lettering identifying the holdings as CHINA USED BY THE PRESIDENTS. During the Truman renovation, 1948–1952, the room's walls were paneled in salvaged pine timbers from the house.
Architect William Adams Delano detailed the room with bracket molding of mid-Georgian style. The Truman-era paneling was left unpainted until the Kennedy administration, when, in 1963, French interior designer Stéphane Boudin of the Paris-based firm Maison Jansen, had it glazed in three shades of gray, with white detailing; the interiors of the display cabinets were lined with red cotton velvet, the floor was covered with a hued "Snowflake"-pattern carpet manufactured by Stark Carpet Corporation. At the single window, gray velvet draperies, trimmed in red and white silk fringe, were installed. An early-19th century classical marble mantel with female supports replaced the Truman Georgian surround; the room was redecorated in 1970 by First Lady Pat Nixon, with the assistance of White House Curator Clement Conger and preservation architect Edward Vason Jones. The Truman-era bracketed molding was replaced with a Federal period cove molding; the walls were painted a uniform off-white. The existing red accent color, determined by the red gown in Howard Chandler Christy's 1924 portrait of First Lady Grace Coolidge, was retained.
The vitrine shelves remained lined with red velvet. The collection is arranged chronologically beginning to the right of the fireplace on the east wall. While not every administration created its own service, at least minimal amounts of all china services created for the White House are now in the collection. Sizable amounts of some services going back to the early nineteenth century exist and are sometimes used for small dinners in the President's Dining Room on the Second Floor; the Carters favored using pieces of the Lincolns' "solferino" china for special occasions. The Reagans, though famous for their red and gold service enjoyed using the Lincoln china; the Clintons did not take delivery of their state service until near the end of President Clinton's second term. They used the Reagan and Truman services extensively for state dinners, but for small family dinners holidays, favored the Hayes china which depicts American flora and fauna; the rug is an Indo-Ispahan carpet from the early twentieth century.
A cut-glass Regency-style chandelier hangs in the China Room. A pair of late eighteenth century tureens on the mantel are glazed in red and green slip, are the source for the green and red striped silk taffeta draperies. Two high-backed lolling chairs, made early in the nineteenth century and upholstered in ivory and moss green, are arranged in front of the portrait of Mrs. Coolidge. An English neoclassical mantel is located on the east wall, Ferdinand Richardt's View on the Mississippi Fifty-Seven Miles Below St. Anthony Falls, completed in 1858, hangs above the mantel. Walter Scott Lenox Abbott, James Archer; the Presidential Dish: Mrs
National Park Service
The National Park Service is an agency of the United States federal government that manages all national parks, many national monuments, other conservation and historical properties with various title designations. It was created on August 25, 1916, by Congress through the National Park Service Organic Act and is an agency of the United States Department of the Interior; the NPS is charged with a dual role of preserving the ecological and historical integrity of the places entrusted to its management, while making them available and accessible for public use and enjoyment. As of 2018, the NPS employs 27,000 employees who oversee 419 units, of which 61 are designated national parks. National parks and national monuments in the United States were individually managed under the auspices of the Department of the Interior; the movement for an independent agency to oversee these federal lands was spearheaded by business magnate and conservationist Stephen Mather, as well as J. Horace McFarland. With the help of journalist Robert Sterling Yard, Mather ran a publicity campaign for the Department of the Interior.
They wrote numerous articles that praised the scenic and historic qualities of the parks and their possibilities for educational and recreational benefits. This campaign resulted in the creation of a National Park Service. On August 25, 1916, President Woodrow Wilson signed a bill that mandated the agency "to conserve the scenery and the natural and historic objects and wildlife therein, to provide for the enjoyment of the same in such manner and by such means as will leave them unimpaired for the enjoyment of future generations." Mather became the first director of the newly formed NPS. On March 3, 1933, President Herbert Hoover signed the Reorganization Act of 1933; the act would allow the President to reorganize the executive branch of the United States government. It wasn't until that summer when the new President, Franklin D. Roosevelt, made use of this power. Deputy Director Horace M. Albright had suggested to President Roosevelt that the historic sites from the American Civil War should be managed by the National Park Service, rather than the War Department.
President Roosevelt issued two Executive orders to make it happen. These two executive orders not only transferred to the National Park Service all the War Department historic sites, but the national monuments managed by the Department of Agriculture and the parks in and around the capital, run by an independent office. In 1951, Conrad Wirth became director of the National Park Service and went to work on bringing park facilities up to the standards that the public expected; the demand for parks after the end of the World War II had left the parks overburdened with demands that could not be met. In 1952, with the support of President Dwight D. Eisenhower, he began Mission 66, a ten-year effort to upgrade and expand park facilities for the 50th anniversary of the Park Service. New parks were added to preserve unique resources and existing park facilities were upgraded and expanded. In 1966, as the Park Service turned 50 years old, emphasis began to turn from just saving great and wonderful scenery and unique natural features to making parks accessible to the public.
Director George Hartzog began the process with the creation of the National Lakeshores and National Recreation Areas. Since its inception in 1916, the National Park Service has managed each of the United States' national parks, which have grown in number over the years to 60. Yellowstone National Park was the first national park in the United States. In 1872, there was no state government to manage it, so the federal government assumed direct control. Yosemite National Park began as a state park. Yosemite was returned to federal ownership. At first, each national park was managed independently, with varying degrees of success. In Yellowstone, the civilian staff was replaced by the U. S. Army in 1886. Due to the irregularities in managing these national treasures, Stephen Mather petitioned the federal government to improve the situation. In response, Secretary of the Interior Franklin K. Lane challenged him to lobby for creating a new agency, the National Park Service, to manage all national parks and some national monuments.
Mather was successful with the ratification of the National Park Service Organic Act in 1916. The agency was given authority over other protected areas, many with varying designations as Congress created them; the National Park System includes. The title or designation of a unit need not include the term park; the System as a whole is considered to be a national treasure of the United States, some of the more famous national parks and monuments are sometimes referred to metaphorically as "crown jewels". The system encompasses 84.4 million acres, of which more than 4.3 million acres remain in private ownership. The largest unit is Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve, Alaska. At 13,200,000 acres, it is over 16 percent of the entire system; the smallest unit in the system is Thaddeus Kosciuszko National Memorial, Pennsylvania, at 0.02 acre. In addition to administering its units and other properties, the National Park Service provides technical and financial assistance to several "affiliated areas" authorized by Congress.
The largest affiliated area is New Jersey Pinelands National Reserve at 1,164,025 acres. The smallest is Benjamin Franklin National Memorial at less than 0.01 acres. Although all units of the Nat
Treasury Building (Washington, D.C.)
The Treasury Building in Washington, D. C. is a National Historic Landmark building, the headquarters of the United States Department of the Treasury. An image of the Treasury Building is featured on the back of the United States ten-dollar bill. In the spring of the year 1800, the capital of the United States was preparing to move from the well-established city of Philadelphia to a parcel of tidewater land along the Potomac River. President John Adams issued an Executive Order on May 15 instructing the federal government to move to Washington and to be open for business by June 15, 1800. Arriving in Washington, relocated government employees found only one building completed and ready to be occupied: the Treasury Department building. Of the 131 federal workers who moved to Washington, over half of them were housed in the new Treasury Building, a two-story Federal/Georgian styled red brick building with a basement and attic that had 16 rooms on the first floor and 15 rooms on the second floor.
The building was 147 feet long and 57 feet wide, flanking the south-east end of the President's House, one of four similar structures for the four executive departments flanking the east and west sides of the executive mansion facing Pennsylvania Avenue. Within six months of occupying the building, a fire broke out on January 20, 1801, nearly destroying the entire structure; the fire started in one of the first floor rooms and burned through to the floor above but was extinguished before any serious structural damage occurred. The building was repaired, yet by 1805 the records of the department were beginning to overwhelm the original building and a new "fireproof" brick and masonry vault extension was planned for the west side of the Treasury building facing the next-door Presidential residence; the extension of the Treasury building was designed by architect Benjamin Henry Latrobe and completed in 1806. The first Secretary of the Treasury, Alexander Hamilton, never got to see; the fire-proof vault addition designed by Latrobe turned out to be a hardy structure – it was the only part of the building that survived the 1814 attack by British troops who burned many of the significant buildings in Washington during the War of 1812.
Treasury offices were temporarily relocated to seven buildings along Pennsylvania Avenue between 19th and 20th streets while the Treasury building, other executive departments and President's House were reconstructed. The reconstruction took until 1817 under President James Monroe to complete. On March 30, 1833, the Treasury Building was once again engulfed in flames. Late in the evening, Richard H. White had set fire to the building hoping to destroy incriminating pension records inside the Treasury Building. Volunteers saved records that could be retrieved and the Treasury offices were relocated to a row of buildings on the south side of Pennsylvania Avenue, opposite the nearby Willard Hotel. After the fire, architect Robert Mills was asked to prepare a set of drawings of the former brick Federal style Treasury Building recording the design of the building before the fire; when Mills submitted drawings of the destroyed Treasury building along with a report on the need for a more fire-proof building in the future, he included drawings of what he proposed as a potential new Treasury building.
Mills won a design competition and was appointed Architect of Public Buildings by President Andrew Jackson to oversee the design and construction of the Treasury and Patent Office buildings. Construction on the new Treasury building began on September 7, 1836. Disagreements over the Treasury building came to a head less than two years into the construction of the east wing. In January, 1838 a proposal was introduced in Congress to demolish the constructed building; the Committee on Public Buildings directed Capitol building architect Thomas U. Walter to inspect and report on the Treasury building. A report on January 29, 1838 by Walter critical of the building design was rebutted by Mills a few weeks in February. Despite Mills' arguments, a congressional bill was brought to the floor and voted on with the recommendation to demolish the Treasury building and use the stone for a replacement Post Office building; the bill was narrowly defeated 94-91 and work on the Treasury building was allowed to continue.
The Mills wings of the current Treasury building were completed in 1842. The massive, 350' long Greek inspired Ionic colonnade facing 15th street is the most striking feature of Mills design. By 1844, the tan sandstone exterior, including the colonnade, was painted white to protect the integrity of the stone. While Mills had always envisioned additional wings added to the Treasury building beginning with a south wing extension, in 1851, he was removed from his Treasury position before any design or construction of the south wing had begun. By the early 1850s there was a growing need to increase the size of the Treasury building. Mills submitted a plan to Treasury Secretary Thomas Corwin. Controversy followed Mills yet again and Thomas U. Walter was brought in to critique the Mills plan and provided two design drawings of his own. Walter's drawings for the first time showed a west wing of the Treasury building on the site of former Greenhouses for the White House that would create a closed rectangular shaped Classical Revival styled stone building with Mills center wing bisecting the rectangle and creating two enclosed courtyards.
Walters design was chosen and in 1851, Robert Mills was rel
