1.
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
2.
Botanical garden
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A botanical garden or botanic garden is a garden dedicated to the collection, cultivation and display of a wide range of plants labelled with their botanical names. Visitor services at a botanical garden might include tours, educational displays, art exhibitions, book rooms, open-air theatrical and musical performances, over the years, botanical gardens, as cultural and scientific organisations, have responded to the interests of botany and horticulture. The role of major botanical gardens worldwide has been considered so similar as to fall within textbook definitions. The following definition was produced by staff of the Liberty Hyde Bailey Hortorium of Cornell University in 1976, each botanical garden naturally develops its own special fields of interests depending on its personnel, location, extent, available funds, and the terms of its charter. It may include greenhouses, test grounds, an herbarium, an arboretum and it maintains a scientific as well as a plant-growing staff, and publication is one of its major modes of expression. This broad outline is then expanded, The botanic garden may be an independent institution, if a department of an educational institution, it may be related to a teaching program. In any case, it exists for scientific ends and is not to be restricted or diverted by other demands. It is not merely a landscaped or ornamental garden, although it may be artistic, the essential element is the intention of the enterprise, which is the acquisition and dissemination of botanical knowledge. Worldwide, there are now about 1800 botanical gardens and arboreta in about 150 countries of which about 550 are in Europe,200 in North America, and an increasing number in East Asia. These gardens attract about 150 million visitors a year, so it is surprising that many people gained their first exciting introduction to the wonders of the plant world in a botanical garden. Historically, botanical gardens exchanged plants through the publication of seed lists and this was a means of transferring both plants and information between botanical gardens. This system continues today, although the possibility of genetic piracy, the International Association of Botanic Gardens was formed in 1954 as a worldwide organisation affiliated to the International Union of Biological Sciences. In the United States, there is the American Public Gardens Association, the history of botanical gardens is closely linked to the history of botany itself. Then, in the 19th and 20th centuries, the trend was towards a combination of specialist, the idea of scientific gardens used specifically for the study of plants dates back to antiquity. In about 2800 BCE, the Chinese Emperor Shen Nung sent collectors to distant regions searching for plants with economic or medicinal value. Early medieval gardens in Islamic Spain resembled botanic gardens of the future and this was later taken over by garden chronicler Ibn Bassal until the Christian conquest in 1085 CE. Ibn Bassal then founded a garden in Seville, most of its plants being collected on an expedition that included Morocco, Persia, Sicily. The medical school of Montpelier was also founded by Spanish Arab physicians, and by 1250 CE, it included a physic garden, but the site was not given botanic garden status until 1593
3.
Geographic coordinate system
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A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system used in geography that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation, to specify a location on a two-dimensional map requires a map projection. The invention of a coordinate system is generally credited to Eratosthenes of Cyrene. Ptolemy credited him with the adoption of longitude and latitude. Ptolemys 2nd-century Geography used the prime meridian but measured latitude from the equator instead. Mathematical cartography resumed in Europe following Maximus Planudes recovery of Ptolemys text a little before 1300, in 1884, the United States hosted the International Meridian Conference, attended by representatives from twenty-five nations. Twenty-two of them agreed to adopt the longitude of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, the Dominican Republic voted against the motion, while France and Brazil abstained. France adopted Greenwich Mean Time in place of local determinations by the Paris Observatory in 1911, the latitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle between the equatorial plane and the straight line that passes through that point and through the center of the Earth. Lines joining points of the same latitude trace circles on the surface of Earth called parallels, as they are parallel to the equator, the north pole is 90° N, the south pole is 90° S. The 0° parallel of latitude is designated the equator, the plane of all geographic coordinate systems. The equator divides the globe into Northern and Southern Hemispheres, the longitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle east or west of a reference meridian to another meridian that passes through that point. All meridians are halves of great ellipses, which converge at the north and south poles, the prime meridian determines the proper Eastern and Western Hemispheres, although maps often divide these hemispheres further west in order to keep the Old World on a single side. The antipodal meridian of Greenwich is both 180°W and 180°E, the combination of these two components specifies the position of any location on the surface of Earth, without consideration of altitude or depth. The grid formed by lines of latitude and longitude is known as a graticule, the origin/zero point of this system is located in the Gulf of Guinea about 625 km south of Tema, Ghana. To completely specify a location of a feature on, in, or above Earth. Earth is not a sphere, but a shape approximating a biaxial ellipsoid. It is nearly spherical, but has an equatorial bulge making the radius at the equator about 0. 3% larger than the radius measured through the poles, the shorter axis approximately coincides with the axis of rotation
4.
United States Capitol
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The United States Capitol, often called the Capitol Building or Capitol Hill, is the home of the United States Congress, and the seat of the legislative branch of the U. S. federal government. It sits atop Capitol Hill at the end of the National Mall in Washington. Though not at the center of the Federal District, the Capitol forms the origin point for the Districts street-numbering system. The original building was completed in 1800 and was subsequently expanded, like the principal buildings of the executive and judicial branches, the Capitol is built in a distinctive neoclassical style and has a white exterior. Both its east and west elevations are referred to as fronts, though only the east front was intended for the reception of visitors. In 2014, scaffolding was erected around the dome for a project scheduled to be completed by early 2017. All exterior scaffolding was removed by the end of summer 2016, prior to establishing the nations capital in Washington, D. C. the United States Congress and its predecessors had met in Philadelphia, New York City, and a number of other locations. In September 1774, the First Continental Congress brought together delegates from the colonies in Philadelphia, followed by the Second Continental Congress, 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 and refused to remove them from Philadelphia. As a result, Congress was forced to flee to Princeton, New Jersey, on June 21,1783, and met in Annapolis, Maryland, the United States Congress was established upon ratification of the United States Constitution and formally began on March 4,1789. New York City remained home to Congress until July 1790, when the Residence Act was passed to pave the way for a permanent capital. As part of the legislation, Philadelphia was chosen as a capital for ten years, until the nations capital in Washington. Pierre Charles LEnfant was given the task of creating the city plan for the new capital city, in reviewing LEnfants plan, Thomas Jefferson insisted the legislative building be called the Capitol rather than Congress House. The word Capitol comes from Latin and is associated with the Temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus on Capitoline Hill, the connection between the two is not, however, crystal clear. In spring 1792, United States Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson proposed a competition to solicit designs for the Capitol and the Presidents House. The prize for the competition was $500 and a lot in the Federal City, the most promising of the submissions was by Stephen Hallet, a trained French architect. However, Hallets designs were overly fancy, with too much French influence, a late entry by amateur architect William Thornton was submitted on January 31,1793, to much praise for its Grandeur, Simplicity, and Beauty by Washington, along with praise from Thomas Jefferson. Thornton was inspired by the east front of the Louvre, as well as the Paris Pantheon for the portion of the design
5.
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
6.
Federal holidays in the United States
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In the United States, a federal holiday is an authorized holiday which has been recognized by the US government. Every year on a US federal holiday, non-essential federal government offices are closed, private-sector employees required to work on a legal holiday may receive holiday pay in addition to their ordinary wages. Federal holidays are designated by the United States Congress in Title V of the United States Code, Congress has authority to create holidays only for federal institutions and employees, and for the District of Columbia. However, as a general rule other institutions, including banks, post offices, in various parts of the country, state and city holidays may be observed in addition to the federal holidays. The history of federal holidays in the United States dates back to June 28,1870, and. in every State of the Union. Although at first applicable only to employees in the District of Columbia. The original four holidays were, New Years Day Independence Day Thanksgiving Day Christmas Day George Washingtons Birthday became a Federal holiday in 1880, in 1888 and 1894, respectively, Decoration Day and Labor Day were created. In 1938, Armistice Day was created to mark the end of World War I, the scope and the name of the holiday was expanded in 1954 to honor Americans who fought in World War II and the Korean War. In 1968, the Monday Holiday Act of 1968 shifted several holidays to always fall on a Monday, in 1983, the Birthday of Martin Luther King, Jr. became the nations most recently established holiday. Most of the ten U. S. federal holidays are also state holidays, a holiday that falls on a weekend is usually observed on the closest weekday. The official names came from the laws that define holidays for federal employees, New Years Day, Independence Day, Veterans Day, and Christmas Day are observed on the same calendar date each year. Holidays that fall on a Saturday are observed by federal employees who work a standard Monday to Friday week on the previous Friday, Federal employees who work on Saturday will observe the holiday on Saturday, Friday will be a regular work day. Holidays that fall on a Sunday are observed by workers the following Monday. The other holidays always fall on a day of the week. Although many states recognize most or all federal holidays as state holidays, furthermore, states can recognize other days as state holidays that are not federal holidays. Private employers also cannot be required to observe federal or state holidays, some private employers, often by a union contract, pay a differential such as time-and-a-half or double-time to employees who work on some federal holidays. However, most non-unionized private sector employees only receive their pay for working on a federal holiday if it is not a designated holiday at their company. Over the course of U. S. history, federal holidays were created, two holidays, the Eighth and Victory Day, were once celebrated
7.
James Monroe
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James Monroe was an American statesman who served from 1817 to 1825 as the fifth President of the United States. Monroe was the last president among the Founding Fathers of the United States as well as the Virginian dynasty, born in Westmoreland County, Virginia, Monroe was of the planter class and fought in the American Revolutionary War. He was wounded in the Battle of Trenton with a ball to his shoulder. After studying law under Thomas Jefferson from 1780 to 1783, he served as a delegate in the Continental Congress. He took a part in the new government, and in 1790 he was elected to the Senate of the first United States Congress. He gained experience as an executive as the Governor of Virginia and rose to prominence as a diplomat in France. During the War of 1812, Monroe served in roles as Secretary of State. As president, he sought to ease tensions, embarking on a tour of the country that was well received. As nationalism surged, partisan fury subsided, and the Era of Good Feelings ensued, until the Panic of 1819 struck, and a dispute over the admission of Missouri embroiled the country in 1820. Monroe supported the founding of colonies in Africa for freed slaves that would form the nation of Liberia, whose capital. His presidency concluded the first period of American presidential history before the beginning of Jacksonian democracy, following his retirement in 1825, Monroe was plagued by financial difficulties. He died in New York City on July 4,1831 and he has been ranked in the aggregate by scholars as the 16th most successful president. James Monroe was born on April 28,1758, in his parents house located in a area of Westmoreland County. The marked site is one mile from the community known today as Monroe Hall. The James Monroe Family Home Site was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1979 and his father Spence Monroe was a moderately prosperous planter who also practiced carpentry. His mother Elizabeth Jones married Spence Monroe in 1752 and they had several children and his paternal great-grandfather Patrick Andrew Monroe emigrated to America from Scotland in the mid-17th century. In 1650 he patented a large tract of land in Washington Parish, Westmoreland County, also among James Monroes ancestors were French Huguenot immigrants, who came to Virginia in 1700. First tutored at home by his mother Elizabeth, between the ages of 11 and 16, the young Monroe studied at Campbelltown Academy, a run by Reverend Archibald Campbell of Washington Parish
8.
Edward Cutbush
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Edward Cutbush was born in Philadelphia. He graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 1794, where he was resident physician of the Pennsylvania Hospital from 1790 to 1794, Cutbush was surgeon general of the Pennsylvania militia during the 1794 Whiskey Rebellion. He was an officer and a surgeon in the United States Navy and was commissioned into office in 1799, Cutbush has been called the father of American naval medicine. He resigned from the Navy in 1829, after 30 years of service, during 1826, he was a professor of chemistry at Columbian College in the District of Columbia. In 1834, he relocated to Geneva, New York, where he founded Geneva Medical College, during his tenure there, he served as the first dean and professor of chemistry. Cutbush was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1772 and he was the son of Edward Cutbush and Anne Marriat who married on September 3,1770. His father, a British immigrant, was a stonecutter or carver, philadelphian, William Rush, a famous woodworking artist and carver of ship models, was an apprentice of the senior Cutbush. Rush began carving ship figureheads as early as 1790 and gained notoriety for his distinguished artwork. Cutbush was a student at Philadelphia College by age 12 and he graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 1794, where he was resident physician of the Pennsylvania Hospital from 1790 to 1794. During his time there, he worked under Dr. William Shippen, while still a student, he was honored by the city of Philadelphia for his services during the 1793 yellow fever epidemic. Edward Cutbush was the eldest of four children and he married Ann Nancy Reynolds in 1795. She was the daughter of James Reynolds, a woodcarver from Philadelphia, after her death, he married Mrs. Sarah Rees, daughter of the late Mr. Josiah Twamley, merchant of Philadelphia. The marriage was announced on October 23,1824, Cutbush was employed in the Medical Department of the Navy. Cutbush began his career in the Pennsylvania Militia as hospital surgeon, during the 1794 Whiskey Rebellion which took place in Western Pennsylvania and Maryland. On September 22,1794, Governor Mifflin appointed him as senior surgeon in the department for the militia of the state of Pennsylvania. The smallpox visited St. Louis, Missouri, in 1801 about the time that the city became an American town. In 1803 the doctors of Philadelphia, including Cutbush, had issued a circular to the profession, inculcating the virtue. He received his naval commission as officer in the United States Navy on June 24,1799
9.
Smithsonian Museum
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The Smithsonian Institution, established in 1846 for the increase and diffusion of knowledge, is a group of museums and research centers administered by the Government of the United States. Originally organized as the United States National Museum, that ceased to exist as an administrative entity in 1967. Additional facilities are located in Arizona, Maryland, Massachusetts, New York City, Texas, Virginia, more than 200 institutions and museums in 45 states, Puerto Rico, and Panama are Smithsonian Affiliates. The Institutions thirty million annual visitors are admitted without charge and its annual budget is around $1.2 billion with 2/3 coming from annual federal appropriations. Other funding comes from the Institutions endowment, private and corporate contributions, membership dues, and earned retail, concession, Institution publications include Smithsonian and Air & Space magazines. The British scientist James Smithson left most of his wealth to his nephew Henry James Hungerford, Congress officially accepted the legacy bequeathed to the nation, and pledged the faith of the United States to the charitable trust on July 1,1836. The American diplomat Richard Rush was dispatched to England by President Andrew Jackson to collect the bequest, Rush returned in August 1838 with 105 sacks containing 104,960 gold sovereigns. Once the money was in hand, eight years of Congressional haggling ensued over how to interpret Smithsons rather vague mandate for the increase, unfortunately, the money was invested by the US Treasury in bonds issued by the state of Arkansas which soon defaulted. The United States Exploring Expedition by the U. S. Navy circumnavigated the globe between 1838 and 1842, in 1846, the regents developed a plan for weather observation, in 1847, money was appropriated for meteorological research. The Institution became a magnet for young scientists from 1857 to 1866, the Smithsonian played a critical role as the U. S. partner institution in early bilateral scientific exchanges with the Academy of Sciences of Cuba. The Smithsonian Institution Building began construction in 1849, designed by architect James Renwick Jr. its interiors were completed by general contract Gilbert Cameron and the building opened in 1855. The Smithsonians first expansion came with construction of the Arts and Industries Building in 1881, Congress had promised to build a new structure for the museum if the 1876 Philadelphia Centennial Exposition generated enough income. It did, and the building was designed by architects Adolf Cluss and Paul Schulze, meigs of the United States Army Corps of Engineers. The National Zoological Park opened in 1889 to accommodate the Smithsonians Department of Living Animals and this structure was designed by the D. C. architectural firm of Hornblower & Marshall. More than 40 years would pass before the museum, the Museum of History. It was designed by the firm of McKim, Mead & White. That same year, the Smithsonian signed an agreement to take over the Cooper Union Museum for the Arts of Decoration, the National Portrait Gallery and the Smithsonian American Art Museum opened in the Old Patent Office Building on October 7,1968. The first new building to open since the National Museum of Natural History was the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden
10.
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
11.
Richard Rush
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Adams and Rush were defeated by Andrew Jackson and his running mate, John C. Rush also served as United States minister to England and France at various times, Rush was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He was the son of Benjamin Rush and Julia Rush, daughter of Richard Stockton. He entered the College of New Jersey at the age of 14 and he was admitted to the bar in 1800, when he was barely 20 years old, and studied law at the office of William Draper Lewis. Rush married Catherine Eliza Murray on August 29,1809 and they were the parents of ten children, of whom three sons and two daughters survived him. After his entering the bar in 1800 Rush quickly gaining statewide and then national attention as a public speaker, in 1811 he was appointed Attorney General of Pennsylvania. Shortly before this he had declined an offer to run for congress, in November 1811, President James Madison appointed Rush Comptroller of the Treasury. From the position as Comptroller of the treasury, albeit a subordinate position, Rush functioned as one of President Madisons closest friends and he was one of the War Hawks who advocated war with Britain. In 1814 Madison offered Rush the choice of Secretary of the Treasury or Attorney General of the United States, with his appointment as Attorney General Rush became the youngest person to serve as United States Attorney General. Rush served as United States Attorney General from 1814 to 1817, at this time the attorney generalship was a part-time position, and so Rush also maintained his private law practice while in this office. On top of this he edited a codification of United States laws during this time and he was acting Secretary of State from the start of James Monroes term as president until the return of John Quincy Adams from Europe. During this time Rush concluded the Rush-Bagot Convention, demilitarizing the Canadian boundary on the Great Lakes, in October 1817, Rush was appointed Minister to Britain to succeed John Quincy Adams, who had taken the position of Secretary of State upon his return. He became surprisingly popular in England, despite his previous anti-British record, Richard Rush received one electoral vote as a Federalist for the office of U. S. Vice President in the 1820 election, even though the Federalist Party nominated no candidate for U. S. President in that election. And then again in March–April 1824, Richard Rush was again honored with a vote at the Democratic-Republican Party Caucus to be the partys candidate for the Office of U. S. Vice President for the upcoming 1824 election, upon the election of John Quincy Adams in 1825, Rush desired to become the Secretary of the Navy. Adams, however, immediately nominated him for the post of 8th Secretary of the Treasury and he served in this position with remarkable success during the entire Adams Administration from March 7,1825 until March 5,1829. Notably, he paid off nearly the whole debt
12.
John Quincy Adams
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John Quincy Adams was an American statesman who served as a diplomat, United States Senator, member of the House of Representatives, and was the sixth President of the United States from 1825 to 1829. He was a member of the Federalist, Democratic-Republican, National Republican and he was the son of President John Adams and Abigail Adams and thus contributed to the formation of the Adams political family. Adams shaped U. S. foreign policy using his ardently nationalist commitment to U. S. republican values, as a diplomat, Adams played an important role in negotiating key treaties, most notably the Treaty of Ghent, which ended the War of 1812. As Secretary of State, he negotiated with Britain over the United States northern border with Canada, negotiated with Spain the annexation of Florida, historians generally concur that he was one of the greatest diplomats and secretaries of state in American history. Adams was elected president in a close and controversial four-way contest in 1824, as president he sought to modernize the American economy and promote education. Adams enacted a part of his agenda and paid off much of the national debt, however he was stymied time and again by a Congress controlled by opponents, and his lack of patronage networks helped politicians sabotage him. He lost his 1828 bid for re-election to Andrew Jackson, after leaving office, he was elected as U. S. Representative from Massachusetts in 1830, serving for the last 17 years of his life with greater acclaim than he had achieved as president, animated by his growing revulsion against slavery, Adams became a leading opponent of the Slave Power. Adams predicted the Unions dissolution over slavery, and in such a case, historians have in the aggregate ranked Adams as the 21st most successful president. John Quincy Adams was born on July 11,1767, to John Adams and he was named for his mothers maternal grandfather, Colonel John Quincy, after whom Quincy, Massachusetts, is named. Young Adams was educated by private tutors – his cousin James Thaxter and his fathers law clerk and he soon began to exhibit his literary skills in 1779, when he initiated a diary which he kept until just before he died in 1848. The diary comprised an unprecedented fifty volumes, representing one of the most extensive, much of Adams youth was spent accompanying his father overseas. He accompanied his father on diplomatic missions to France from 1778 until 1779, Adams acquired an education at institutions such as Leiden University. He matriculated in Leiden on January 10,1781, for nearly three years, beginning at the age of 14, he accompanied Francis Dana as a secretary on a mission to Saint Petersburg, Russia, to obtain recognition of the new United States. He spent time in Finland, Sweden, and Denmark and, in 1804, during these years overseas, Adams became fluent in French and Dutch and became familiar with German and other European languages. Though Adams enjoyed Europe, he and his family decided he needed to return to the United States to complete his education and he entered Harvard College, graduated in 1787 with a Bachelor of Arts degree, and was elected by Phi Beta Kappa. Adams, mainly with the influence of his father, had excelled in studies and reached fluency in Latin. Upon entering Harvard he had already translated Virgil, Horace, Plutarch, after graduating from Harvard, he studied law with Theophilus Parsons in Newburyport, Massachusetts from 1787 to 1789
13.
Southern Ocean
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As such, it is regarded as the fourth-largest of the five principal oceanic divisions, smaller than the Pacific, Atlantic, and Indian Oceans but larger than the Arctic Ocean. This ocean zone is cold, northward flowing waters from the Antarctic mix with warmer subantarctic waters. By way of his voyages in the 1770s, Captain James Cook proved that waters encompassed the southern latitudes of the globe. Since then, geographers have disagreed on the Southern Oceans northern boundary or even existence, considering the part of the Pacific, Atlantic. Others regard the seasonally-fluctuating Antarctic Convergence as the natural boundary, Borders and names for oceans and seas were internationally agreed when the International Hydrographic Bureau, the precusor to the IHO, convened the First International Conference on 24 July 1919. The IHO then published these in its Limits of Oceans and Seas, Australian authorities regard the Southern Ocean as lying immediately south of Australia. Map publishers using the term Southern Ocean on their maps include Hema Maps, Southern Ocean is an obsolete name for the Pacific Ocean or South Pacific, coined by Vasco Núñez de Balboa, the first European to discover it, who approached it from the north. The South Seas is an archaic synonym. A1745 British Act of Parliament established a prize for discovering a Northwest Passage to the Western and Southern Ocean of America, authors using Southern Ocean to name the waters encircling the unknown southern polar regions used varying limits. James Cooks account of his second voyage implies New Caledonia borders it, peacocks 1795 Geographical Dictionary said it lay to the southward of America and Africa, John Payne in 1796 used 40 degrees as the northern limit, the 1827 Edinburgh Gazetteer used 50 degrees. The United Kingdoms South Australia Act 1834 described the waters forming the southern limit of the new colony of South Australia as the Southern Ocean. The Colony of Victorias Legislative Council Act of 1881 delimited part of the division of Bairnsdale as along the New South Wales boundary to the Southern ocean. The limit then followed the west coast of Tasmania southwards to the South East Cape and then went eastwards to Broughton Island, New Zealand, the northern limits of the Southern Ocean were moved southwards in the IHOs 1937 second edition of the Limits of Oceans and Seas. From this edition, much of the northern limit ceased to abut land masses. As is discussed in detail below, prior to the 2002 edition the limits of oceans explicitly excluded the seas lying within each of them. The Great Australian Bight was unnamed in the 1928 edition, and it therefore encompassed former Southern Ocean waters but was technically not inside any of the three adjacent oceans by 1937. To perform direct comparisons of current and former limits of oceans it is necessary to consider, or at least be aware of, the limits of the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans have therefore been extended South to the Antarctic Continent. The IHO readdressed the question of the Southern Ocean in a survey in 2000, of its 68 member nations,28 responded, and all responding members except Argentina agreed to redefine the ocean, reflecting the importance placed by oceanographers on ocean currents
14.
Charles Wilkes
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Charles Wilkes was an American naval officer, ships captain, and explorer. His behavior led to two convictions by court-martial, one stemming from the massacre of almost 80 Fijians on Malolo in 1840, Wilkes was born in New York City, on April 3,1798, as the great nephew of the former Lord Mayor of London John Wilkes. His mother was Mary Seton, who died in 1802 when Charles was just three years old. As a result, Charles was raised by his aunt, Elizabeth Ann Seton, when Elizabeth was left widowed with five children, Charles was sent to a boarding school, and later attended Columbia College, which is the present-day Columbia University. He entered the United States Navy as a midshipman in 1818, in 1833, for his survey of Narragansett Bay, he was placed in charge of the Navys Department of Charts and Instruments, out of which developed the Naval Observatory and Hydrographic Office. Wilkes interdisciplinary expedition set a physical oceanography benchmark for the offices first superintendent Matthew Fontaine Maury, in 1838, although not yet a seasoned naval line officer, Wilkes was experienced in nautical survey work, and was working with civilian scientists. Upon this background, he was given command of the government exploring expedition, for the purpose of exploring and surveying the Southern Ocean. Exploring Squadron was authorized by act of the Congress on May 18,1836, next the expedition visited Fiji and the Hawaiian Islands. In Fiji, the expedition kidnapped the chief Ro Veidovi, charging him with the murder of a crew of American whalers. And, in July 1840, two sailors, one of whom was Wilkes nephew, Midshipman Wilkes Henry, were killed while bartering for food on Fijis Malolo Island, Wilkes retribution was swift and severe. According to an old man of Malolo Island, nearly 80 Fijians were killed in the incident, from December 1840 to March 1841, he employed hundreds of native Hawaiian porters and many of his men to haul a pendulum to the summit of Mauna Loa to measure gravity. Instead of using the trail, he blazed his own way. The conditions on the mountain reminded him of Antarctica, many of his crew suffered snow blindness, altitude sickness and foot injuries from wearing out their shoes. He explored the west coast of North America, including the Strait of Juan de Fuca, Puget Sound, the Columbia River, San Francisco Bay and he held the first American Independence Day celebration west of the Mississippi River in Dupont, Washington on July 5,1841. The United States Exploring Expedition passed through the Ellice Islands and visited Funafuti, Nukufetau, the expedition returned by way of the Philippines, the Sulu Archipelago, Borneo, Singapore, Polynesia and the Cape of Good Hope, reaching New York on June 10,1842. After having completely encircled the globe, Wilkes had logged some 87,000 miles, a major witness against him was ship doctor Charles Guillou. He was acquitted on all charges except illegally punishing men in his squadron, for a short time, he was attached to the Coast Survey, but from 1844 to 1861, he was chiefly engaged in preparing the report of the expedition. His Narrative of the United States Exploring Expedition were published in 1844 and he edited the scientific reports of the expedition and was the author of Vol. XI and Vol. XXIII
15.
United States Exploring Expedition
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The United States Exploring Expedition was an exploring and surveying expedition of the Pacific Ocean and surrounding lands conducted by the United States from 1838 to 1842. The original appointed commanding officer was Commodore Thomas ap Catesby Jones, funding for the original expedition was requested by President John Quincy Adams in 1828, however, Congress would not implement funding until eight years later. In May 1836, the oceanic exploration voyage was finally authorized by Congress, the expedition is sometimes called the U. S. Ex. Ex. for short, or the Wilkes Expedition in honor of its next appointed commanding officer, the expedition was of major importance to the growth of science in the United States, in particular the then-young field of oceanography. During the event, armed conflict between Pacific islanders and the expedition was common and dozens of natives were killed in action and it was to promote commerce and to offer protection to the heavy investment in the whaling and seal hunting industries, chiefly in the Pacific Ocean. Congress also agreed that a ship or ships should be used. At the time, the ships owned by the government capable of such a circumnavigation were those of the navy. So, in fact, Congress had decided that an expedition be authorized. The veteran US Sloop-of-war Peacock was decommissioned and broken down in 1827 to be rebuilt as USS Peacock, intended as an exploration ship. There were to be many unforeseen impediments and it was not until May 18,1836, that an act was passed, which authorized funding, and approved by President Andrew Jackson, Adams political rival. Even with the burden of finance lifted, there were two years of alteration of formation and command before six oddly assorted ships moved down from Norfolk to Hampton Roads on August 9,1838. On August 17, they were joined by the tenders Sea Gull and Flying-Fish, due to light breezes, the expedition did not discharge their pilots until 09,00 August 19, when they passed Cape Henry Light. By 11,00, the fleet was standing to open seas. Originally, the expedition was organized under Commodore Jones, however, several more senior officers had either resigned from or indicated their unwillingness to accept command of the expedition. Command was finally vested in Lieutenant Wilkes, the three duties laid down were daunting to officers trained only in fighting ships. As well, a scientific corps was to be included as an additional command responsibility. There were few officers in the American navy at that time with any surveying experience, the United States Coast Survey, where most of the surveyors were employed and learned their trade, was a civilian organization. Wilkes, who had trained himself in surveying work, cut the excessively large number of scientists down to nine
16.
Circumnavigation
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Circumnavigation means to travel all the way around the entire planet, or an island, or continent. This article is concerned with circumnavigation of the Earth, the first known circumnavigation of Earth was the Magellan-Elcano expedition, which sailed from Seville, Spain, in 1519 and returned in 1522 after crossing the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian oceans. The word circumnavigation is a formed from the verb circumnavigate, from the past participle of the Latin verb circumnavigare. If a person walks completely around either Pole, they cross all meridians, the trajectory of a true circumnavigation forms a continuous loop on the surface of Earth separating two halves of comparable area. A basic definition of a global circumnavigation would be a route which covers roughly a great circle, in practice, people use different definitions of world circumnavigation to accommodate practical constraints, depending on the method of travel. The first single voyage of global circumnavigation was that of the ship Victoria and it was a Castilian voyage of discovery, led initially by Ferdinand Magellan between 1519 and 1521, and then by the Basque Juan Sebastián Elcano from 1521 to 1522. It then continued across the Pacific discovering a number of islands on its way, Elcano and a small group of 18 men were actually the only members of the expedition to make the full circumnavigation. However, traveling west from Europe, in 1521, Magellan reached a region of Southeast Asia, Magellan thereby achieved a nearly complete personal circumnavigation of the globe for the first time in history. In 1577, Elizabeth I sent Francis Drake to start an expedition against the Spanish along the Pacific coast of the Americas, Drake set out from Plymouth, England in November 1577, aboard Pelican, which Drake renamed Golden Hind mid-voyage. In June 1579, Drake landed somewhere north of Spains northern-most claim in Alta California, Drake completed the second circumnavigation of the world in September 1580, becoming the first commander to lead an entire circumnavigation. For the wealthy, long voyages around the world, such as was done by Ulysses S. Grant, became possible in the 19th century, however, it was later improvements in technology and rising incomes that made such trips relatively common. The nautical global circumnavigation record is held by a wind-powered vessel. It can be seen that the route roughly approximates a great circle, in yacht racing, a round-the-world route approximating a great circle would be quite impractical, particularly in a non-stop race where use of the Panama and Suez Canals would be impossible. The second map on the shows the route of the Vendée Globe round-the-world race in red. It can be seen that the route does not pass through any pairs of antipodal points and it is allowed to have one single waypoint to lengthen the calculated track. The voyage followed the North Atlantic Ocean, Equator, South Atlantic Ocean, Southern Ocean, South Atlantic Ocean, Equator, since the advent of world cruises in 1922, by Cunards Laconia, thousands of people have completed circumnavigations of the globe at a more leisurely pace. Typically, these voyages begin in New York City or Southampton, routes vary, either travelling through the Caribbean and then into the Pacific Ocean via the Panama Canal, or around Cape Horn. From there ships usually make their way to Hawaii, the islands of the South Pacific, Australia, New Zealand, then northward to Hong Kong, South East Asia, and India
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Pacific Ocean
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The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of the Earths oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean in the south and is bounded by Asia and Australia in the west, the Mariana Trench in the western North Pacific is the deepest point in the world, reaching a depth of 10,911 metres. Both the center of the Water Hemisphere and the Western Hemisphere are in the Pacific Ocean, the oceans current name was coined by Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan during the Spanish circumnavigation of the world in 1521, as he encountered favourable winds on reaching the ocean. He called it Mar Pacífico, which in both Portuguese and Spanish means peaceful sea, important human migrations occurred in the Pacific in prehistoric times. Long-distance trade developed all along the coast from Mozambique to Japan, trade, and therefore knowledge, extended to the Indonesian islands but apparently not Australia. By at least 878 when there was a significant Islamic settlement in Canton much of trade was controlled by Arabs or Muslims. In 219 BC Xu Fu sailed out into the Pacific searching for the elixir of immortality, from 1404 to 1433 Zheng He led expeditions into the Indian Ocean. The east side of the ocean was discovered by Spanish explorer Vasco Núñez de Balboa in 1513 after his expedition crossed the Isthmus of Panama and he named it Mar del Sur because the ocean was to the south of the coast of the isthmus where he first observed the Pacific. Later, Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan sailed the Pacific East to West on a Castilian expedition of world circumnavigation starting in 1519, Magellan called the ocean Pacífico because, after sailing through the stormy seas off Cape Horn, the expedition found calm waters. The ocean was often called the Sea of Magellan in his honor until the eighteenth century, sailing around and east of the Moluccas, between 1525 and 1527, Portuguese expeditions discovered the Caroline Islands, the Aru Islands, and Papua New Guinea. In 1542–43 the Portuguese also reached Japan, in 1564, five Spanish ships consisting of 379 explorers crossed the ocean from Mexico led by Miguel López de Legazpi and sailed to the Philippines and Mariana Islands. The Manila galleons operated for two and a half centuries linking Manila and Acapulco, in one of the longest trade routes in history, Spanish expeditions also discovered Tuvalu, the Marquesas, the Cook Islands, the Solomon Islands, and the Admiralty Islands in the South Pacific. In the 16th and 17th century Spain considered the Pacific Ocean a Mare clausum—a sea closed to other naval powers, as the only known entrance from the Atlantic the Strait of Magellan was at times patrolled by fleets sent to prevent entrance of non-Spanish ships. On the western end of the Pacific Ocean the Dutch threatened the Spanish Philippines, Spain also sent expeditions to the Pacific Northwest reaching Vancouver Island in southern Canada, and Alaska. The French explored and settled Polynesia, and the British made three voyages with James Cook to the South Pacific and Australia, Hawaii, and the North American Pacific Northwest, one of the earliest voyages of scientific exploration was organized by Spain in the Malaspina Expedition of 1789–1794. It sailed vast areas of the Pacific, from Cape Horn to Alaska, Guam and the Philippines, New Zealand, Australia, and the South Pacific. Growing imperialism during the 19th century resulted in the occupation of much of Oceania by other European powers, and later, Japan, in Oceania, France got a leading position as imperial power after making Tahiti and New Caledonia protectorates in 1842 and 1853 respectively. After navy visits to Easter Island in 1875 and 1887, Chilean navy officer Policarpo Toro managed to negotiate an incorporation of the island into Chile with native Rapanui in 1888, by occupying Easter Island, Chile joined the imperial nations
18.
Plant
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Plants are mainly multicellular, predominantly photosynthetic eukaryotes of the kingdom Plantae. The term is generally limited to the green plants, which form an unranked clade Viridiplantae. This includes the plants, conifers and other gymnosperms, ferns, clubmosses, hornworts, liverworts, mosses and the green algae. Green plants have cell walls containing cellulose and obtain most of their energy from sunlight via photosynthesis by primary chloroplasts and their chloroplasts contain chlorophylls a and b, which gives them their green color. Some plants are parasitic and have lost the ability to produce amounts of chlorophyll or to photosynthesize. Plants are characterized by sexual reproduction and alternation of generations, although reproduction is also common. There are about 300–315 thousand species of plants, of which the great majority, green plants provide most of the worlds molecular oxygen and are the basis of most of Earths ecologies, especially on land. Plants that produce grains, fruits and vegetables form humankinds basic foodstuffs, Plants play many roles in culture. They are used as ornaments and, until recently and in variety, they have served as the source of most medicines. The scientific study of plants is known as botany, a branch of biology, Plants are one of the two groups into which all living things were traditionally divided, the other is animals. The division goes back at least as far as Aristotle, who distinguished between plants, which generally do not move, and animals, which often are mobile to catch their food. Much later, when Linnaeus created the basis of the system of scientific classification. Since then, it has become clear that the plant kingdom as originally defined included several unrelated groups, however, these organisms are still often considered plants, particularly in popular contexts. When the name Plantae or plant is applied to a group of organisms or taxon. The evolutionary history of plants is not yet settled. Those which have been called plants are in bold, the way in which the groups of green algae are combined and named varies considerably between authors. Algae comprise several different groups of organisms which produce energy through photosynthesis, most conspicuous among the algae are the seaweeds, multicellular algae that may roughly resemble land plants, but are classified among the brown, red and green algae. Each of these groups also includes various microscopic and single-celled organisms
19.
Wardian case
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The Wardian case was an early type of sealed protective container for plants, an early version of the terrarium. The Wardian case was the forerunner of the modern terrarium, Vivarium. He published a book titled On the Growth of Plants in Closely Glazed Cases in 1842, Dr. Ward was a physician with a passion for botany. His personally collected herbarium amounted to 25,000 specimens, the ferns in his London garden in Wellclose Square, however, were being poisoned by Londons air pollution, which consisted heavily of coal smoke and sulphuric acid. Dr. Ward also kept cocoons of moths and the like in sealed bottles, and in one, he found that a fern spore. Interested but not yet seeing the opportunities, he left the seal intact for four years. After that time however, the seal had rusted, and the plants soon died from the bad air, understanding the possibilities, he had a carpenter build him a closely fitted glazed wooden case and found that ferns grown in it thrived. Dr. Ward published his experiment and followed it up with a book in 1842, with the new Wardian cases, tender young plants could be set on deck to benefit from daylight and the condensed moisture within the case that kept them watered, but protected from salt spray. The plants arrived in good shape, after a voyage around Cape Horn. One of Dr. Wards correspondents was William Jackson Hooker, later director of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Wardian cases soon became features of stylish drawing rooms in Western Europe and the United States. In the polluted air of Victorian cities, the fern craze, more importantly, the Wardian case unleashed a revolution in the mobility of commercially important plants. In Wardian cases, Robert Fortune shipped to British India 20,000 tea plants smuggled out of Shanghai, China, Wardian cases have thus been credited for helping break geographic monopolies in the production of important agricultural goods. Dr. Ward was always active in the Society of Apothecaries of London, Vivarium Pteridomania Bottle garden Micro landschaft D. E. Allen, The Victorian fern craze,1969. David Hershey, Doctor Wards Accidental Terrarium, the American Biology Teacher 58, 276-281,1996. Boyd, Peter D. A. Pteridomania - the Victorian passion for ferns, biography of Dr. Nathaniel Bagshaw Ward. David Hersheys website devoted to Dr. Ward and his discovery, the Remarkable Case of Dr Ward at the Telegraph
20.
Herbarium
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A herbarium is a collection of preserved plant specimens and associated data used for scientific study. The term can refer to the building or room where the specimens are housed. The specimens in a herbarium are used as reference material in describing plant taxa. The same term is used in mycology to describe an equivalent collection of preserved fungi. A xylarium is a herbarium specialising in specimens of wood, the term hortorium has occasionally been applied to a herbarium specialising in preserving material of horticultural origin. During the drying process the specimens are retained within their flimsies at all times to minimise damage, for some plants it may prove helpful to allow the fresh specimen to wilt slightly before being arranged for the press. The sheet is placed in a protective case. As a precaution against insect attack, the plant is frozen or poisoned. Certain groups of plants are soft, bulky, or otherwise not amenable to drying and mounting on sheets, for these plants, other methods of preparation and storage may be used. For example, conifer cones and palm fronds may be stored in labelled boxes, representative flowers or fruits may be pickled in formaldehyde to preserve their three-dimensional structure. Small specimens, such as mosses and lichens, are often air-dried and packaged in paper envelopes. No matter the method of preservation, detailed information on where and when the plant was collected, habitat, color, and the name of the collector is usually included. The value of a herbarium is much enhanced by the possession of “types”, that is and it is also rich in types of Australian plants from the collections of Sir Joseph Banks and Robert Brown, and contains in addition many valuable modern collections. Most herbaria utilize a system of organizing their specimens into herbarium cases. Specimen sheets are stacked in groups by the species to which they belong, groups of species folders are then placed together into larger, heavier folders by genus. The genus folders are then sorted by taxonomic family according to the standard selected for use by the herbarium. Locating a specimen filed in the herbarium requires knowing the nomenclature and it also requires familiarity with possible name changes that have occurred since the specimen was collected, since the specimen may be filed under an older name. Modern herbaria often maintain electronic databases of their collections, many herbaria have initiatives to digitize specimens to produce a virtual herbarium
21.
Smithsonian Institution
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The Smithsonian Institution, established in 1846 for the increase and diffusion of knowledge, is a group of museums and research centers administered by the Government of the United States. Originally organized as the United States National Museum, that ceased to exist as an administrative entity in 1967. Additional facilities are located in Arizona, Maryland, Massachusetts, New York City, Texas, Virginia, more than 200 institutions and museums in 45 states, Puerto Rico, and Panama are Smithsonian Affiliates. The Institutions thirty million annual visitors are admitted without charge and its annual budget is around $1.2 billion with 2/3 coming from annual federal appropriations. Other funding comes from the Institutions endowment, private and corporate contributions, membership dues, and earned retail, concession, Institution publications include Smithsonian and Air & Space magazines. The British scientist James Smithson left most of his wealth to his nephew Henry James Hungerford, Congress officially accepted the legacy bequeathed to the nation, and pledged the faith of the United States to the charitable trust on July 1,1836. The American diplomat Richard Rush was dispatched to England by President Andrew Jackson to collect the bequest, Rush returned in August 1838 with 105 sacks containing 104,960 gold sovereigns. Once the money was in hand, eight years of Congressional haggling ensued over how to interpret Smithsons rather vague mandate for the increase, unfortunately, the money was invested by the US Treasury in bonds issued by the state of Arkansas which soon defaulted. The United States Exploring Expedition by the U. S. Navy circumnavigated the globe between 1838 and 1842, in 1846, the regents developed a plan for weather observation, in 1847, money was appropriated for meteorological research. The Institution became a magnet for young scientists from 1857 to 1866, the Smithsonian played a critical role as the U. S. partner institution in early bilateral scientific exchanges with the Academy of Sciences of Cuba. The Smithsonian Institution Building began construction in 1849, designed by architect James Renwick Jr. its interiors were completed by general contract Gilbert Cameron and the building opened in 1855. The Smithsonians first expansion came with construction of the Arts and Industries Building in 1881, Congress had promised to build a new structure for the museum if the 1876 Philadelphia Centennial Exposition generated enough income. It did, and the building was designed by architects Adolf Cluss and Paul Schulze, meigs of the United States Army Corps of Engineers. The National Zoological Park opened in 1889 to accommodate the Smithsonians Department of Living Animals and this structure was designed by the D. C. architectural firm of Hornblower & Marshall. More than 40 years would pass before the museum, the Museum of History. It was designed by the firm of McKim, Mead & White. That same year, the Smithsonian signed an agreement to take over the Cooper Union Museum for the Arts of Decoration, the National Portrait Gallery and the Smithsonian American Art Museum opened in the Old Patent Office Building on October 7,1968. The first new building to open since the National Museum of Natural History was the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden
22.
National Museum of Natural History
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The National Museum of Natural History is a natural history museum administered by the Smithsonian Institution, located on the National Mall in Washington, D. C. Opened in 1910, the museum on the National Mall was one of the first Smithsonian buildings constructed exclusively to hold the national collections and research facilities. The main building has an area of 1,500,000 square feet with 325,000 square feet of exhibition and public space. The museums collections contain over 126 million specimens of plants, animals, fossils, minerals, rocks, meteorites, human remains, the United States National Museum was founded in 1846 as part of the Smithsonian Institution. The museum was housed in the Smithsonian Institution Building, which is better known today as the Smithsonian Castle. A formal exhibit hall opened in 1858, the growing collection led to the construction of a new building, the National Museum Building. Covering a then-enormous 2.25 acres, it was built in just 15 months at a cost of $310,000, congress authorized construction of a new building on June 28,1902. The regents began considering sites for the new building in March, the D. C. architectural firm of Hornblower & Marshall was chosen to design the structure. Testing of the soil for the foundations was set for July 1903, the Natural History Building opened its doors to the public on March 17,1910, in order to provide the Smithsonian Institution with more space for collections and research. The building was not fully completed until June 1911, the structure cost $3.5 million dollars. The Neoclassical style building was the first structure constructed on the side of the National Mall as part of the 1901 McMillan Commission plan. In addition to the Smithsonians natural history collection, it housed the American history, art. Between 1981 and 2003, the National Museum of Natural History had 11 permanent, there were six directors alone between 1990 and 2002. Turnover was high as the directors were disenchanted by low levels of funding. Robert W. Fri was named the director in 1996. One of the largest donations in Smithsonian history was made during Fris tenure, kenneth E. Behring donated $20 million in 1997 to modernize the museum. Fri resigned in 2001 after disagreeing with Smithsonian leadership over the reorganization of the scientific research programs. J. Dennis OConnor, Provost of the Smithsonian Institution was named acting director of the museum on July 25,2001, eight months later, OConner resigned to become the vice president of research and dean of the graduate school at the University of Maryland
23.
Seed
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A seed is an embryonic plant enclosed in a protective outer covering. The formation of the seed is part of the process of reproduction in seed plants, Seeds are the product of the ripened ovule, after fertilization by pollen and some growth within the mother plant. The embryo is developed from the zygote and the coat from the integuments of the ovule. Seed plants now dominate biological niches on land, from forests to both in hot and cold climates. The term seed also has a meaning that antedates the above—anything that can be sown, e. g. seed potatoes. In the case of sunflower and corn seeds, what is sown is the seed enclosed in a shell or husk, many structures commonly referred to as seeds are actually dry fruits. Plants producing berries are called baccate, sunflower seeds are sometimes sold commercially while still enclosed within the hard wall of the fruit, which must be split open to reach the seed. Different groups of plants have other modifications, the stone fruits have a hardened fruit layer fused to. Nuts are the one-seeded, hard-shelled fruit of plants with an indehiscent seed. Seeds are produced in several related groups of plants, and their manner of production distinguishes the angiosperms from the gymnosperms, angiosperm seeds are produced in a hard or fleshy structure called a fruit that encloses the seeds, hence the name. Some fruits have layers of hard and fleshy material. In gymnosperms, no special structure develops to enclose the seeds, however, the seeds do become covered by the cone scales as they develop in some species of conifer. Seed production in natural plant populations varies widely from year-to-year in response to weather variables, insects and diseases, over a 20-year period, for example, forests composed of loblolly pine and shortleaf pine produced from 0 to nearly 5 million sound pine seeds per hectare. Over this period, there were six bumper, five poor, and nine good seed crops, right after fertilization, the zygote is mostly inactive, but the primary endosperm divides rapidly to form the endosperm tissue. This tissue becomes the food the young plant will consume until the roots have developed after germination, after fertilization the ovules develop into the seeds. The ovule consists of a number of components, The funicle or seed stalk which attaches the ovule to the placenta and hence ovary or fruit wall, the nucellus, the remnant of the megasporangium and main region of the ovule where the megagametophyte develops. The micropyle, a pore or opening in the apex of the integument of the ovule where the pollen tube usually enters during the process of fertilization. The chalaza, the base of the ovule opposite the micropyle, the shape of the ovules as they develop often affects the final shape of the seeds
24.
Reflecting pool
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A reflecting pool or reflection pool is a water feature found in gardens, parks, and at memorial sites. It usually consists of a pool of water, undisturbed by fountain jets. Reflecting pools are designed with the outer basin floor at the rim slightly deeper than the central area to suppress wave formation. They can be as small as a bath to as large as a major civic element. Their origins are from ancient Persian gardens, the Miroir deau on Place de la Bourse in Bordeaux, France, is the worlds largest reflecting pool. The Mughal garden reflecting pools at the Taj Mahal in Agra, India Chehel Sotoun in Iran The Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, the modernist Palácio do Planalto and Palácio da Alvorada in Brasília, Brazil The King Center in Atlanta, Georgia commemorating Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. The National September 11 Memorial & Museum, located in New York City, has two reflecting pools on the location where the Twin Towers stood
25.
John J. Crittenden
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John Jordan Crittenden was a politician from the U. S. state of Kentucky. He was also the 17th governor of Kentucky and served in the state legislature, although frequently mentioned as a potential candidate for the U. S. presidency, he never consented to run for the office. During his early career, Crittenden served in the Kentucky House of Representatives and was chosen as speaker on several occasions. With the advent of the Second Party System, he allied with the National Republican Party and was a fervent supporter of Henry Clay and opponent of Democrats Andrew Jackson and Martin Van Buren. He was returned to the Senate in 1842, serving until 1848, Taylor was elected, but Crittenden refused a post in his cabinet, fearing he would be charged with making a corrupt bargain, as Clay had been in 1825. Following Taylors death in 1850, Crittenden resigned the governorship and accepted Millard Fillmores appointment as attorney general, as the Whig Party crumbled in the mid-1850s, Crittenden joined the Know Nothing Party. After the expiration of his term as general, he was again elected to the U. S. Senate. In December 1860, he authored the Crittenden Compromise, a series of resolutions and constitutional amendments he hoped would avert the Civil War, one of Crittendens sons, George B. Crittenden, became a general in the Confederate Army, another son, Thomas Leonidas Crittenden, became a general in the Union Army. The elder Crittenden was elected to the United States House of Representatives in 1861, however, he criticized many of the policies of President Abraham Lincoln and the U. S. Congress, including the Emancipation Proclamation and the admission of West Virginia to the Union. He continued to work for reconciliation of the states throughout his time in office and he declared his candidacy for re-election to the House in 1863, but died before the election took place. John Jordan Crittenden was born September 10,1787, near Versailles and he was the second child and first son of Revolutionary War veteran John Crittenden and his wife Judith Harris. John and Judith Crittenden had four sons and five daughters, all, on his fathers side, he was of Welsh ancestry, while his mothers family was French Huguenot. His father had surveyed land in Kentucky with George Rogers Clark, two of Crittendens brothers, Thomas and Robert, became lawyers, while the third, Henry, was a farmer. Crittenden began a college preparatory curriculum at Pisgah Academy in Woodford County and he was then sent to a boarding school in Jessamine County. Among his classmates were Thomas Alexander Marshall and Francis P. Blair, Crittenden became especially close friends with Blair, and later political differences did little to diminish their friendship. After a year at boarding school, Crittenden moved to the Lexington, Kentucky and he began his tertiary studies at Washington College in Lexington, Virginia. During his brief tenure there, he studied mathematics and belles-lettres, Crittenden was dissatisfied with the curriculum at Washington College and matriculated to the College of William and Mary
26.
Thaddeus Stevens
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Thaddeus Stevens was a member of the United States House of Representatives from Pennsylvania and one of the leaders of the Radical Republican faction of the Republican Party during the 1860s. A fierce opponent of slavery and discrimination against African-Americans, Stevens sought to secure their rights during Reconstruction, Stevens was born in rural Vermont, in poverty, and with a club foot, giving him a limp he kept his entire life. He moved to Pennsylvania as a man, and quickly became a successful lawyer in Gettysburg. He interested himself in municipal affairs, and then in politics and he was elected to the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, where he became a strong advocate of free public education. Financial setbacks in 1842 caused him to move his home and practice to the city of Lancaster. There, he joined the Whig Party, and was elected to Congress in 1848 and his activities as a lawyer and politician in opposition to slavery cost him votes and he did not seek reelection in 1852. After a brief flirtation with the Know-Nothing Party, Stevens joined the newly formed Republican Party, there, with fellow radicals such as Massachusetts Senator Charles Sumner, he opposed the expansion of slavery and concessions to the South as war came. Stevens argued that slavery should not survive the war, he was frustrated by the slowness of President Abraham Lincoln to support his position and he guided the governments financial legislation through the House as Ways and Means chairman. His plans went too far for the Moderate Republicans and were not enacted, after Lincolns assassination in April 1865, Stevens came into conflict with the new president, Johnson, who sought rapid restoration of the seceded states without guarantees for freedmen. The difference in views caused a battle between Johnson and Congress, with Stevens leading the Radical Republicans. After gains in the 1866 election the radicals took control of Reconstruction away from Johnson, Stevenss last great battle was to secure articles of impeachment in the House against Johnson, though the Senate did not convict the President. Stevens was born in Danville, Vermont, on April 4,1792 and he was the second of four children, all boys, and was named to honor the Polish general who served in the American Revolution, Thaddeus Kościuszko. His parents were Baptists who had emigrated from Massachusetts around 1786, Thaddeus was born with a club foot, at the time seen as a judgment from God for secret parental sin—and his older brother was born with the condition in both feet. The boys father, Joshua Stevens, was a farmer and cobbler who struggled to make a living in Vermont, after fathering two more sons Joshua abandoned the children and his wife Sarah. The circumstances of his departure and his subsequent fate are uncertain, Sarah Stevens struggled to make a living from the farm, with the increasing aid of her sons. She was determined that her sons improve themselves, and in 1807 moved the family to the town of Peacham. He suffered much from the taunts of his classmates for his disability, later accounts describe him there as wilful, headstrong with an overwhelming burning desire to secure an education. After graduation, he enrolled at Burlington College of the University of Vermont, Stevens then enrolled in the sophomore class at Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire
27.
Daniel W. Voorhees
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Daniel Wolsey Voorhees was a lawyer and United States Senator from Indiana, who was leader of the Democratic party and an anti-war Copperhead during the American Civil War. He was born in Liberty Township, Butler County, Ohio, of Dutch and he was the son of Stephen Pieter Voorhees and Rachel Elliott. During his infancy his parents moved to Fountain County, Indiana, near Veedersburg. He graduated at Indiana Asbury University, Greencastle, Indiana, in 1849, was admitted to the bar in 1850, and began to practice in Covington, Indiana, whence in 1857 he moved again to Terre Haute. In 1858-61 he was U. S. district-attorney for Indiana, in 1861-66 and in 1869-73 he was a Democratic representative in Congress, in any case, he was not so radical as Clement Vallandigham and others. Historian Kenneth Stampp has captured the Copperhead spirit in his depiction of Voorhees of Indiana, There was a quality in Voorhees. On the stump his hot temper, passionate partisanship, and stirring eloquence made an appeal to the western Democracy. Like other Jacksonian agrarians he resented the political and economic revolution then in progress, Voorhees idealized a way of life which he thought was being destroyed by the current rulers of his country. His bold protests against these dangerous trends made him the idol of the Democracy of the Wabash Valley and he had an active part in bringing about the building of the new Congressional Library. On tariff matters, he voted dutifully with his party, but he was no enthusiast for free trade, and his frankness could be embarrassing, at least from a Democrat. Why, the cow and the goose are the greatest fools in the world, he blurted out once, Voorhees made a fascinating speaker, if somewhat careless in his use of facts. He was widely known as an advocate, especially in jury trials. In allusion to his stature he was called the Tall Sycamore of the Wabash. Partisan Democrat though he was, Voorhees became widely liked on both sides of the aisle in the Senate and he had struck up a warm friendship with Abraham Lincoln in their circuit-riding days before the war, and that friendship outlasted their political differences and to the end Lincolns life. President Grant also got along well with Voorhees, and it was said of President Chester Alan Arthur that Voorhees had as much influence with him as any Republican could hope to have, stories abounded about Voorheess freehandedness with anyone telling a hard luck story. Uncle Dan is the most unsophisticated person in the use of money you ever saw and he will lend or give away a pocketful of money in a day, and at night he will not have the least idea what he has done with it. I have been with him when he would feel in his pocket and that same generosity meant that Voorhees rarely met a pension bill that he could oppose. The Treasury, as far as he was concerned, was open to whoever needed help, as Vest once told him, Voorhees would have put Aladdins Lamp in the hands of a receiver within thirty days
28.
Statue of Liberty
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The Statue of Liberty is a colossal neoclassical sculpture on Liberty Island in New York Harbor in New York City, in the United States. The copper statue, a gift from the people of France to the people of the United States, was designed by French sculptor Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi, the statue was dedicated on October 28,1886. The Statue of Liberty is a female figure representing Libertas. She holds a torch above her head, and in her left arm carries a tabula ansata inscribed July 4,1776, a broken chain lies at her feet. The statue became an icon of freedom and of the United States, due to the post-war instability in France, work on the statue did not commence until the early 1870s. In 1875, Laboulaye proposed that the French finance the statue, Bartholdi completed the head and the torch-bearing arm before the statue was fully designed, and these pieces were exhibited for publicity at international expositions. The torch-bearing arm was displayed at the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia in 1876, fundraising proved difficult, especially for the Americans, and by 1885 work on the pedestal was threatened due to lack of funds. Publisher Joseph Pulitzer of the New York World started a drive for donations to complete the project attracted more than 120,000 contributors. The statue was constructed in France, shipped overseas in crates, the statues completion was marked by New Yorks first ticker-tape parade and a dedication ceremony presided over by President Grover Cleveland. The statue was administered by the United States Lighthouse Board until 1901 and then by the Department of War, public access to the balcony surrounding the torch has been barred for safety reasons since 1916. The project is traced to a conversation between Édouard René de Laboulaye, a staunch abolitionist and Frédéric Bartholdi, a sculptor. The National Park Service, in a 2000 report, however, deemed this a legend traced to an 1885 fundraising pamphlet, in order to honor these achievements, Laboulaye proposed that a gift be built for the United States on behalf of France. Laboulaye hoped that by calling attention to the recent achievements of the United States, according to sculptor Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi, who later recounted the story, Laboulayes comment was not intended as a proposal, but it inspired Bartholdi. Given the repressive nature of the regime of Napoleon III, Bartholdi took no action on the idea except to discuss it with Laboulaye. Sketches and models were made of the work, though it was never erected. There was a precedent for the Suez proposal, the Colossus of Rhodes. This statue is believed to have been over 100 feet high, any large project was further delayed by the Franco-Prussian War, in which Bartholdi served as a major of militia. In the war, Napoleon III was captured and deposed, Bartholdis home province of Alsace was lost to the Prussians, and a more liberal republic was installed in France
29.
Bartholdi Fountain
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The Bartholdi Fountain is a monumental public fountain, designed by Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi, who later created the Statue of Liberty. C. The Fountain of Light and Water, commonly called the Bartholdi fountain, was created for the 1876 Philadelphia Exposition which celebrated the 100th birthday of the United States. Bartholdi offered the fountain to the Exposition for free, he intended to sell it afterwards, the fountains stood at the center of the esplanade, near the main entrance to the exposition. When the exposition ended in 1877, Bartholdi did not find any buyers for his fountain, one year later it was purchased by the United States Congress, which offered him only six thousand dollars, half the sum he had originally asked. In 1878, it was placed at the base of Capitol Hill in Washington, in 1926 it was removed and stored to facilitate completion of the George Gordon Meade Memorial, and for landscaping improvements around the Grant Memorial. The fountain was returned to Bartholdi Park in spring 2011, the fountain is composed of a series of basins, supported by sculptures of classical figures. The cast iron is coated with bronze, stands thirty feet high and it stands in the center of a large circular marble pool. In the center, three kneeling tritons support another, smaller and higher vasque, Water spouts from a crown at the top, cascades down into the smaller vasque, and then down into the larger vasque before spilling into the main basin. The cascade of water was illuminated by the gas lamps, making it one of the first monuments in Washington, D. C. to be lit at night, list of public art in Washington, D. C. The Bartholdi Fountain, digital imaging project by Mary Ann Sullivan, Bluffton University
30.
Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
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Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew is a non-departmental public body in the United Kingdom sponsored by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. An internationally important botanical research and education institution, it employs 750 staff and its chief executive is the current Director, Richard Deverell. Its board of trustees is chaired by Marcus Agius, a chairman of Barclays PLC. The Seed Bank is also the site of research projects. Seed stored at the bank fulfils two functions, it provides an ex situ conservation resource and also facilitates research around the globe by acting as a repository for seed scientists, Kew jointly with the Forestry Commission, founded Bedgebury Pinetum in Kent, specialising in growing conifers. The organisation has an average of 1 million paying visitors per year, the 326 acre site has 40 historically important buildings and collections of over 40,000 species of plants. Kew Gardens became a United Nations World Heritage Site on 3 July 2003, Kew is governed by a Board of Trustees which comprises a chairman and 11 members. Ten members and the chairman are appointed by the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and her Majesty the Queen appoints her own trustee on the recommendation of the Secretary of State. The Director of Science is University of Oxford Professor Kathy Willis and her deputy is Professor Monique Simmonds. Professor Mark Chase is Senior Research Professor, the IPNI includes information from the Index Kewensis, a project which began in the 19th century to provide an Index to the Names and Authorities of all known flowering plants and their countries. Kew also cooperates with the Missouri Botanical Garden in a project called The Plant List. The Plant List is an Internet encyclopedia project which was launched in 2010 to compile a comprehensive list of botanical nomenclature, the Plant List has 1,040,426 scientific plant names of species rank of which 298,900 are accepted species names. In addition, the list has 620 plant families and 16,167 plant genera
31.
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
32.
Pierre Charles L'Enfant
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Pierre Peter Charles LEnfant was a French-born American architect and civil engineer best known for designing the layout of the streets of Washington, D. C. the LEnfant Plan. In 1758, his brother Pierre Joseph died at the age of six and he studied art at the Royal Academy in the Louvre, as well as with his father at the Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture. He left school in France to enlist in the American Revolutionary War on the side of the rebelling colonials, LEnfant was recruited by Pierre Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais to join in the American Revolutionary War in the American colonies. He arrived in 1777 at the age of 23, and served as an engineer in the Continental Army with Major General Lafayette. He was commissioned as a captain in the Corps of Engineers on April 3,1779 to rank from February 18,1778, despite his aristocratic origins, LEnfant closely identified with the United States, changing his first name from Pierre to Peter. LEnfant served on General George Washingtons staff at Valley Forge, while there, the Marquis de Lafayette commissioned LEnfant to paint a portrait of Washington. He was wounded at the Siege of Savannah on October 9,1779 and he recovered and became a prisoner of war at surrender of Charleston, South Carolina on May 12,1780. He was exchanged in November 1780 and served on General George Washingtons staff for the remainder of the Revolutionary War, LEnfant was promoted by brevet to Major of Engineers on May 2,1783, in recognition of his service to the cause of American liberty. He was discharged when the Continental Army was disbanded in December 1783, after the war, LEnfant designed the badge of the Society of the Cincinnati, an organization of former officers of the Continental Army, shaped as an eagle, at the request of Washington. He was sent to France to have made for members of the Society. Following the American Revolutionary War, LEnfant established a successful and highly profitable civil engineering firm in New York City and he achieved some fame as an architect by redesigning the City Hall in New York for the First Congress of the United States. He also designed furniture and houses for the wealthy as well as coins and medals and he was also a friend of Alexander Hamilton. While LEnfant was in New York City, he was initiated into Freemasonry and his initiation took place on April 17,1789, at Holland Lodge No. 8, F & A M, which the Grand Lodge of New York F & A M had chartered in 1787, LEnfant took only the first of three degrees offered by the Lodge and did not progress further in Freemasonry. Included in the new district were the port towns of Georgetown. 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
33.
Independence Avenue (Washington, D.C.)
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Independence Avenue is a major east-west street in the southwest and southeast quadrants of the city of Washington, D. C. in the United States, running just south of the United States Capitol. Originally named South B Street, Independence Avenue SW was constructed between 1791 and 1823, Independence Avenue SE was constructed in pieces as residential development occurred east of the United States Capitol and east of the Anacostia River. Independence Avenue SW received its current name after Congress renamed the street in legislation approved on April 13,1934, Independence Avenue SW originally had its western terminus at 14th Street SW, but was extended west to Ohio Drive SW in 1941 and 1942. The government of the District of Columbia renamed the portion of the road in the southeast quadrant of the city in 1950, in the District of Columbias Cartesian-coordinate-based street-naming system, Independence Avenue was originally known as South B Street. The street began construction sometime after 1791, by October 1803, it existed definitively between New Jersey Avenue and 1st Street East, and in 1809 it was opened between New Jersey Avenue and Pennsylvania Avenue. By 1816, the length of the avenue appears to have been opened. At the time, South B Streets western terminus was on the shore of the Potomac River and this reclaimed land — which today includes West Potomac Park, East Potomac Park, the Tidal Basin — was largely complete by 1890, and designated Potomac Park by Congress in 1897. But South B Street was not extended through the reclaimed land. In 1925, Congress authorized the construction of Arlington Memorial Bridge, the legislation specified that North B Street be treated as a major approach to Arlington Memorial Bridge. The National Capital Park and Planning Commission approved the significant widening of North B Street into a ceremonial avenue, on February 25,1931, President Herbert Hoover signed legislation which renamed North B Street as Constitution Avenue. Planning for the creation of a ceremonial avenue to take the place of South B Street began in 1930. That year, the National Capital Park and Planning Commission advocated turning the roadway into a ceremonial avenue as a counterpart to North B Street. The following year, the NCPPC proposed widening South B Street to 60 feet between New Jersey Avenue SE and 12th Street SW, all along the route, the north curb would remain in place, while the south curb moved to accommodate the new widths. The NCPPC had already won the support of the Architect of the Capitol for the plan, the renaming of North B Street and the actions of the NCPPC encouraged local citizens to seek to rename South B Street as well. The idea was conceived by the federations past president, Fred A. Emery, but no action was taken in the 72nd United States Congress. Instead, Senate Joint Resolution 258 was introduced Arthur Capper in the United States Senate to change the name to Independence Avenue, the Senate Committee on the District of Columbia favorably reported the bill on February 28,1933. But Congress adjourned on March 3 without further action, the NCPPC had not given up on the idea, however. In November 1933, it approved changing the width of South B Street between 12th and 14th Streets SW to 80 feet, which helped cement in place its plan for a future Independence Avenue
34.
Bartholdi Park
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Bartholdi Park is a public park named after French sculptor Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi, who is known primarily for designing the Statue of Liberty. It is located at the corner of Independence Avenue and Washington Avenue, Bartholdi Park is part of the United States Botanic Garden located on the grounds of the United States Capitol. Bartholdi Park was created as an exclave of the United States Botanic Garden in 1932, originally created as a showcase for American horticulture, the park has continued this purpose to this day. In 1985, the park was renamed to Bartholdi Park, after Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi, recently the park has begun a redesign to become a part of the Sustainable Sites Initiative pilot project. This will include the addition of a garden for homeowners that will have a focus on creating self sustainable self-sustaining gardens. The centerpiece of the park, the Bartholdi fountain, was purchased by the United States government for $6,000 in 1877. Previously, the fountain had stood at Fairmount Park during the 1876 Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia, after its purchase, it was placed at the base of Capitol Hill until 1926. Following six years in storage after being removed from Capitol Hill, the fountain was returned to the park in spring of 2011. The fountain is 30 feet tall and weighs 30 tons and features three 11 feet tall holding the upper basin. Other decorations include turtles, cherubs, frogs, fish, as well as electric lamps
35.
Lilium longiflorum
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Lilium longiflorum, often called the Easter lily, is a plant endemic to the Ryukyu Islands. Lilium formosana, a related species from Taiwan, has been treated as a variety of Easter lily in the past. It is a stem rooting lily, growing up to 1 m high and it bears a number of trumpet shaped, white, fragrant, and outward facing flowers. Plants tend to grow from about 50 cm to 1 m tall and they have long oval leaves and the vein enters the horizontal direction. From April to June, the flowering season, it produces pure white flowers on top of the stem. The stem has a shape, with a diameter of about 5 cm. A variety of it, L. longiflorum var. eximium, native to the Ryukyu Islands, is taller and it is extensively cultivated for cut flowers. It has irregular blooming periods in nature, and this is exploited in cultivation, allowing it to be forced for flowering at particular periods, however, it can be induced to flower over a much wider period. This variety is called the Bermuda lily because it has been much cultivated in Bermuda. One hundred percent of all Easter lily bulbs used in the United States and Canada are grown on coastal lands in northwestern California. In 2013 the California North Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board found acute chronic reproductive toxicity in three of the four primary creeks that feed the Smith River estuary. One local group, Siskiyou Land Conservancy, has been working since 2004 to reduce pesticide use in the lower Smith River, Research by Siskiyou Land Conservancy found that Easter lily growers use 300,000 pounds annually of highly toxic pesticides. Two of these pesticides — metam sodium and 1, 3-dichloropropene, a Health Assessment conducted by Siskiyou Land Conservancy found that these pesticides are sickening local residents. Lilium longiflorum is known as the Easter lily because in Christianity, it is a symbol of the resurrection of Christ, legend has it that these flowers sprung up where drops of Jesus sweat fell as he prayed. In many Christian churches, the chancel is adorned with Easter lilies throughout the Paschal season, a poem of the early 1900s titled Easter Lilies by S. R. Allen, delineates this custom, From the 1890s to the early 1920s, a disease affected the Bermuda lilies, this was identified by Lawrence Ogilvie. In 1903, USDA Agricultural Research Services started to distribute disease free plant materials, the agency also started a breeding program, and released one of the first dwarf cultivars for potted-plant production in 1929. Prior to USDAs effort, lily bulbs in general were largely imported from Japan before the 1940s
36.
Poinsettia
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The poinsettia is a commercially important plant species of the diverse spurge family. The species is indigenous to Mexico and it is particularly well known for its red and green foliage and is widely used in Christmas floral displays. It derives its common English name from Joel Roberts Poinsett, the first United States Minister to Mexico, euphorbia pulcherrima is a shrub or small tree, typically reaching a height of 0. 6–4 metres. The plant bears dark green leaves that measure 7–16 centimetres in length. The colors of the bracts are created through photoperiodism, meaning that they require darkness to change color, at the same time, the plants require abundant light during the day for the brightest color. The flowers of the poinsettia are unassuming and do not attract pollinators and they are grouped within small yellow structures found in the center of each leaf bunch, and are called cyathia. The poinsettia is native to Mexico and it is found in the wild in deciduous tropical forests at moderate elevations from southern Sinaloa down the entire Pacific coast of Mexico to Chiapas and Guatemala. It is also found in the interior in the hot, seasonally dry forests of Guerrero, Oaxaca, reports of E. pulcherrima growing in the wild in Nicaragua and Costa Rica have yet to be confirmed by botanists. There are over 100 cultivated varieties of poinsettia, the Aztecs used the plant to produce red dye and as an antipyretic medication. In Spain it is known as Flor de Pascua or Pascua, in Chile and Peru, the plant became known as Crown of the Andes. In Turkey, it is called Atatürks flower because Atatürk, the founder of the Republic, liked this flower, in Hungarian, it is called Santa Claus Flower, and its widely used as a Christmas decoration. Crimson blossoms sprouted from the weeds and became poinsettias, from the 17th century, Franciscan friars in Mexico included the plants in their Christmas celebrations. The star-shaped leaf pattern is said to symbolize the Star of Bethlehem, Poinsettias are popular Christmas decorations in homes, churches, offices, and elsewhere across North America. They are available in numbers from grocery, drug. In the United States, December 12 is National Poinsettia Day, albert Ecke emigrated from Germany to Los Angeles in 1900, opening a dairy and orchard in the Eagle Rock area. He became intrigued by the plant and sold them from street stands and his son, Paul Ecke, developed the grafting technique, but it was the third generation of Eckes, Paul Ecke Jr. who was responsible for advancing the association between the plant and Christmas. Besides changing the market from mature plants shipped by rail to cuttings sent by air and he also appeared on television programs like The Tonight Show and Bob Hopes Christmas specials to promote the plants. They produced a fuller, more compact plant by grafting two varieties of poinsettia together, a poinsettia left to grow on its own will naturally take an open, somewhat weedy look
37.
Renovation
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Renovation is the process of improving a broken, damaged, or outdated structure. Renovations are typically either commercial or residential, additionally, renovation can refer to making something new, or bringing something back to life and can apply in social contexts. For example, a community can be renovated if it is strengthened and revived, builders often renovate homes because it is a stable source of income. Wood is versatile and flexible, making it the easiest construction material for renovations, few homeowners or professional remodellers possess the skill and equipment that is required to alter steel-frame or concrete structures. Forest certification verifies that products have been sourced from well-managed forests. In North America, most structures are demolished because of forces such as zoning changes. Additionally, buildings that cannot be modified to serve the needs of the occupants are subject to demolition. Very few buildings on the continent are demolished due to structural degradation, the Athena Institute surveyed 227 commercial and residential buildings that were demolished in St. Paul, Minnesota, between 2000 and mid-2003. Thirty percent of the buildings were less than 50 years old, the four top reasons for demolition were “area redevelopment”, “building’s physical condition”, “not suitable for anticipated use”, and “fire damage”. Lack of maintenance was cited as the problem for 54 of the 70 buildings where physical condition was given as the reason for demolition. Most builders focus on building new homes, so renovating is typically an activity for such tradespeople. The processes and services required for renovations are quite specific and, once plans are signed off, renovations usually require all of the sub-trades that are needed for the construction of a new building. During renovation projects, flexibility is required from renovation companies to respond to unexpected issues that arise. Projects involving renovation require not just flexibility, but a plan that had agreed upon by multiple parties. The planning process will involve feedback from financial investors of the project, part of planning will also entail the collection of data for the completion of the project and then the project plan will be revised and given consent before continuing with renovations
38.
Florida
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Florida /ˈflɒrᵻdə/ is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, Florida is the 22nd-most extensive, the 3rd-most populous, and the 8th-most densely populated of the U. S. states. Jacksonville is the most populous municipality in the state and is the largest city by area in the contiguous United States, the Miami metropolitan area is Floridas most populous urban area. The city of Tallahassee is the state capital, much of the state is at or near sea level and is characterized by sedimentary soil. The climate varies from subtropical in the north to tropical in the south, the American alligator, American crocodile, Florida panther, and manatee can be found in the Everglades National Park. It was a location of the Seminole Wars against the Native Americans. Today, Florida is distinctive for its large Cuban expatriate community and high population growth, the states economy relies mainly on tourism, agriculture, and transportation, which developed in the late 19th century. Florida is also renowned for amusement parks, orange crops, the Kennedy Space Center, Florida has attracted many writers such as Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, Ernest Hemingway and Tennessee Williams, and continues to attract celebrities and athletes. It is internationally known for golf, tennis, auto racing, by the 16th century, the earliest time for which there is a historical record, major Native American groups included the Apalachee, the Timucua, the Ais, the Tocobaga, the Calusa and the Tequesta. Florida was the first part of the continental United States to be visited and settled by Europeans, the earliest known European explorers came with the Spanish conquistador Juan Ponce de León. Ponce de León spotted and landed on the peninsula on April 2,1513 and he named the region La Florida. The story that he was searching for the Fountain of Youth is a myth, in May 1539, Conquistador Hernando de Soto skirted the coast of Florida, searching for a deep harbor to land. He described seeing a wall of red mangroves spread mile after mile, some reaching as high as 70 feet. Very soon, many smokes appeared along the whole coast, billowing against the sky, the Spanish introduced Christianity, cattle, horses, sheep, the Spanish language, and more to Florida. Both the Spanish and French established settlements in Florida, with varying degrees of success, in 1559, Don Tristán de Luna y Arellano established a settlement at present-day Pensacola, making it the first attempted settlement in Florida, but it was abandoned by 1561. Spain maintained tenuous control over the region by converting the tribes to Christianity. The area of Spanish Florida diminished with the establishment of English settlements to the north, the English attacked St. Augustine, burning the city and its cathedral to the ground several times. Florida attracted numerous Africans and African-Americans from adjacent British colonies who sought freedom from slavery, in 1738, Governor Manuel de Montiano established Fort Gracia Real de Santa Teresa de Mose near St
39.
Lord & Burnham
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Lord & Burnham was a noted American boiler and greenhouse manufacturer, and builders of major public conservatories in the United States. The company began in 1849 when Frederick A. Lord, a carpenter, started building wood and glass greenhouses for neighbors in Buffalo, New York. It became Lords full-time profession in 1856 as production moved to Syracuse, New York and then to Irvington, in 1872 Lords son-in-law William Addison Burnham joined the firm. Their first major commission came in the 1876 when California philanthropist James Lick hired the firm to create a 12 and its parts were fabricated in New York and sailed to California. After Licks death, it became the Golden Gate Park Conservatory of Flowers, in 1881 the firm constructed the first steel-framed curvilinear greenhouse in the United States for railroad magnate Jay Gould, on a property now open as Lyndhurst. In 1883 the partnership incorporated as Lords Horticultural Manufacturing Company, beginning in 1894, the company purchased underwater property beyond the tracks and began filling in to create new land for an expansion. The expansion complex was completed by 1912, at time the company employed 250 men. The company used the property as additional space in the production process of their greenhouses. By 1988, only about a dozen employees remained at the Irvington factory, Lord & Burnhams product line was acquired in 1989 by the Under Glass Manufacturing Co. which continues to manufacture Lord & Burnham greenhouses and solariums. Lord & Burnhams historical records are archived at the New York Botanical Garden, the companys early greenhouses were made of cypress and iron or steel. Although experimentation with aluminum began in 1932 with the United States Botanic Garden, commercial production was not economical until 1955. com, Crystal Palaces — article on Lord & Burnham
40.
Greenhouse
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A greenhouse is a structure with walls and roof made chiefly of transparent material, such as glass, in which plants requiring regulated climatic conditions are grown. These structures range in size from small sheds to industrial-sized buildings, a miniature greenhouse is known as a cold frame. The interior of a greenhouse exposed to sunlight becomes significantly warmer than the ambient temperature. Many commercial glass greenhouses or hothouses are high tech production facilities for vegetables or flowers, the glass greenhouses are filled with equipment including screening installations, heating, cooling, lighting, and may be controlled by a computer to optimize conditions for plant growth. Different techniques are used to evaluate optimality-degrees and comfort ratio of greenhouse micro-climate in order to reduce production risk prior to cultivation of a specific crop. The idea of growing plants in environmentally controlled areas has existed since Roman times, the Roman emperor Tiberius ate a cucumber-like vegetable daily. The Roman gardeners used artificial methods of growing to have it available for his every day of the year. Cucumbers were planted in wheeled carts which were put in the sun daily, the cucumbers were stored under frames or in cucumber houses glazed with either oiled cloth known as specularia or with sheets of selenite, according to the description by Pliny the Elder. In the 13th century, greenhouses were built in Italy to house the plants that explorers brought back from the tropics. They were originally called giardini botanici, Greenhouses in which the temperature could be manually manipulated first appeared in 15th century Korea. The 15th century treatise, the Sanga Yorok, contains descriptions of greenhouses designed to regulate the temperature and humidity requirements of plants, the concept of greenhouses also appeared in the Netherlands and then England in the 17th century, along with the plants. Some of these early attempts required enormous amounts of work to close up at night or to winterize, there were serious problems with providing adequate and balanced heat in these early greenhouses. Today, the Netherlands has many of the largest greenhouses in the world, the French botanist Charles Lucien Bonaparte is often credited with building the first practical modern greenhouse in Leiden, Holland, during the 1800s to grow medicinal tropical plants. Originally only on the estates of the rich, the growth of the science of botany caused greenhouses to spread to the universities, the French called their first greenhouses orangeries, since they were used to protect orange trees from freezing. As pineapples became popular, pineries, or pineapple pits, were built, experimentation with the design of greenhouses continued during the 17th century in Europe, as technology produced better glass and construction techniques improved. The greenhouse at the Palace of Versailles was an example of their size and elaborateness, it was more than 150 metres long,13 metres wide, a good example of this trend is the pioneering Kew Gardens. Other large greenhouses built in the 19th century included the New York Crystal Palace, Munich’s Glaspalast, in Japan, the first greenhouse was built in 1880 by Samuel Cocking, a British merchant who exported herbs. In the 20th century, the dome was added to the many types of greenhouses
41.
Habitat
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A habitat is an ecological or environmental area that is inhabited by a particular species of animal, plant, or other type of organism. The term typically refers to the zone in which the organism lives and it is the natural environment in which an organism lives, or the physical environment that surrounds a species population. Every organism has certain habitat needs for the conditions in which it will thrive, habitat types include polar, temperate, subtropical and tropical. The terrestrial vegetation type may be forest, steppe, grassland, the word habitat has been in use since about 1755 and derives from the Latin third-person singular present indicative of habitāre, to inhabit, from habēre, to have or to hold. Habitat can be defined as the environment of an organism. It is similar in meaning to a biotope, an area of environmental conditions associated with a particular community of plants. Generally speaking, animal communities are reliant on specific types of plant communities, some plants and animals are generalists, and their habitat requirements are met in a wide range of locations. The small white butterfly for example is found on all the continents of the world apart from Antarctica and its larvae feed on a wide range of Brassicas and various other plant species, and it thrives in any open location with diverse plant associations. Disturbance is important in the creation of biodiverse habitats, in the absence of disturbance, a climax vegetation cover develops that prevents the establishment of other species. Lightning strikes and toppled trees in tropical forests allow species richness to be maintained as pioneering species move in to fill the gaps created. Similarly coastal habitats can become dominated by kelp until the seabed is disturbed by a storm, another cause of disturbance is when an area may be overwhelmed by an invasive introduced species which is not kept under control by natural enemies in its new habitat. Terrestrial habitat types include forests, grasslands, wetlands and deserts, within these broad biomes are more specific habitats with varying climate types, temperature regimes, soils, altitudes and vegetation types. Many of these habitats grade into each other and each one has its own communities of plants. A habitat may suit a particular species well, but its presence or absence at any particular location depends to some extent on chance, on its dispersal abilities, freshwater habitats include rivers, streams, lakes, ponds, marshes and bogs. Although some organisms are found across most of these habitats, the majority have more specific requirements, similarly, aquatic plants can be floating, semi-submerged, submerged or grow in permanently or temporarily saturated soils besides bodies of water. Marine habitats include brackish water, estuaries, bays, the sea, the intertidal zone. Further variations include rock pools, sand banks, mudflats, brackish lagoons, sandy and pebbly beaches, the benthic zone or seabed provides a home for both static organisms, anchored to the substrate, and for a large range of organisms crawling on or burrowing into the surface. A desert is not the kind of habitat that favours the presence of amphibians, with their requirement for water to keep their skins moist, nevertheless, some frogs live in deserts, creating moist habitats underground and hibernating while conditions are adverse
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Endangered species
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An endangered species is a species which has been categorized as likely to become extinct. In 2012, the IUCN Red List featured 3079 animal and 2655 plant species as endangered worldwide, the figures for 1998 were, respectively,1102 and 1197. Many nations have laws that protect conservation-reliant species, for example, population numbers, trends and species conservation status can be found in the lists of organisms by population. The conservation status of a species indicates the likelihood that it will become extinct, the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species is the best-known worldwide conservation status listing and ranking system. Over 40% of the species are estimated to be at risk of extinction. Internationally,199 countries have signed an accord to create Biodiversity Action Plans that will protect endangered, in the United States, such plans are usually called Species Recovery Plans. Those species of Near Threatened and Least Concern status have been assessed and found to have relatively robust and healthy populations, though these may be in decline. The IUCN categories, with examples of animals classified by them, include, Extinct Extinct in the wild Captive individuals survive, critically endangered Faces an extremely high risk of extinction in the immediate future. Endangered Faces a high risk of extinction in the near future, vulnerable Faces a high risk of endangerment in the medium term. Near-threatened May be considered threatened in the near future, Least concern No immediate threat to species survival. A population size reduction of ≥ 50%, projected or suspected to be met within the next 10 years or three generations, whichever is the longer, based on any of to under A1. E) Quantitative analysis showing the probability of extinction in the wild is at least 20% within 20 years or five generations, there is data from the United States that shows a correlation between human populations and threatened and endangered species. Under the Endangered Species Act in the United States, species may be listed as endangered or threatened, the Salt Creek tiger beetle is an example of an endangered subspecies protected under the ESA. Some endangered species laws are controversial, also lobbying from hunters and various industries like the petroleum industry, construction industry, and logging, has been an obstacle in establishing endangered species laws. The Bush administration lifted a policy that required federal officials to consult an expert before taking actions that could damage endangered species. Under the Obama administration, this policy has been reinstated, being listed as an endangered species can have negative effect since it could make a species more desirable for collectors and poachers. This effect is potentially reducible, such as in China where commercially farmed turtles may be reducing some of the pressure to poach endangered species. Another problem with the species is its effect of inciting the use of the shoot, shovel
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Orchidaceae
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The Orchidaceae are a diverse and widespread family of flowering plants, with blooms that are often colourful and often fragrant, commonly known as the orchid family. Along with the Asteraceae, they are one of the two largest families of flowering plants, the Orchidaceae have about 28,000 currently accepted species, distributed in about 763 genera. The determination of which family is larger is still under debate, regardless, the number of orchid species nearly equals the number of bony fishes and is more than twice the number of bird species, and about four times the number of mammal species. The family also encompasses about 6–11% of all seed plants, the largest genera are Bulbophyllum, Epidendrum, Dendrobium and Pleurothallis. The family also includes Vanilla, Orchis, and many cultivated plants such as Phalaenopsis. Moreover, since the introduction of species into cultivation in the 19th century, horticulturists have produced more than 100,000 hybrids. Orchids are easily distinguished from plants, as they share some very evident, shared derived characteristics. Among these are, bilateral symmetry of the flower, many flowers, a nearly always highly modified petal, fused stamens and carpels. All orchids are perennial herbs that lack any permanent woody structure and they can grow according to two patterns, Monopodial, The stem grows from a single bud, leaves are added from the apex each year and the stem grows longer accordingly. The stem of orchids with a monopodial growth can reach several metres in length, as in Vanda, Sympodial, Sympodial orchids have a front and a back. The plant produces a series of adjacent shoots which grow to a size, bloom. Sympodial orchids grow laterally rather than vertically, following the surface of their support, the growth continues by development of new leads, with their own leaves and roots, sprouting from or next to those of the previous year, as in Cattleya. While a new lead is developing, the rhizome may start its growth again from a so-called eye, Sympodial orchids may have visible pseudobulbs joined by a rhizome, which creeps along the top or just beneath the soil. Terrestrial orchids may be rhizomatous or form corms or tubers, the root caps of terrestrial orchids are smooth and white. Some sympodial terrestrial orchids, such as Orchis and Ophrys, have two subterranean tuberous roots, one is used as a food reserve for wintry periods, and provides for the development of the other one, from which visible growth develops. In warm and constantly humid climates, many terrestrial orchids do not need pseudobulbs, epiphytic orchids, those that grow upon a support, have modified aerial roots that can sometimes be a few meters long. In the older parts of the roots, a modified spongy epidermis and it is made of dead cells and can have a silvery-grey, white or brown appearance. In some orchids, the velamen includes spongy and fibrous bodies near the passage cells, the cells of the root epidermis grow at a right angle to the axis of the root to allow them to get a firm grasp on their support
Geographic data related to United States Botanic Garden at OpenStreetMap
Geographic data related to