The symbols of the US: the Statue of Liberty, the White house, the Library of Congress, the American Flag, the national Anthem

George Washington

1732-1799

George Washington is called "the father of his country" for his crucial role in fighting for, creating and leading the United States of America in its earliest days. Washington was a surveyor, farmer and soldier who rose to command the Colonial forces in the Revolutionary War. He held the ragtag Continental Army together -- most famously during a frigid encampment at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania during the winter of 1777-78 -- and eventually led them to victory over the British. His success in the war made him a tremendously popular figure in America even after he retired to his farm at Mount Vernon in 1783. He was the natural choice to serve as the country's first president in 1789 after the new United States Constitution was ratified. He served two terms, refused a third, and returned to his Virginia farm. In 1798 he was again commissioned as Commander in Chief of the Army, a title he held until his death 18 months later. He was succeeded as president by John Adams.

There are many symbols that represent the United States of America. Some of the most popular ones are the Stars and Stripes (the US flag), the White House.

The Statue of Liberty is a huge sculpture that is located on Liberty Island in New York Harbor. This monument was a gift to the USA from the people of France in recognition of the French-American alliance during the American Revolution.

The formal name of the statue is "Liberty Enlightening the World." It pictures a woman who has escaping the chains of tyranny (the broken chains lie at her feet). Liberty's right hand holds a torch that is a symbol of liberty.

Liberty was designed by the French sculptor Frederic Auguste Bartholdi. The hollow copper statue was built in France - it was finished in July, 1884. It was brought to the USA in 350 pieces on a French ship called the "Isere" (in June, 1885). The statue was re-assembled in the USA and was completed on October 28, 1886.

There are 354 steps inside the statue and its pedestal. There are 25 viewing windows in the crown. The seven rays of Liberty's crown symbolize the seven seas and seven continents of the world. Liberty holds a tablet in her left hand that reads "July 4, 1776" (in Roman numerals), Independence Day of the United States of America.

The White House is the official residence of the President of the United States of America, and has been for over 200 years. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, D.C., the capital city of the USA.

The Design and Construction of the White House: The White House was designed by the Irish-American architect James Hoban, who had won an architectural design competition in 1792. Hoban's design is said to have been very similar to a plan from James Gibbs' "Book of Architecture" (published in 1728). Extra pavilions and porticos (ornamental, deck-like structures with columns supporting a roof) were added to the White House later; they were designed by the architect Benjamin Latrobe (who also designed the United States Capitol).

The White House was originally built from 1792 to 1800; it was constructed by paid and slave laborers, including stonemasons brought in from Scotland. It was burned down by British soldiers during the War of 1812, but was rebuilt from 1815 to 1817.

The Presidents and the White House: The first US President to live in the White House was John Adams (the second President of the USA). Adams and his family moved to the White House in 1800. They had previously lived in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (which had been the temporary capital of the USA while Washington, D.C., was being built). When the Adams family moved into the White House, the interior of the building was not quite finished. Construction was completed during Thomas Jefferson's term (1801-1809).

Improvements to the White House: In the 1850s, a stove was added to the White House; previously, food had been cooked in fireplaces. The first telephone was wired into the White House during the term of Rutherford B. Hayes (1877-1881). Electricity was added to the White House during the Benjamin Harrison administration (1889-1893).

The one-story West Wing offices were built during the term of Theodore "Teddy" Roosevelt, in 1901-1902 (they were added because his large family had taken over the second floor offices for family space, so more temporary office space was needed).

President William Howard Taft remodeled the President's office in 1909, changing it into an oval-shaped room, creating the Oval Office in the center of the West Wing.

Between 1948 and 1952, during the Harry Truman administration, the White House was completely remodeled after it was found to be structurally unsound. Steel framing was added to strengthen the walls, but the original rooms were reconstructed.

The United States Capitol is the meeting place of the United States Congress, the legislature of the federal government of the United States. Located in Washington, D.C., it sits atop Capitol Hill at the eastern end of the National Mall. Though not in the geographic center of the District of Columbia, the Capitol is the origin by which the quadrants of the District are divided. Officially, both the east and west sides of the Capitol are referred to as "fronts." Historically, however, only the east front of the building was intended for the arrival of visitors and dignitaries.

The Library of Congress is the research library of the United States Congress, de facto national library of the United States, and the oldest federal cultural institution in the United States. Located in three buildings in Washington, D.C., it is the largest library in the world by shelf space and number of books. The head of the Library is the Librarian of Congress, currently James H. Billington.

The Library of Congress was built by Congress in 1800, and was housed in the United States Capitol for most of the 19th century. After much of the original collection had been destroyed during the War of 1812, Thomas Jefferson sold 6,487 books, his entire personal collection, to the library in 1815. After a period of decline during the mid-19th century the Library of Congress began to grow rapidly in both size and importance after the American Civil War, culminating in the construction of a separate library building and the transference of all copyright deposit holdings to the Library. During the rapid expansion of the 20th century the Library of Congress assumed a preeminent public role, becoming a "library of last resort" and expanding its mission for the benefit of scholars and the American people.

The Library's primary mission is researching inquiries made by members of Congress through the Congressional Research Service. Although it is open to the public, only Members of Congress, Supreme Court justices and other high-ranking government officials may check out books. As the de facto national library, the Library of Congress promotes literacy and American literature through projects such as the American Folklife Center, American Memory, Center for the Book and Poet Laureate.

The national flag of the United States of America (or the American flag) consists of thirteen equal horizontal stripes of red (top and bottom) alternating with white, with a blue rectangle in the canton (referred to specifically as the "union") bearing fifty small, white, five-pointed stars arranged in nine offset horizontal rows of six stars (top and bottom) alternating with rows of five stars. The fifty stars on the flag represent the 50 states and the 13 stripes represent the original thirteen colonies that rebelled against the British monarchy and became the first states in the Union. Nicknames for the flag include the "Stars and Stripes", "Old Glory," and "The Star-Spangled Banner" (also the name of the national anthem).

" The Star-Spangled Banner " is the national anthem of the United States of America. The lyrics come from "Defence of Fort McHenry", a poem written in 1814 by the 35-year-old lawyer and amateur poet, Francis Scott Key, after witnessing the bombardment of Fort McHenry by the British Royal Navy ships in Chesapeake Bay during the Battle of Fort McHenry in the War of 1812.

The poem was set to the tune of a popular British drinking song, written by John Stafford Smith for the Anacreontic Society, a men's social club in London. "The Anacreontic Song" (or "To Anacreon in Heaven"), with various lyrics, was already popular in the United States. Set to Key's poem and renamed "The Star-Spangled Banner", it would soon become a well-known American patriotic song. With a range of one and a half octaves, it is known for being difficult to sing. Although the song has four stanzas, only the first is commonly sung today, with the fourth ("O! thus be it ever when free men shall stand...") added on more formal occasions. The fourth stanza includes the line "And this be our motto: In God is our Trust.". The United States adopted "In God We Trust" as its national motto in 1956.

"The Star-Spangled Banner" was recognized for official use by the Navy in 1889 and the President in 1916, and was made the national anthem by a congressional resolution on March 3, 1931 (46 Stat. 1508, codified at 36 U.S.C. § 301), which was signed by President Herbert Hoover.

Before 1931, other songs served as the hymns of American officialdom. "Hail, Columbia" served this purpose at official functions for most of the 19th century. "My Country, 'Tis of Thee", whose melody is identical to the British national anthem, also served as a de facto anthem before the adoption of "The Star-Spangled Banner." Following the War of 1812 and subsequent American wars, other songs would emerge to compete for popularity at public events, among them "The Star-Spangled Banner."

Дата добавления: 2015-04-24