Die Kongress- Halle im Capitol

Title

Die Kongress- Halle im Capitol

Description

Capitol in Washington congress hall

ca. 1845

Artist

Poppel (1807-1882)

Poppel was a German copper and steel engraver, architectural draftsman, landscape painter and publisher. Johann Poppel first learned copperplate engraving from Johann Martin Friedrich Geißler at the Nuremberg Art School. Building on this, he learned steel engraving in 1829 from Professor Carl Ludwig Frommel in Karlsruhe, who ran a steel engraver there.

Historical Description

When Europeans first arrived in what is now the District of Columbia in the 17th century, it was inhabited by a Native American tribe, the Nacotchtank, who settled along the Anacostia River. The first capital after the ratification of the Constitution was New York City (1788-1790). George Washington took the oath of office as the first President of the United States on the balcony of Federal Hall there. In the Residence Act of 1790, it was decided to make Philadelphia the capital for ten years and, in the meantime, to look for a permanent place on the Potomac. President Washington chose an area that included parts of both Maryland and Virginia. At that time, the area was primarily meadow and swamp land. It was planned that Congress would meet in the new capital on the first Monday in December 1800. Washington is thus a planned capital. In 1791, the District of Columbia area was carved out of the states of Maryland and Virginia. Construction of the new capital began with the future official residence of U.S. presidents, the White House, on October 13, 1792. Even today, a plaque there notes: "This cornerstone of the President's House was laid in the 17th year of the Independence of the United States of America, October 13, 1792. President: George Washington. In 1800, Washington became the permanent capital of the United States. President John Adams moved his government to Washington in June 1800. On November 17, 1800, Congress met for the first time in the new capital.