Old Supreme Court Chamber

The Ohio Clock (or Senate Clock) is a clock in the United States Capitol. The United States Senate ordered the clock from Thomas Voigt in 1815, and it has stood in or near the Senate Chamber since 1859.

The United States Capitol crypt is the large circular room filled with forty neoclassical Doric columns directly beneath the United States Capitol rotunda. It was built originally to support the rotunda as well as offer an entrance to Washington's Tomb. It currently serves as a museum and a repository for thirteen statues of the National Statuary Hall Collection.

The United States Capitol rotunda is the tall central rotunda of the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C. It has been described as the Capitol's "symbolic and physical heart". Built between 1818 and 1824, the rotunda is located below the Capitol dome, which was built between 1857 and 1866. The rotunda is connected by corridors leading south to the House of Representatives and north to the Senate chambers. To the immediate south is the semi-circular National Statuary Hall, which was the House of Representatives chamber until 1857. To the northeast is the Old Senate Chamber, used by the Senate until 1859 and by the Supreme Court until 1935. The rotunda is 96 feet (29 m) in diameter, rises 48 feet (15 m) to the top of its original walls and 180 feet 3 inches (54.94 m) to the canopy of the dome, and is usually visited daily by thousands of people. The space is a national showcase of art, and includes numerous historical paintings and sculptures. It is also used for ceremonial events authorized by concurrent resolution, including the lying in state of honored dead.

The 1983 U.S. Senate bombing was a bomb explosion at the United States Senate on November 7, 1983, as a protest against United States military involvement in Lebanon and Grenada. The attack led to heightened security in the DC metropolitan area, and the inaccessibility of certain parts of the Senate Building. Six members of the radical far-left Armed Resistance Unit (also known as Resistance Conspiracy) were arrested in May 1988 and charged with the bombing, as well as related bombings of Fort McNair and the Washington Navy Yard which occurred on April 25, 1983, and April 20, 1984, respectively.

The United States Capitol features a dome situated above its rotunda. The dome is 288 feet (88 m) in height and 96 feet (29 m) in diameter. Designed by Thomas U. Walter, the fourth Architect of the Capitol, it was constructed between 1855 and 1866 at a cost of $1,047,291 (equivalent to $15.6 million in 2021).The dome is not stone, but rather cast iron carefully painted to appear to be made of the same stone as the main capitol building. It is actually two domes, one inside the other, and the total weight is 9.1 million pounds (4,100 t). The dome's cast iron frame was supplied and constructed by the iron foundry Janes, Fowler, Kirtland & Co. in the Bronx, New York. The dome marks the origin on street maps of Washington, D.C. A detailed look at the dome and its recent restoration can be found here.

The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and powers of the Senate are established by Article One of the United States Constitution. The Senate is composed of senators, each of whom represents a single state in its entirety. Each of the 50 states is equally represented by two senators who serve staggered terms of six years, for a total of 100 senators. From 1789 to 1913, senators were appointed by legislatures of the states they represented. They have been elected by popular vote since the 1913 ratification of the Seventeenth Amendment. As the upper chamber of Congress, the Senate has several powers of advice and consent which are unique to it. These include the approval of treaties, and the confirmation of Cabinet secretaries, federal judges (including Federal Supreme Court justices), flag officers, regulatory officials, ambassadors, other federal executive officials and federal uniformed officers. If no candidate receives a majority of electors for vice president, the duty falls to the Senate to elect one of the top two recipients of electors for that office. The Senate conducts trials of those impeached by the House. The Senate has typically been considered both a more deliberative and prestigious body than the House of Representatives due to its longer terms, smaller size, and statewide constituencies, which historically led to a more collegial and less partisan atmosphere.The Senate chamber is located in the north wing of the Capitol Building in Washington, D.C. The vice president of the United States serves as presiding officer and president of the Senate by virtue of that office, despite not being a senator, and has a vote only if the Senate is equally divided. In the vice president's absence, the president pro tempore, who is traditionally the senior member of the party holding a majority of seats, presides over the Senate. In the early 1920s, the practice of majority and minority parties electing their floor leaders began. The Senate's legislative and executive business is managed and scheduled by the Senate majority leader.

Washington's Tomb is an empty burial chamber two stories directly below the Rotunda of the United States Capitol building in Washington, DC. It was included in the original design of the building by William Thornton and intended to entomb the body of George Washington, the first President of the United States. The original design of the rotunda, and the Crypt beneath it, included a central glass floor allowing the public to view Washington's Tomb two floors below, but this was never implemented.When Washington died in 1799, the Capitol was still under construction. Both houses of Congress passed a resolution calling for Washington to be entombed in the Capitol upon its completion. His wife, Martha Washington, agreed to the plan despite the presence in her husband's will of a provision that he be buried at Mount Vernon. However, the original resolution was never carried out due to disputes over the specific design and cost of the tomb and the body was placed in a temporary tomb at Mount Vernon. Congress again attempted to resolve these issues in 1800, 1816, 1824, and 1829, when the Architect of the Capitol prepared plans for the tomb in anticipation of the approaching centennial of Washington's birth.Congress renewed its call to transfer the body to the Capitol in 1830, after an attempt to steal Washington's head in which the Mount Vernon tomb was vandalized and several of Washington's relatives' corpses desecrated in 1830. The current owner of the property, John Washington, decided to build a new, more secure tomb on the site instead.Formerly, the Lincoln Catafalque was stored and exhibited in the tomb. It is kept, at present, in a specially constructed display area in the Exhibition Hall of the Capitol Visitor Center.

A bust of Martin Luther King Jr. by the American artist John Woodrow Wilson is located at the United States Capitol rotunda in Washington, D.C.

The Statue of Freedom, also known as Armed Freedom or simply Freedom, is a bronze statue designed by Thomas Crawford (1814–1857) that, since 1863, has crowned the dome of the U.S. Capitol building in Washington, D.C. Originally named Freedom Triumphant in War and Peace, a U.S. government publication now states that the statue "is officially known as the Statue of Freedom." The statue depicts a female figure bearing a military helmet and holding a sheathed sword in her right hand and a laurel wreath and shield in her left.

The 1834 State of the Union Address was delivered by the 7th president of the United States, Andrew Jackson, to the 23rd United States Congress on December 1, 1834. Jackson highlighted the continued prosperity and peaceful conditions in the nation, praising the harvests and the flourishing commerce. He urged Congress to ensure that "virtue and enterprise" remained central to the country's development. On foreign affairs, Jackson discussed ongoing diplomatic relations with European nations, including Great Britain, regarding the unresolved North East boundary dispute. He also reported delays in France fulfilling its financial obligations under the 1831 treaty, and expressed disappointment over the French Chamber of Deputies' refusal to appropriate funds for indemnities owed to American citizens. Jackson recommended Congress authorize "reprisals upon French property" if France continued its delay. Domestically, Jackson reiterated his opposition to the Second Bank of the United States, criticizing its actions as a "scourge of the people." He condemned the bank for using its funds to influence elections and for the illegal withholding of dividends owed to the federal government. Jackson called for Congress to fully sever ties with the bank, recommending that laws connecting the government to the bank be repealed and the public stock be sold. The President also addressed the state of Native American affairs, particularly the ongoing Indian Removal efforts. He reported progress in negotiating the relocation of the Creek and Seminole tribes but expressed disappointment that the Cherokee had not yet agreed to move west of the Mississippi River. Jackson emphasized that emigration was necessary to preserve the remaining tribes.

The 1927 State of the Union Address was given on Tuesday, December 6, 1927. It was given by Calvin Coolidge, the 30th United States President, to the 70th United States Congress. He said, "For many years the Federal Government has been building a system of dikes along the Mississippi River for protection against high water. During the past season the lower States were overcome by a most disastrous flood. Many thousands of square miles were inundated a great many lives were lost, much livestock was drowned, and a very heavy destruction of property was inflicted upon the inhabitants." He talks about controlling and preventing floods.

Ronald Reagan, the 40th president of the United States, addressed a joint session of the United States Congress on Wednesday, February 18, 1981. It was his first public address before a joint session. Similar to a State of the Union Address, it was delivered before the 97th United States Congress in the Chamber of the United States House of Representatives in the United States Capitol. Presiding over this joint session was the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, Tip O'Neill, accompanied by George H. W. Bush, the vice president in his capacity as the president of the Senate. The speech was referred to as the "Speech on the Program for Economic Recovery." During his speech, President Reagan outlined his plan for economic recovery, calling for large cuts to taxes and federal spending. Some observers described it at the time as the most comprehensive economic proposal since President Franklin D. Roosevelt announced his New Deal program in March 1933. When President Reagan handed House Speaker Tip O’Neill the printed copy, O’Neill reportedly said, "Mr. President, good luck." Secretary of Education Terrel Bell was the designated survivor and did not attend the address in order to maintain a continuity of government. No response to this address was given by the Democratic Party.