Constitution Avenue

On April 2, 2021, Noah Green, a 25-year-old black nationalist, killed Capitol Police officer William Evans and wounded a second officer after he deliberately rammed his car into a barricade outside the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C. As a result of the attack, the Capitol complex was locked down. Green was shot and later died at a hospital from the gunshot wounds. Green shared extremist viewpoints advanced by the Nation of Islam and other black nationalists prior to committing his attack at the Capitol.

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.

The Washington Depot or New Jersey Avenue Station was a train station located in Northwest Washington, D.C., a block north of the Capitol. The train station was also called the B&O Depot as it was served by the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad. It operated from April 1851 until October 26, 1907, when Union Station commenced operation. During the American Civil War, the New Jersey Avenue Station was the major embarkation site for hundreds of thousands of Union troops. President Abraham Lincoln arrived there to be sworn in as President in 1861. It was from that station that his body along with his son "Willie" Lincoln began its long journey to his final resting place in Illinois after he was assassinated on April 14, 1865.

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 Robert A. Taft Memorial and Carillon is a carillon dedicated as a memorial to U.S. Senator Robert Alphonso Taft, son of President William Howard Taft. The memorial is located north of the Capitol, on Constitution Avenue between New Jersey Avenue and First Street, N.W. Designed by architect Douglas W. Orr, the memorial consists of a Tennessee marble tower and a 10-foot (3.0 m) bronze statue of Senator Taft sculpted by Wheeler Williams. The shaft of the tower measures 100 feet (30 m) high, 11 feet (3.4 m) deep, and 32 feet (9.8 m) wide. Above the statue is inscribed, "This Memorial to Robert A. Taft, presented by the people to the Congress of the United States, stands as a tribute to the honesty, indomitable courage, and high principles of free government symbolized by his life." The base of the memorial measures 55 by 45 feet (14 m) and stands approximately 15 feet (4.6 m) high. Jets of water flow into a basin that rings the base. The twenty-seven bells in the upper part of the tower were cast in the Paccard Foundry in Annecy-le-Vieux, France. The largest, or bourdon bell, weighs 7 tons (6350 kg). At the dedication ceremony on April 14, 1959, former President Herbert Hoover stated, "When these great bells ring out, it will be a summons to integrity and courage." The large central bell strikes on the hour, while the smaller fixed bells chime on the quarter-hour. By resolution of Congress, they play "The Star-Spangled Banner" at 2 p.m. on the Fourth of July. Robert A. Taft Memorial is currently serviced by Christoph Paccard based in Charleston, SC. Construction of the memorial was authorized by S.Con.Res. 44, which was passed by the Senate and the House of Representatives in July 1955. It was funded by popular subscription from every state in the nation. More than a million dollars were collected.

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 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.

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.

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.

On January 6, 2021, the United States Capitol Building in Washington, D.C., was attacked by a mob of supporters of then-U.S. president Donald Trump, two months after his defeat in the 2020 presidential election. They sought to keep Trump in power by preventing a joint session of Congress from counting the Electoral College votes to formalize the victory of President-elect Joe Biden. The attack was ultimately unsuccessful in preventing the election results from being certified. According to the House select committee that investigated the incident, the attack was the culmination of a seven-part plan by Trump to overturn the election.Within 36 hours of the event, five people had died: one was shot by Capitol Police, another died of a drug overdose, and three died of natural causes, including a police officer. Many people were injured, including 174 police officers. Four officers who responded to the attack died by suicide within seven months. As of July 7, 2022, monetary damages caused by attackers exceed $2.7 million.Called to action by Trump, thousands of his supporters gathered in Washington, D.C., on January 5 and 6 to support his false claim that the 2020 election had been "stolen by emboldened radical-left Democrats" and to demand that Vice President Mike Pence and Congress reject Biden's victory. Starting at noon on January 6, at a "Save America" rally on the Ellipse, Trump gave a speech in which he repeated false claims of election irregularities and said, "If you don't fight like hell, you're not going to have a country anymore." Thousands of attendees, some armed, walked to the Capitol, with hundreds breaching police perimeters as Congress was beginning the electoral vote count. Among the rioters were leaders of the Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers militia groups, who conspired to use violence to interfere with the peaceful transfer of power.More than 2,000 rioters entered the building, many of whom vandalized and looted parts of the building, including the offices of then House speaker Nancy Pelosi and other members of Congress. Rioters also assaulted Capitol Police officers and reporters, and attempted to locate lawmakers to capture and harm. A gallows was erected west of the Capitol, and some rioters chanted "Hang Mike Pence" after he rejected false claims by Trump and others that the vice president could overturn the election results.With building security breached, Capitol Police evacuated and locked down both chambers of Congress and several buildings in the Capitol Complex. Rioters occupied the empty Senate chamber while federal law enforcement officers defended the evacuated House floor. Pipe bombs were found at both the Democratic National Committee and Republican National Committee headquarters, and Molotov cocktails were discovered in a vehicle near the Capitol.Trump resisted sending the National Guard to quell the mob. Later that afternoon, in a Twitter video, he reasserted the inaccurate claim that the election was "fraudulent", and told his supporters to "go home in peace". The Capitol was clear of rioters by mid-evening, and the counting of the electoral votes resumed and was completed in the early morning hours of January 7. Pence declared President-elect Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris victorious. Pressured by his cabinet, the threat of removal, and many resignations, Trump later committed to an orderly transition of power in a televised statement.A week after the attack, the House of Representatives impeached Trump for incitement of insurrection, making him the only U.S. president to have been impeached twice. In February, after Trump had left office, the Senate voted 57–43 in favor of conviction, short of the 67 votes needed, resulting in his acquittal. Republicans in the Senate blocked a bill to create a bipartisan independent commission to investigate the attack, so the House instead approved a select committee with seven Democrats and two Republicans to investigate. The committee held nine televised public hearings on the attack in 2022, voted to subpoena Trump, and ultimately, recommended to the Department of Justice (DOJ) that he be prosecuted. On August 1, 2023, following a special counsel investigation, Trump was indicted on four charges.More than 1,200 persons have been charged with federal crimes arising from the attack. As of December 2023, 728 defendants had pleaded guilty, while another 166 defendants had been convicted at trial; a total of 745 defendants have been sentenced. A significant number of participants in the attack were linked to far-right extremist groups or conspiratorial movements, including the Oath Keepers, Proud Boys, and Three Percenters. Numerous plotters were convicted of seditious conspiracy, including Oath Keepers and Proud Boys members; the longest sentence to date was given to then-Proud Boy chairman Enrique Tarrio, who was sentenced to 22 years' imprisonment.