In the United States’ first years as a nation after the Revolutionary War, the men whom history would come to call the “founding fathers” had established different buildings in the name of political use. The Capitol Building has come to mean many places in many contexts regarding the United States’ legislative body through time. Every functioning nation, regardless of how powerful it is, has a capitol building where the members of the federal branch of lawmakers meet to contest on different national issues. The United States’ capitol building, the hall where Congress meets to utilize its legislative power, has had its location changed at several points between 1774 and 1819. Since 1819, the Capitol Building has been Capitol Hill in Washington, …show more content…
There, Zenger was initially arrested for libel against the British monarchy during the days of colonial America. The German American journalist was the publisher of The New York Weekly Journal, a city newspaper that came under fire as Zenger used the medium to voice his critiques on the colonial governor William Cosby through the use of satire. The newspaper had been in print for two years, gaining popularity amongst readers and his fellow newspaper editors for its witty approach to political commentary. Zenger's lawyer, Andrew Hamilton, managed to defend his use of satire as a form of free speech, concluding his defense by asserting his right to “both of exposing and opposing tyrannical power by speaking and writing truth." Hamilton’s solid defense and impassioned delivery helped encourage the term “Philadelphia lawyer” as a lawyer impartial to no other institution but the law. The defense also inspired the court to acquit Zenger on all libel charges, sending waves of jubilation throughout the city. Zenger’s satire and Hamilton’s defense had set an example legitimizing the right to freedom of press, an ever-important inclusion into the Bill of Rights later in September of 1789. The relevancy of this freedom has always been asserted since then, as it has become a hallmark of not …show more content…
Here, the delegates from nine of the thirteen original colonies in 1764 gathered to contest the nature of their colonies’ autonomy, one of the first legislative steps toward the colonies’ independence. It was then and there that the term “taxation without representation” was coined in a message that was drafted for King George III, as well as the British House of Lords and the House of Commons. This instance of colonial defiance marked seminal moment in the history of democracy, as the delegates insisted on their federal right to representation, setting a precedent for American sovereignty. The building’s political relevance remained active once it was declared the nation’s first official capitol building under the Constitution. Pierre Charles L’Enfant, a French architect, had been commissioned by George Washington in 1788 to remodel the building as a proper national capitol prior to his formal inauguration. L’Enfant’s work marked the first example of Federal Style architecture in the nation, an architectural aesthetic that paralleled British Regency style and French Empire style. This style was later copied for several town hall buildings throughout the nation, seen in mostly New England states such as Massachusetts and Connecticut. The nation’s first Congress met on March 4, 1789 at the Hall,