The Cornerstone

History 2 Minutes

From: THEHORN.NET:

In the early years of the United States, Congress didn’t have a permanent home. Lawmakers met in borrowed chambers across cities like New York and Philadelphia while leaders debated where to plant the capital. The Residence Act of 1790 gave President George Washington the authority to choose a permanent site. He selected land carved from Maryland and Virginia—what became Washington, D.C.—to serve as the federal district.

French engineer Pierre Charles L’Enfant drew up a bold plan for the new city, but clashes with officials ended his role. A design contest followed, and Dr. William Thornton’s neoclassical vision won for the Capitol building.

On September 18, 1793, Washington donned ceremonial regalia and, with Masonic rites, laid the Capitol’s first cornerstone. It was both a literal foundation stone and a symbolic statement: America’s democracy was here to stay.

Construction was slow. The north wing opened in 1800, finally giving Congress a permanent meeting place. The south wing followed a decade later, allowing the House and Senate to move into their chambers.

Disaster struck in 1814 during the War of 1812, when British troops set fire to the Capitol. Only a rainstorm kept the building from being completely destroyed. Congress temporarily met in makeshift quarters until repairs were finished.

By the mid-1800s, the growing country needed a bigger Capitol. Expansions added wings and a new dome—the iconic cast-iron structure we recognize today. During the Civil War, work paused as Union troops used the building as a hospital and barracks.

The Capitol became more than just a workspace. Its art, architecture, and grand design—borrowed from classical Greece and Rome—were chosen to reflect the ideals of democracy, law, and civic duty.

Today the Capitol has over 540 rooms, 850 doors, and even 108 windows in the dome alone. It anchors a complex of congressional offices and libraries, visited by millions each year as both a seat of government and a living museum.

From Washington’s cornerstone to today, the Capitol has been scarred, rebuilt, and reimagined, yet it continues to stand as a reminder that democracy isn’t static—it’s built, tested, and restored by every generation.

Why It Matters

The laying of the Capitol’s cornerstone wasn’t just a construction milestone—it was a declaration that America would center its government in a permanent home. The Capitol remains a symbol of resilience, representing both the fragility and endurance of democracy itself.

SOURCE: THEHORN.NET

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Published by pat frederick

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118 thoughts on “The Cornerstone”

  1. https://img.izismile.com/img/img15/20251219/640/cool_stuff_you_didnt_know_you_needed_to_see_640_high_11.jpg

    Coffee spill looks like the Americas

    https://img.izismile.com/img/img15/20251219/640/cool_stuff_you_didnt_know_you_needed_to_see_640_high_09.jpg

    https://img.izismile.com/img/img15/20251219/640/cool_stuff_you_didnt_know_you_needed_to_see_640_high_06.jpg

    https://img.izismile.com/img/img15/20251219/640/cool_stuff_you_didnt_know_you_needed_to_see_640_high_01.jpg

    Liked by 1 person

  2. Just The News: “President Donald Trump on Friday announced that he was banning CNN, MSNOW, and Politico from the White House, citing what he called “fake news.”

    “I am proud to announce that, effective immediately, I am banning Fake News CNN, MSNOW […], and Politico […] from the White House as a result of their constant ‘reporting’ FAKE NEWS!” he posted on Truth Social.

    “Media Outlets shouldn’t be able to constantly write or report FICTION and LIES when they’re covering the President of the United States, the Trump Administration, or the United States of America. Other Fake News Media Outlets to follow,” he added.

    Trump has long feuded with those networks, most notably CNN, over their coverage of his political career.

    At present, however, there is no White House press secretary and the usual press briefings are somewhat disrupted. The most likely immediate outcome is that the administration attempts to remove those networks from the presidential and vice presidential pool rotations.”

    Liked by 1 person

  3. Just The News: “President Donald Trump was stumping for Republicans in the battleground state of North Carolina on Friday, and he again promised that Americans would receive $5,000 dollars if the GOP wins the midterms. 

    “If we win, we’re going to get you $5,000. So that’s it. Very simple,” Trump said, the Associated Press reported. 

    The promise has had considerable pushback, including from some fellow Republicans. Trump originally promised the checks, dubbed “Trump dividends,” during his speech at the Republican midterm convention in Dallas, Texas. On Monday, he addressed criticism of the plan from the Democrats and insisted he planned to follow through on the pledge.

    “The $5,000 Trump Dividend, to be given to all Adults in the United States due to the fact that our Country is taking in Trillions of Dollars of Economic Development, Investment, and Pure SUCCESS, is being criticized by ‘Dumocrats’ who are hoping that it never happens — But it will!” he insisted on Truth Social. “The $5,000 Dividend will happen because the People of our Country deserve it.”

    Republican candidates at the rally Friday didn’t mention the dividends. The Republican National Committee has said the proposed payments are part of Trump’s broader economic plan and urged candidates to get behind it.

    Doug Heye, a Republican strategist and former Republican National Committee communications director, told the Associated Press the proposal is “a dumb idea” as it would increase inflation and there’s no funding to pay for it. “

    Liked by 1 person

  5. Gage just stopped by to pick-up some cantaloupe for Courtney and Evvie. He also pointed out that I can order the pieces from Amazon to enable me to hook up the automatic deck washer on my riding mower. I can hook the hose to it, turn on the mower and let it run – it will wash all the grass off! Yeah!!! I won’t have to bang my hands up trying to get it clean. Should be here by next Wednesday.

    Liked by 1 person

  6. EXCERPT: “U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. told a sold-out Children’s Health Defense (CHD) conference Thursday that the health-freedom movement has “a strong and steadfast friend at the White House.”

    Kennedy urged the audience to be patient as the administration works through a slow-moving federal bureaucracy. “You have friends in the White House, and we are doing this one day at a time,” Kennedy said during his keynote address at the “CHD in DC” conference in Washington. “We’re putting the science before any changes. … Unfortunately, we’ve had a dearth of science for 30 years.”

    Kennedy, who co-founded CHD several years before becoming secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), acknowledged that many people in the health freedom movement expected faster results after he took office.

    “A lot of people in this community get frustrated about the slowness in government,” he said. “A lot of them expected me to come in and make sense of this whole system and bring changes immediately.”

    But federal agencies cannot simply change policies overnight, he said. “In government, a bunch of things have to happen before something else happens, or you get sued,” Kennedy said. “It’s a very laborious system, and there’s a lot of inertia built in.”

    ‘Trump will not allow the government to treat parents … as lepers’

    Kennedy said the Trump administration has already made changes that would have seemed unlikely only a few years ago. “President [Donald] Trump will not allow the government to treat parents who question vaccine orthodoxy as lepers,” Kennedy said.

    He said Trump directed HHS to investigate vaccine safety, expand options for families and preserve individual choice. “Let me be clear: You have a strong and steadfast friend at the White House,” he said. “We’ve accomplished in 19 months things that would have seemed unthinkable two years ago.”

    Kennedy pointed to the administration’s review of the childhood vaccine schedule, the reconstitution of the federal vaccine advisory panel and efforts to improve the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS)……”

    https://childrenshealthdefense.org/defender/i-intend-to-stay-in-this-fight-rfk-jr-says-at-chd-conference/

    Liked by 1 person

  7. Kids, for the most part, shouldn’t be ON weight-loss drugs! They should be getting more exercise, not taking drugs!!!!!

    EXCERPT: “The number of American children being prescribed GLP-1 weight-loss drugs has surged dramatically over the past few years, fueling debate over whether doctors are medicating childhood obesity instead of preventing it, according to new research.

    A recent study led by researchers at NYU Langone Health found prescriptions of Saxenda, Wegovy and Zepbound for children ages 8 to 11 rose 310-fold from 0.03% in 2019 to 9.3% in 2026. Researchers said 20,282 children in that age group were prescribed the drugs in 7.5 years — still a small fraction of the more than 3.5 million children studied, but a fast-accelerating one.

    The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has not approved GLP-1 drugs for children under 12, but doctors prescribe them off-label for extreme cases.

    We ‘need more long-term data in children,’ physician says

    Babak J. Orandi, M.D., Ph.D., the study’s lead investigator and an obesity medicine specialist at NYU Grossman School of Medicine, said the research offers the first national look at how GLP-1 drugs are being used in young children amid the broader obesity epidemic.

    Roughly 20% of U.S. children are obese, he said, and that underlying trend is what worries him most. “My biggest concern is upstream of any medication: Nearly 1 in 5 children this age has obesity, and that’s what’s really driving this,” Orandi told The Defender.

    He added: “Medication can help an individual child, but it doesn’t address why so many children are developing severe obesity in the first place. I’d like to see real investment in the food environment kids grow up in, with less reliance on ultra-processed food, better food access and affordability, less screen time and more opportunity for physical activity, and support for families trying to build healthier routines at home.”

    “Treating more children with medication while leaving that environment unchanged just means we’ll keep producing more children who need treatment.”

    Orandi said the drugs can be effective for treating obesity and related health problems, and that forgoing treatment carries its own long-term risks, including a higher chance of developing chronic disease later in life…..”

    https://childrenshealthdefense.org/defender/glp-1-weight-loss-drug-prescriptions-young-kids-skyrocketing-study-finds/

    Liked by 1 person

  8. Bubby

    September 18, 2026 4:45 pm

    TERRIFYING: “If America got into a war with someone like Iraq, would you fight for America or Iraq?”

    MUSLIM IN DEARBORN, MI: “We would NOT defend America. In our Islamic book, we can’t fight with people against our religion.”

    Send them out, NOW! pic.twitter.com/2P63R04xtt

    — War Correspondent (@warDaniel47) September 18, 2026

    Muslins are a Trojan Horse & will not assimilate & become Americans! They will always support jihad & jihad is what they want. Deport all of them!

    Liked by 1 person

  9. https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/8aef2e67bf08b4a42fa89bf5bcdd4b8a54dab9da2af6563e13769c7af31bbc15?s=64&d=identicon&r=g

    kalbokalbs(@kalbokalbs)

    Online

    Wolf

    September 18, 2026 17:31

    EU, UK, Canucks heads sploding about now.

    MAJOR BREAKING: President Trump has formally obtained FULL SECURITY CONTROL over Greenland after striking an infinity deal with Denmark — and the U.S. will IMMEDIATELY begin developing military in the region

    No cost to America.

    HE DID IT!

    “From now on, no U.S.… pic.twitter.com/Mya8bkHaUR

    — Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) September 18, 2026

    MAJOR BREAKING: President Trump has formally obtained FULL SECURITY CONTROL over Greenland after striking an infinity deal with Denmark — and the U.S. will IMMEDIATELY begin developing military in the region

    No cost to America.

    HE DID IT!

    “From now on, no U.S. adversary can EVER have a base in Greenland, have a military presence in Greenland, or make sensitive investments in Greenland, without our express written approval.”

    “A DREAM COME TRUE”

    China and Russia hate this.

    “Gives the United States permanent control over security, and all other needs, in Greenland, completely addressing ALL of our many U.S. concerns.”

    “There will be NO COST to the United States!”

    “At my direction, we worked with representatives of Denmark and Greenland to guarantee that the United States will FOREVER have the complete ability to do what is necessary in Greenland in order to secure and defend the security of Greenland, and the United States of America.”

    Liked by 1 person

    2. His full statement: “BREAKING NEWS: I am pleased to announce that the United States of America has entered into an Agreement with The Kingdom of Denmark, and Greenland, that gives the United States permanent control over security, and all other needs, in Greenland, completely addressing ALL of our many U.S. concerns.

      There will be NO COST to the United States! At my direction, we worked with representatives of Denmark and Greenland to guarantee that the United States will FOREVER have the complete ability to do what is necessary in Greenland in order to secure and defend the security of Greenland, and the United States of America.

      Additionally, from now on, no U.S. adversary can EVER have a base in Greenland, have a military presence in Greenland, or make sensitive investments in Greenland, without our express written approval.

      For over 100 years, Presidents have known the strategic importance of Greenland, but NONE of them were able to do anything about it. I am proud to be the President that permanently and conclusively addressed this very important situation. This is an “Infinite Life” Agreement, there is no end!

      We are very honored and proud of what has just taken place, and everything agreed to today will be cherished by the American People. We will immediately begin the process of developing a large Military presence in the appropriate part of Greenland, of which there are many. We will work with the people of Greenland in its development and construction. This solution is a great one for the United States of America, Denmark, Greenland, and all of our Allies.

      We look forward to working with the wonderful people of Denmark and Greenland toward a magnificent future with respect to this large, and highly strategic, parcel of land. We will be very protective of it! This is a dream come true for the United States of America, one that is very important, historic, and special. Thank you for your attention to this matter!” President DONALD J. TRUMP

      https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/117294126158197822

      Liked by 1 person

  10. I found out from Gage today that my GD Ashley also has a son – so that makes 3 greats once their baby girl arrives in mid-January.

    Liked by 1 person

  11. “Trump Secures Greenland!”

    Clandestine, Sep 18, 2026

    https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!id9V!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F28ab0a7d-9b21-474c-b7e4-e00325d87484_1320x1000.jpeg

    “MASSIVE news 👀

    POTUS just secured Greenland. Now the US MIL own that area, and our future adversaries will not be able to set up any proxy action on or around Greenland.

    The Monroe Doctrine is in effect, and Trump was not kidding. The US MIL own the Western Hemisphere now. This deal for Greenland fits into my theory that we will be consolidating our military presence to the Western Hemisphere, and eventually vacating Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Middle East.

    Trump has essentially redrawn the world map and consolidated spheres of influence. Russia and China will stay out of our yard, and we will stay out of theirs. Trump is changing the entire global system and rules of engagement. It’s happening.”

    Liked by 1 person

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