American Symbols In The 19th Century

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Every nation has symbols that link citizens to their respective country, essential for creating a unified body and a sense of unique tradition. When searching Google in images for “American symbols” in images, government buildings in Washington, the Liberty Bell, the Bald Eagle, George Washington and of course the American Flag all pop up. These symbols have shaped American identify. Children at an early age learn about Betsy Ross and the flag and learn about patriotism by coloring Uncle Sam’s hat for national holidays. More than years after the ending of the American Revolution, the United States was gain at war with Britain. In 1814, the British invaded the Nation’s capital, burning down iconic American buildings, most infamously the White House and destroying all seized documents. After capturing the city, the enemy flew the Union Jack on Capitol Hill claiming victory over the city which was charred and destroyed. The weight of this symbolic event is overwhelming - a foreign invasion, causing such destruction such a short time after …show more content…

During a time when travel was difficult and time consuming, a proponent of relocating was to move to a more accessible location via a water way. Many congressmen felt that the capital should be somewhere “with greater security and less inconvenience”. A majority of both houses wanted to move the seat of government to Pennsylvania, either Philadelphia, a centrally located gateway to the West, or Lancaster.

In 1804, Senator Robert White made the first motion to relocate the capital to Baltimore, MD. However, John Quincy Adams questioned the constitutionality of a relocation. Adams claimed that the Constitution did not give Congress the power to “relocate the seat of government, only to govern it” and that to do so would be in direct violation of the formal clauses of the Compromise of 1790 - formally titled as “The Residence