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The Political System Of The United States

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Thomas Jefferson, an American Founding Father once wrote that “design activity and political thought are indivisible,” stating that architecture acts as a vital instrument in conveying political image. In this case, the prominent symbols of government in any polity would be the national parliamentary buildings as they demonstrate faith in the cultural identity of a nation internally as well as foreign country. Likewise, United States of America is known as a land of democracy and the Congress House of U.S., Capitol building in Washington D.C supposedly reflects the democratic political system. The U.S. Capitol is the legislative branch of U.S. federal government that sit atop the Capitol Hill in Washington D.C. After going through many construction phases which was started in 1793, the original building was finally completed in the year 1800. Subsequently, it was expanded and the new massive dome was added in 1863. (Schwengel 1965, 52-53)
Pierre Charles L’Enfant, an architect who are assigned to design the layout of streets in Washington D.C while the architects of Capitol building are Benjamin H. Latrobe, Thomas U. Walter and more. L’Enfant designed the streets in the form of cardinally oriented grid pattern that superimposed on diagonal plan, forming focal points where the Capitol building is placed on one of them. His intention of creating these focal points is to symbolise the authority of the buildings on the focal points with their power radiating outward in all
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