this is a portrait of governor mckernen. married to one of the two united states senators. olympia snow. whose picture can be seen on the which governor is leaning. there's a photograph of he, his wife, and his son from a previous marriage. who tragically died when he was in college. from a previously undetected heart condition. as we tour through the building, we see certainly in comparison to other buildings of this type throughout the country other state houses other capitol buildings, that our building is somewhat plain, somewhat simple. there's no opulence at the main state house. there's nothing at the main state house that will take a persons breath away. it's very simple nature speaks volumes for the puritan ethic. it was prevalent in maine. if you want to use one word out of the english language to describe mae and its people.

the perfect word would be frugal. so you can see frugality. that's an excellent picture of the people of maine. and the entire state. >> we are standing in the historical chamber in the original 18th century portion of the the maryland state house. and it's also a space which between november of 1783 and august of 1784 was the hem of congress. then operating under the article of confederation. three of the most important events in the history of the united states took place in this room. in that nine month period between november 1973 and august of 1784. amazingly we're standing in the third state house on this particular site. the origin nam state house was built in 1690s when the capitol

moved. that first state house was hit by lightning in 1704. burned to the fwround and was replaced by state house finished in 1707. that building remained the primary state house until the 1760s. when 1769 legislation passed to build this house. on the present site. construction began in 1772 and completed in 1779. the current state house stands on the high etc. point in annapolis. and the surrounding landscape. this would have been the tallest building in town. it is still the tallest building in town. the state house was built in the middle of the war. which complicated efforts to build the state house and direct the government. the first session of the general assembly was held in november of 1779. every session of the general assembly has been held in this building since then. making this the oldest state

house in continuing legislative use. we're in the north eastern corner of the building. we're deep in the original portion of the state house. this is a space that while he was in primary use by the yands gains most national attention, when george washington stands before the members of congress to return his military commission to congress. washington's resignation which took place in this very room was an event without precedent in the history of the world. there was some question as to whether washington would become king or what he would do to move the new nation in a new direction. so it was really important that what he ultimately decided was that the power of the military belonged in the hands of the civilian government. two weeks after that, the treaty

of paris is ratified in this room. the event which ends the american revolution. it makes annapolis the first peacetime capital of the united states. in may of 1784, thomas jefferson is sent to france to join adams and franklin as the united states first appointed foreign ambassador. we are on the verge of restoring this room back to its original 18th century appearance. it's a project that's been underway since 2006 when we began chasing a moisture infiltration issue in the rear corner of the room. there was a tremendous amount of 18th century evidence that no one realized survived in the dismantling of this room. we're about to begin the physical restoration of this base. evidence of door trims and moldings and original paints and the only space which survived

the restoration, the president's niche to find out how this room looked. when this restoration is complete, visitors will be able to walk into a space that is truly e voktive to how this room appeared. it will look as close as it can to how it appeared on the day when washington resigned his commission. right now, we're still in the original portion of the maryland state house. we're standing in the old maryland house of delegates. it's set up today to reflect how the room appeared following the renovations that occurred throughout the state house. the 19th century was a time in maryland where they were struggling for rights and equality and whether the state was going to join the union or the confederacy. it's a space thomas kennedy worked to pass an act that allowed jews to hold public office. it's a room where maryland debated slavery and where savory was abolish -- slavery was abolished.

the state house dome is one of the most iconic and recognizable symbols of the maryland state house. it's not the first dome to cover this building. when the building is completed

in 1779, it's topped by a small undersized cupola. it was hit by a hurricane. in 1785, less than two years after congress was in annapolis, construction begins on a new dome to the state house. they have to dismantle the original and it takes them about 12 years to complete it. it's the largest all wooden dome in the united states. it is built entirely without structural nails.

it's held together with joints and elaborate iron strapping. it is truly an architectural masterpiece. the dome is recognizable. it is truly spectacular thing. it is topped by a gilded acorn. the acorn is a reproduction of the original 18th century acorn. and it is topped by a lightening rod designed to benjamin franklin's specifications. in the 19dth century, the state house was used as a look-out. we have tremendous documentation one of maryland naval heros going to the state house dome using his glass to observe the troop movements. on their way back and forth up

the bay in september 1814. we have now ventured out of the 18th century portion of the state house and into the -- another part. it added a grand entrance. you see a very grand set of steps, which lead to a pair of massive bronze doors. we are now standing on the floor of the house of delegates chamber, one of the spaces that's added in the new annex. it's a side of the building that houses both legislative chambers. what they ended up with a truly grand space. 20 foot ceilings in every space, including bathrooms in this space. it was truly a remarkable structure. the addition of five tiffany skylights was part of the contract to build this. this room, the house of delegates chamber has the

largest of the skylights. the move into the new chambers afforded much larger quarters for the delegates and senators and added suitable visitor galleries above the chambers that members of the public could use to watch the proceedings without impinging upon the space for the elected officials. across the hall are two small size versions of statues of charles carrollton and john hanson. the full-size version of those are in statue hall here in the u.s. capitol. these have been here since those statues were completed. john hanson is probably best known for being the first president of congress operating under the articles of confederation. there are some that consider hanson to be the first president of the united states. charles carol of carrollton is the only roman catholic signer of the declaration.

the grounds that you see today around the state house have encircled the state house since the 17th century you have an interesting combination of buildings and monuments. directly outside of the original front entrance is a statue. it was designed to be a memorial to chief justice roger -- who before he was supreme court justice was attorney general of maryland. placement of that monument directly outside has over time become an increasingly polarizing symbol of his dread scott decision. the lawyers mall was done intentionally to allow us to interpret two very important pieces of maryland history. rather than remove the tawny

statute, it allows us to talk about what tawny was and the significance of the dred-scott decision. the two bronze figures are designed to be two children who are to represent the school children affected by the brown versus the board of education. those statutes allow us to talk about the changes and the expansion of rights that citizens of maryland and throughout the united states needed to address. the martin luther king jr. memorial plaque is a way of paying tribute to another african-american leader. who in addition to having an important and obviously well documented impact on the entire united states also had some pretty important things that

took place in maryland. shortly before the march on washington, king gave a version of that speech at morgan state university in baltimore. it was essentially a first draft of the "i have a dream speech". the king memorial on the ground is a way for us to pay tribute to that particular speech, which become a foundation for the internationally recognized "i have a dream" speech. the maryland state house is truly representative of maryland's state history. from the founding of its first settlement all the way through the passage of current legislation that took place during the 2013 legislative session. it's a remarkable structure, and we are all very aware that we are the oldest state house. it is something we take pride in. it's something that we continue to work to make sure that both