if you want to one word to describe maine and its people. you can see fugalty throughout the building. that's an excellent portrait or picture of the people of maine. and the entire state. we are standing in the historic old senate chamber in the original 18th centerry poergts of maryland state house where between 189. it's also a space which between november of 1783 and august of 1784 was the home of congress. then operating under the articles of confederatation. then three of the most important events in the history of the united states took place here in in between 1783 and you go you 1784. amtdsingly we are standing in the third state house built on

this particular site. the original statehouse built in the 1690s when the capital moved from st. mary to a. . that building remained the primary statehouse until the 17 the sixth when in 1769 legislation was passed to build this state house, the third on the present site. construction began in 1772 and completed in 1779. the current statehouse twels the two previous statehouses stand on highest point in the city. which would have afforded a commanding view of the harbor and theed surrounding hand escape in the 17th and 18th centuries this would have been the tallest building in town. it is still the tallette. the statehouse was built in the mid-of a war which complicate the let efforts to build and conduct government. the first general of the of the sem bring was 1779.

every making this it the the oldest statehouse in continued use. we're standing in the northeast corner of the bill i believeding. this is a space while in primary use by the maryland senate it's national significance and what thaks in maryland's most important room are for the events that took place in the period between insofar 1783 and august of 1784 the. the primary one gaining most national attention is what occurs on december 23rd, 783 when george washington returns his military commission no congress. washington's resignation which took place in in room was an event really without precedent in the history of the world. there was some question as to whether washington, the viktious general would become king or what he would do to sort of move the new nation in a new direction. and 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 on january 14th, 1784 the treaty of par sis ratified here. the event formally ending the american revolution and makes this the first peace time capital of the united states. in may much 1784 thompson jefrds is a ain'ted minister i plen potentary. we are on the verge of restoring this room the old senate chamber back to the original 18th century appearance. a project under way since 2006 when we began chasing a moisture infiltration issue in the -- in the rear corner of the room. and what was discovered that was there there was a tremendous amount of evidence from let earlier dismantling of the room. the earlier dismantling turned it from an 18th century space

into a high style victor yan space. without evidence of how it looked before. where we are now is where we are about to begin the physical restoration of the state. the past years the state of maryland has been working to do almost a csi for historic building looking at all evidence of original materials remaining from the room from nailing blocks to ghostings, evidence of door trims and mobldings and original paints. the only space surviving the 1876 restoration, the president's niche to figure out how it looked which compliment with archival evidence. when the restoration is complete visitors will be able to walk into a space truly evocative how this room wpd appeared when it congress met here in 1783 and 1784. it will look as close as it can

how it appeared when washington resigned his commission. right now we are still in the original portion of the maryland statehouse, the part built in the 18th century standing in the old house of delegates chamber. used from 1779 until they moved no the current chamber in 190537 it's set up today to reflect how the room appeared following the renovations occurring throughout the statehouse between 1876 and 1877. the 19th century was a tumultuous time in maryland. the citizens were struggle for rights and equality and whether the state was going to you know the union or confederacy. it's where thomas kennedy worked to enact a lou to allow juice the right to hold public office. and here maryland debated

savory. and it was ail o abolished here during the debates. marylanders again in 1976 debated the passage of a new constitution passed in 187 o 67 passed as the foundation for our current state constitution. the statehouse dome is one of the most iconic and recognizable symbols of the statehouse. but it's not the first dome to cover this building. when the build something completed in 1779 it's topped by a small underz sized cupola. it was hit by a hurricane in the 1770s. . they say it's being built contrary to the laws of modern architecture. two years after congress was in office. construction begins on a new dome. they have to dismantle the first cupola.

it takes them 12 years to complete it. it's completed about 1797. it's the largest all wooden dome in the united states. and entirely without structurals nails. it's held by mortis and tennen joints. it's a architecturals masterpiece. it's such a recognizable symbol. it's a spectacular thing. it is topped by a gilded acorn which is the current acorn is the replacement -- it's a reproduction of the original 18th century acorn. topped by a lightning rod designed to pink minimum franklin's specifications. in the 19th cent during the war of 1812 the dome was used as a lookout. it affords a commanding view of the chesapeake bay. we have documentation of the william barny going up to the statehouse dome and using his

excellent glass to observe the troop movements back and forth up the bay in september of 1814. we have now ventured out of the 18th century portion of the statehouse into the new annex, the part built between 1902 and 1905 by modern architects. it certainly had add add grand entrance. you see the grand set of steps which lead to a pair of massive bronze doors. the state seal and state symbols. we are now standing on the house of delegates chambers one of the spaces added in the new annex. it's a side that houses both legislative chambers. what they ended up with a grand space with 20-foot ceilings in every space including bathrooms in this building. it was truly remarkable. the addition of five tiffany sky

lights to billed this chamber. the house of dill gits has the largest sky lights. the new chambers afforded larger chambers for the delegates. 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 in the senate chamber are two mockettes, small size versions of charles carol of carrollton. the full size are in the u.s. capital. those have been here since the statues have been here since 1907. john hanson is best known for being the first president of congress operating under the articles of the confederatation. there are some that consider hanson to be the first president

of the united states. one of marylandary four signers of the declaration of independence was the only roman catholic signer of the declaration. the grounds you see today around the statehouse has encircled it since the 17th century .as a result ever you have an interesting combination of building and monuments and memorials. directly outside is the statue of roger brook tawny. it wassed installed? 1872. designed a memorial to be chief justice roger brooke tawny before he was supreme court justice was attorney general of maryland. placement of the monument directly outside the original front entrance of the statehouse over time has become an increasingly dwief symbol because of the dread scott decision. the placement of the the

marshall statute was plalsed to represent two pieces of important history. it allows us to talk about who tawny was and what the significance of the dread scott edition was that meant for people inslafrd in maryland and throughout the united states. the two bronze figures in the memorial are designed to be two children representing the school children affected by the brown versus board of ed decision. the two statues allow to us talk about the changes and that the citizens in the maryland and around the united states needed to address in the 19th and 20th century. the martin luther king jr. memorial plaque installed a few years ago is a way of paying tribute to another important 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 in and king's address on the grounds of the lincoln memorial king gave a version of that speech at morgan state university in baltimore. and it was essentially a first graft of the i have a dream speech. and the king memorial on the grounds is a way for us to pay tribute to that particular speech which became the foundation for the internationally recognized i have a dream speech. the maryland statehouse is truly representest entire history of maryland from the founding of the first settlement in st. mary city in 1865 through the current poj of legislation during the 2013 legislative session. it's pennsylvania remarkable structure. and we are all very could go nizant that we are the oldest state