tv Indiana State Capitol CSPAN December 21, 2019 7:49pm-8:01pm EST
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with a look at the 1969 cuyahoga river fire. and friday, the first africans in virginia 400 anniversary. watch american history tv all next week and every weekend on c-span3. we are at the steps of the indiana state house in indianapolis, or c-span is learning about the state's history. this is the fifth building to house indiana's government. next, we take you inside for a tour. indianapolis became the capital in 1825. we had a couple of other cities in indiana that served as capitals. on the wabash river, it was the capital of the indiana territory, and then we moved the territorial capital to a city , and it became the capital when indiana gained
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statehood in 1860. after a few years, it became obvious we needed a new capital city in the middle, so we built one, we built the city of indianapolis here on the white river, and we have had two statehouses here. actually, contest, when they were building this particular building. they were replacing a building that had not been well built, and they had torn that building down. they had a number of architects submit the drawings. this particular blueprint by an wpnitect called edwin may the -- won the contest. this building is primarily made of indiana limestone, and indiana limestone is used around the country. the empire state building is indiana limestone. the pentagon, the biltmore mansion, yankee stadium are made of indiana limestone. we are proud of that, it's a big
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industry in indiana. the building is built to last a long time, it has been here 130 one years and i suspect it will be here another 131 years and longer. the statehouse opened in 1888, built at a cost of less than $2 billion. the legislature had authorized $2 billion for the statehouse, and the governor told the gohitect, mr. may, if you over $2 million, you pay for the rest of the building. inthe architect inscribed marble over here the cost of the building, $1.9 million. the building is quite a bargain at that price, even in $1888. in next major change was 1988, when the building was 100 years old. , anddid some restoration we spent $11 million doing that. the front of the building is actually the south side, and it was built to face the old
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national road. that was a huge thing in the early days, we now call it washington street or u.s. 40. it would be facing the south side of the building, there was a gold eagle at the top of the building. on the capitol grounds, we have a number of statues. we have a statue of oliver p morton, one of our most significant governors, he was during the tumultuous times of the civil war. we have another governor, thomas hendricks, who later was vice president of the united states. when you walk into a building like this, your eyes go up to the heights, and you feel as though you are a small part of something larger. you will see the beautiful isined glass, and the dome 105 feet above our heads. above the glass is the dome itself, another 130 feet.
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the building is 235 feet in height. this is the indiana senate chamber. there are 50 indiana senators. they sit in this room and serve four-year terms, no term limits. a common question we get, what is the seating chart? they are obviously not alphabetical. they are seated by party, republicans on one side and democrats on the other. this chamber has stars in the carpet. if you took the time to count the stars, you would find 19. the reason for that is indiana is the 19th state to join the union. this leads to the offices of the senators, they primarily have their offices surrounding this room call -- this room, we call it the horseshoe set up. we can see where the president
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of the senate stands, lieutenant governor suzanne crouch. she presides over the sessions and has the tie-breaking vote. 26 yes votes will pass a bill here. the senators and legislators across the way in the house are not here year-round. like most states, we have a part-time legislature. our legislators are here just the first few months of the year. they have gone home for the year now and they will be back in january. now we are in the indiana house of representatives, which has 100 seats and the members serve two-year terms with no term limits. this is a larger chamber, of course, and we have a huge chandelier above us, the largest chandelier in the statehouse. if you took time to count the bulbs,you would find 100 one for each member. above us is the gallery, the balcony for the public.
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the public is invited to sit in the gallery of the house and senate. there is a mural in back of us on the wall, and that is called the spirit of indiana. a mural painted back in 1963 by an indiana artist, eugene savage. we will start in the middle, we see a young lady there in a golden dress, that is miss indiana stepping into statehood. on the right side of the mural, the artist is depicting the business and industry of indiana. , the goddess of agriculture, and the big bucket of golden yellow stuff pouring out represents the steel industry. indiana produces more steel than any state in america. as we move to the left side, we see how we spend our money, primarily music, art, and education. as we move below, we see the great seal of indiana.
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that goes way back before statehood. there is a bison jumping over a log on our seal. we did have bison in indiana. there is a man chopping down a sycamore tree, that is what you did when he moved to indiana, you had to clear forest. great seal is on all the official documents and it is all over the statehouse, on the rugs, on the backs of the chairs in the house and senate. the seal is also on the doorknobs in the hallway. office of thethe indiana governor. this has been the governor's office since the building opened in 1888. indiana has had a total of 51 governors, and the last 30 or so governors have used this space. we will stroll around here and see some of these portraits. the portrait on the left is william henry harrison. he is the governor of the
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indiana territory. he became the ninth president of the united states. when he ran for president, the campaign slogan was tippecanoe and tyler too. on my right is jonathan jennings, the first governor after indiana gained statehood in 1816. over the fireplace is oliver p morton, considered one of the most significant governors in indiana history. he was the governor of indiana during the civil war. we have portraits of other important people from indiana. on the corner here is a portrait that governor holcomb says will always stay, and that is madam cj walker. an african-american businesswoman from indiana, she made a million dollars or so, we think she is the first woman to be a millionaire with her cosmetics business. the table over here gets a lot of attention. this is the governors conference table.
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this table is 16 feet long, six feet wide, weighs 950 pounds. it is a beautiful work of art, solid wood. the state of indiana is embossed in the middle of the table. indiana has 92 counties in each county has a different color would. -- color wood. at the far end is the state flag and this in is the seal. this was made by inmates at the indiana state prison. we are in the indiana supreme court. this is one of the oldest state supreme court's still in regular use. many states have a newer additional building. -- newer judicial building. this is the 1888 court and most of the furniture has been here since 1888. this room is still well used the indiana supreme court. a common question is where is the jury box.
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this is not a trial court room, there is no jury box, there is no witness stand, basically what we have our oral arguments. one ofys arguing that the indiana courts made a mistake and they are asking the justices to rectify the mistake. they are filing an appeal with the court. the public is invited to sit here in these chairs and water, and it is streamed online at indiana.gov. the governor's office is here, all of the executives are here, the legislative branches
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staff cities tour traveled to indianapolis to learn about its rich history. to watch video of indianapolis and other stops, visit c-span.org/citiestour. you are watching american history tv come all weekend, every weekend, on c-span3. >> next on lectures in history, iowa state university professor carmen bain teaches a class on women's work on family farms during the 20th century. she argues societal expectations for what roles were appropriate for men and women did not reflect the realities of shared farm labor.
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