>> this is american history tv on c-span3, were each weekend, we feature 48 hours of programs exploring our nation's past. >> ashley: we are at the steps of the indiana state house in indianapolis, where c-span is learning about the state's history. this is the fifth building to house indiana state 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. vincennes, indiana on the wabash river, it was the capital of the indiana territory, and then we moved the territorial capital to a city called cordon, and it -- on the ohio river and it became the capital when indiana gained 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. they had a contest, actually, 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 architect called edwin may won the contest. this building is primarily made

-- was under construction for 10 years, 1878 through 1888. 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 industry in indiana. the building is built to last a long time. it has been here 131 years and i suspect it will be here another 131 years and longer. the statehouse opened in 1888, it was built at a cost of less than $2 million. the legislature had authorized $2 million for the statehouse, and the governor told the architect, mr. may, if you go over $2 million, you pay for the rest of the building. so the architect inscribed in marble over here the cost of the building, $1.9 million.

the building is quite a bargain at that price, even in $1888. the next major change was in 1988, when the building was 100 years old. they did some restoration, and we spent $11 million doing that. the front of the building is actually the south side, and it was built to face the old 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. on the east side of the building, 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 stained glass, and the dome is 105 feet above our heads. above the glass is the dome itself, another 130 feet. 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, because they are obviously not alphabetical. they are seated hereby 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. the window surrounding the chamber leads to the offices of the senators, they primarily have their offices surrounding this room. we call it the horseshoe setup. we can see where the president of the senate stands, lieutenant governor suzanne crouch. she presides over the sessions and she 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 bulbs, one for each member. above us is the gallery, the balcony for the public. the public is invited to sit in the gallery of the house and senate. there is a mural in back of us there 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. we see ceres, the goddess of agriculture, and the big bucket of golden yellow stuff pouring out represents the steel industry.

yes, 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. if we move down below the mural a little ways, we see the great seal of indiana. that goes way back before statehood. there is a bison jumping over a log on our seal. we did have forest 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 a lot of 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 here in the house and senate. the seal is also on the doorknobs in the hallway. we are now in the office of the 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 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 governor's conference table. 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 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 courts still in regular use.

many states have a newer judicial building. this is the 1888 supreme court. most of the furniture has been here since opening day in 1888. all of that cabinetry, there. this room is still well used the indiana supreme court. a common question is where is the jury box. this is not a trial court room, there is no jury box, there is no witness stand. basically what we have our oral arguments. we have attorneys arguing that one of 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 watch, and it is streamed online at indiana.gov. the building still houses all three branches of government, the government offices here, all the executives are here, the legislative branch is here and

the judicial branch and the building stands for the democracy that we have here in the solid pillars, the solid marble, limestone represents the permanence of our government and we are proud of what we have here. >> our cities tour staff recently traveled to learn about its rich history. to watch more video of stumps on our -- stopped on our tour, visit c-span.org/citiestour. are watching american history tv all weekend every weekend on c-span3. the house will be in order. >> for 40 years, c-span has been providing america unfiltered coverage of congress, the white house, the supreme court, and public policy events from

washington, d.c. and around the country so you can make up your own mind. in 1979, c-span is brought to you by your local cable or satellite provider. c-span, pure unfiltered view of government. >> american history tv is on c-span3 every weekend, featuring museum tors, archival films, and programs on the presidency. a civil war, and more. there is a clip from a recent program. >> to begin with, we should go back to colonial times and i think a lot of americans assume that the holiday we celebrate today was really brought to us by our program forefathers. case.s definitely not the in fact, our pilgrim forefathers and the puritans did not particularly care for the holiday at all. in fact, they shunned it.

-- asiewed it at the being associated with things like the church of england which they had to flee or catholicism which they definitely didn't like. in new england, the holiday was not celebrated at all. for quite a period of time in places like boston, eight was illegal to celebrate the holiday. if you were caught doing so, you would be severely fined. other colonies had a far different approach to the holiday. in places like jamestown, they butcelebrate christmas, they don't celebrate it or didn't celebrate it in the way we do today, the referential way. it was more of a partying type of holiday. captain john smith of the jamestown colony recorded that he had lots of eggnog that

day and was full of spirits but not necessarily religious spirit. from our colonial times, the holiday is perceived in different ways by americans. can watch this and other american history programs on our website, where all our video is archived. that is c-span.org/history. in the third of a three-part program, we look to the night the 1998-1999 impeachment of president bill clinton with alexis simendinger. she covered the impeachment with "national journal" and now is with "the hill" newspaper. we then show portions of the senate trial, which took place over five weeks in january and february of 1999. president clinton was tried on two articles of impeachment and acquitted on both. a two thirds vote of guilty was necessary to convict. >>