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Washington, D.C., was created for just one reason—to be the seat of the United States government. Government business goes on every day in buildings throughout the city.
The founders of the United States wanted to make sure that no one leader ever had too much power. So they created a government with three branches. They gave each one checks (or limits) on the power of the others. The legislative branch—the two houses of Congress—meets at the Capitol. It makes the laws that govern the country. The executive branch—headed by the president, who lives in the White House—enforces national laws. The judicial branch—the Supreme Court—makes sure these national laws and the president’s actions are legal. The Court compares them to the Constitution, which is the supreme law of the land.
Washington started out small. It was a small government for a small nation. But as the nation grew, so did the government. Here are just a few places in Washington, D.C., where government happens every day.
▲ The Supreme Court—nine judges appointed for life by the president—heads the judicial branch of the government. For 147 years, the court heard cases in boardinghouses, bars, and seven different rooms in the Capitol. Finally, in 1935, the Supreme Court got a home of its own.
▲ The Pentagon is located outside of Washington near Arlington, Virginia. It’s the headquarters of the Defense Department, which is in charge of national security. The Pentagon is named for its five sides. It’s also five stories tall and built around a five-acre courtyard. It’s one of the largest office buildings in the world. More than 23,000 people work there.
◀ At the Capitol, 100 senators—two from each state—and 435 members of the House of Representatives meet and pass the laws that govern the country. More than 18,000 people work for Congress. The youngest are pages. These are women and men ages 16 to 18. They run errands, answer phones, and deliver messages. Pages go to a special school very early in the morning so it doesn’t interfere with their duties.
▲ Fifteen departments help the president perform the duties of the executive branch. The oldest, the State Department, has overseen relations with other countries since 1789. The newest, the Department of Homeland Security, was created in 2002. The heads of these departments and others form the president’s Cabinet. This group of advisors meets at the White House (above). They hardly ever vote on matters, because the president has the final say. President Lincoln knew that. One day, he took a vote at a Cabinet meeting. After all of his Cabinet members had voted against a measure that he supported, Lincoln said, “Seven nays, one aye. The aye has it.”
The Library of Congress began with 3,000 books in 1800. When the British burned the Capitol during the War of 1812, the whole collection was lost. So Congress bought Thomas Jefferson’s personal library of 6,487 books. Some of them are still on the library’s 838 miles of bookshelves. The 147 million other items in the library include the first draft of the Declaration of Independence and one of the last three copies of the Gutenberg Bible (printed in 1455). The library also has the largest collection of comic books in the world, and an exhibit of the first Barbie and Ken dolls. ▶
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◀ Over the years, the U.S. government has created billions of official documents. Many are stored at the National Archives Building. They include the original Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights. These are sealed in bronze-and-glass cases filled with helium gas to prevent rot. Beneath them is a burglarproof, fireproof, and shockproof vault. The documents can be dropped into the vault at a moment’s notice.
◀ One of government’s many jobs is to keep money in circulation. The Bureau of Engraving and Printing has locations in Washington, D.C., and Fort Worth, Texas. They print 26 million bills a day. These are worth about $907 million. Bills of different values come off the presses in large sheets. They’re checked for errors before being cut.
