Washington, DC (1792- ) is a large city that is the seat of the American government. It is where the president lives in the White House to lead the country, where Congress meets in the Capitol building to make laws and where nine judges dressed in black meet in the Supreme Court to pass final judgement. Across the river the top generals meet in the Pentagon, the building with five sides.
Washington is named after the first president, George Washington. He never lived there, but at his house down the river nearby.
The city is famous for its cherry trees, just like the cherry tree that George Washington himself cut down as a boy.
There is also a state called Washington, in the north-west at the other end of the country. Most people will say “Washington, DC” when they mean the city not the state. The city itself is not in any state but in what is called the District of Columbia – or DC for short.
Washington, DC is in the east. It is the last in a chain of cities near the sea stretching from Boston in the north, through New York in the middle down to Washington in the south.
Americans like to put their capital cities in the middle of the land they rule and not, as in Europe, in the most important city. So, even though Washington is now “back East”, when it was built nearly everyone lived in the East. So, given where people lived then, Washington was in the middle of the country, standing between the north and south.
Washington did not spring up naturally like most cities from trade or industry. It was created by an act of Congress. Pierre Charles L’Enfant, a Frenchman who fought for America against Britain, designed the city to one day equal the great cities of Europe.
The White House, the president’s house, was built first. It was started three hundred years to the day after Columbus discovered America.
Going round the city is a great circle road known as the Beltway. On the maps it is called I-495. Those who live “inside the Beltway” are said to be out of touch with what lies beyond the road – the rest of the country.
Near the river stands the Washington Monument, a tall, thin white building, the tallest building made of bricks in the world. To the north is the White House, to the east is the Capitol, to the south is the Jefferson memorial and to the west the Lincoln Memorial, the building that is on the back of the penny. Between the Washington monument and the Capitol building are museums, including the largest in the country if not the world: the Smithsonian.
Most of the important buildings are done in the style of ancient Rome.
President Kennedy said that Washington has Northern charm and Southern efficiency, meaning it has the worst of both.
President Truman said that if you want a friend in Washington, get a dog.
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