It has been much more than 200 many years since the US Capitol was invaded

A majestic making at the heart of the country, the US Capitol was invaded by troops of an enemy place far more than 200 decades in the past. In the ensuing many years, it has been the scene of other isolated incidents of violence.

President George Washington laid the cornerstone of the setting up in 1793, and portions of the making ended up 1st occupied in 1800.

Throughout the War of 1812, the British invaded Washington, D.C., and set hearth to the building, which was however remaining accomplished, and only a sudden rainstorm prevented its total destruction, in accordance to an formal historical past of the building.

Most of the populace experienced fled, leaving the town susceptible as the British approached, contemporary from a victory in a fight at Bladensburg, Maryland.

In 1835, President Andrew Jackson was leaving a funeral in the Capitol when a person built the initial assassination endeavor on a sitting down president. The person fired a pistol, but no just one was strike.

In 1954, 4 Puerto Rican nationalists entered the visitor’s gallery previously mentioned the Dwelling chamber and opened fire onto the Property of Associates chamber flooring. Five Congressmen ended up wounded. All recovered and returned to service. The 4 nationalists have been captured and convicted, acquiring sentences ranging from 16 to 75 yrs in federal jail. Additional than two a long time later, President Jimmy Carter granted them clemency, according to a Household site.

Bombs had been planted in the constructing around the many years, in 1915, 1971, and 1983, but no a single was wounded in the explosions.

In far more current a long time, in 1998, two Capitol Police officers were being killed when a gunman entered the Capitol and opened fireplace.

In 2016, Capitol Law enforcement shot a person soon after he pulled out a spring-loaded BB gun and pointed it at an officer at the Capitol Visitor Center.

Other incidents have taken put in the vicinity of the constructing. Police fatally shot a lady in 2013 who experienced tried out to drive by way of a White Home checkpoint and was then chased to the Capitol.

Martin Finucane can be achieved at [email protected].