Jefferson Memorial Research Paper

The most fascinating fact I learned today was about the Jefferson Memorial’s location in Washington, D.C. Even though this building’s placement looks very ordinary, there was a lot of controversy surrounding the placement of the memorial, and the historical connection with the other testaments to our founding fathers. Back in the 1900s, there was a commision to create a memorial honoring our 38th President Theodore Roosevelt’s contributions to American History. There was even a contest, and the architect John Russell Pope’s design was chosen for the memorial. However, no federal money was appropriated for the creation of this memorial, so the project was shut down. Then, decades after the failure of this memorial, there was a push by the president and several influential politicians to erect a shrine to honor Jefferson’s mark on American history. Once again, John Russell Pope was commissioned to design a …show more content…
I was shocked by the incredible amount of casualties during this 3-day battle, and I was appalled at how humanity could be so violent. While on the guided tour, I was devastated by how many young men were killed in such a short period. Just in the first day of fighting, thousands were killed, but in the second day, the numbers were incomprehensible. Nearly 22,000 people had died in just 4 hours of fighting on the second day of the battle, amounting to 51,000 soldiers put out of action after the three days of fierce conflict. Additionally, there were many places that we visited where I was horrified by the brutality of the battle. Our guide described to us about wheat fields that were soaked with blood, orchards perforated with bullets, and creeks turned red by the blood of wounded soldiers. The devastation this battle, and in a larger sense, the war caused to the cities and the entire country was shown to me, and had a lasting impact on my perception of the war and the entire