H.R. 74. REPORTED BY A SELECT COMMITTEE....A BILL TO CARRY INTO EFFECT CERTAIN RESOLUTIONS OF CONGRESS, RELATIVE TO GENERAL GEORGE WASHINGTON [caption title]

Washington, D.C., January 25, 1826.. [1]p., printed on a folio sheet, 12 1/2 x 8 1/2 inches. Old folds, minor creasing and soiling, mild edge wear. Very good. Untrimmed. A rare slip-bill printing of a Congressional appropriations bill designed to provide funding for the construction of a monument to George Washington in the nation's capital. This House Bill sought to devote an indeterminate amount of funds to the project in order "to carry into effect a resolution of Congress, passed twenty-fourth December, seventeen hundred and ninety-nine, directing a marble monument to be erected in the Capitol, in honor of the memory of General George Washington." Such "slip bill" printings are quite scarce, as they were produced in small numbers for the use of lawmakers during the legislative process. They are uncommon survivals.

As is evident from the text of this bill, efforts to memorialize George Washington in the nation's capital began while he was still alive. In fact, as early as 1783, the Confederation Congress authorized the construction of an equestrian statue of Washington in whichever city would be chosen as the national capital. In late 1799 then- Congressman John Marshall (appropriately) proposed that a tomb be built for the just- deceased Founder in the United States Capitol building. When the family expressed their desire to keep Washington's body at Mount Vernon, the focus became the construction of a suitable monument. The present proposed Congressional Act suggests only "a marble monument ...in the Capitol, in honor of the memory of General George Washington." A bronze statue of George Washington by Houdon is indeed present in the Rotunda of the U.S. Capitol, but it is not the result of the present legislation; it is a gift of the state of Virginia, donated in 1934.

What became the current Washington Monument was first proposed in the 1830s, and construction on the National Mall eventually began in 1848, but halted from 1854 to 1877 due to a lack of funds and the outbreak of the Civil War. Delays and setbacks continued into the 1880s, when the facade was finally finished in 1884. Internal work continued for another four years, and the Washington Monument was finally dedicated and opened on October 9, 1888. For five years after its facade was completed, the Washington Monument was the tallest structure in the world, until it was taken over by the Eiffel Tower in 1889.