Building Citizens

Demonstrating a vision both aesthetic and political, Thomas Jefferson envisioned the US Capitol as “the first temple dedicated to the sovereignty of the people; embellishing with Athenian taste the course of a nation looking far beyond the range of Athenian destinies.” From the beginning, America’s leaders understood that civic education happens in stone and space as much as in schools. The buildings and monuments around us shape how we imagine our country and our place within it. For better or worse, civic architecture teaches citizens what kind of nation they inhabit and what kind of citizens they are meant to be. American political architecture, especially in its classical tradition, reflects the ideals of a self-governing people and draws all who encounter it into a shared communal inheritance.