LYCOS RETRIEVER 
Washington Monument: Memorial
built 440 days ago
[Background note: Construction of the Washington Monument began in 1848. Work on the monument ceased in 1854 after the anti-foreign Know-Nothing party seized the monument to protest the contribution of a memorial stone by Pope Pius IX. The Civil War prevented further construction on the monument. Construction did not resume again until 1879. The Monument was finally dedicated in 1885. The interim decades of incompletion were a source of complaint for Mark Twain as well as many others.]
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Ten days after Washington's death, a Congressional committee recommended a different type of monument. John Marshall, a Representative from Virginia (who later became Chief Justice of the Supreme Court) proposed that a tomb be erected within the Capitol. But a lack of funds, disagreement over what type of memorial would best honor the country's first president, and the Washington family's reluctance to move his body prevented progress on any project. [1]
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The wall is composed of two wings-one of which points toward the Lincoln Memorial while the other stretches toward the Washington Monument. The wings gradually grow in height and eventually converge to form a "V." The wall blends into its natural surroundings to symbolize the healing process it was to represent. As Lin explained, "Take a knife and cut open the earth and with time the grass would heal it."
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