This is America. Гришенкова Е.Г. - 7 стр.

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7
The return elevator trip to the ground is equally interesting. Two sides of this
elevator have windows. Through the windows you can see some of the almost two
hundred carved memorial stones on the inside walls of the monument.
Every state gave a stone to the monument. Stones also arrived from other
countries. For example, one stone came from the library of Alexandria, Egypt. The
Free Swiss Federation in Switzerland gave a stone that says, “To the Memory of
Washington.” Japan gave a stone made from rock from a volcano.
It took many years to build the Washington Monument. America almost got a
very different memorial to George Washington instead of the present one. Congress
decided to pay for a statue of George Washington on a horse. The lawmakers did this
even before the signing of the treaty that ended the American Revolutionary War.
The statue was to show how General Washington led American troops to victory
against England. However, he said he did not want the nation to spend money for the
statue.
A group called the Washington National Monument Society started raising
money for a memorial in 1833. Officials placed the first stone of the monument on
July 4, 1848.
The Roman Catholic Church leader Pope Pius the Ninth gave a piece of marble
from Rome for the monument. But the stone was stolen a few years later. People
suspected that an American group called the Know Nothings stole the stone. Among
other things, the group opposed the Roman Catholic Church.
After that, the public almost stopped giving money for the structure. Many
people believed it never would be finished. Then Congress started to help pay for the
monument. But, again, the Know Nothings intervened. They raided the Washington
National Monument Society office. They claimed the monument was their property.
Finally, in 1876, Congress voted to pay for building the Washington
Monument. On December 6, 1886, the monument was finished. It opened to the
public four years later.
The Washington Monument is just one of many ways Americans have honored
their first president. The northwest state of Washington is named for him. So are
many cities, schools and streets in the United States. Thousands of children have been
named George or Washington.
George Washington was born in 1732. His family lived in Westmoreland
County, Virginia. George attended school for only about seven or eight years. He
wanted to become a sailor. However, his mother would not permit this. So George
became an explorer. At age twenty he became an officer in the colonial army.
In 1753, the colonies still belonged to Britain. Major George Washington
carried a message from British colonial officials to French forces. At the time, French

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