inception washington monument
George Washington (  , ___MASK72___ ) was an American politician and soldier who served as the first President of the United States from ___MASK60___ to 1797 and was one of the Founding Fathers of the United States . He served as Commander - in - Chief of the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War , and later presided over the 1787 convention that drafted the United States Constitution . He is popularly considered the driving force behind the nation ' s establishment and came to be known as the " father of the country ," both during his lifetime and to this day . Daniel Chester French ( April ___MASK68___ , 1850  October ___MASK54___ , 1931 ), one of the most prolific and acclaimed American sculptors of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries , is best known for his design of the monumental work , the statue of " Abraham Lincoln " ( 1920 ) in the Lincoln Memorial , Washington , D . C .. The American Revolution was a political upheaval that took place between ___MASK83___ and 1783 during which colonists in the Thirteen American Colonies rejected the British monarchy and aristocracy , overthrew the authority of Great Britain , and founded the United States of America . The National Park Service ( NPS ) is an agency of the United States federal government that manages all U . S . national parks , many American national monuments , and other conservation and historical properties with various title designations . It was created on August ___MASK37___ , 1916 , by Congress through the National Park Service Organic Act and is an agency of the United States Department of the Interior . The NPS is charged with a dual role of preserving the ecological and historical integrity of the places entrusted to its management while also making them available and accessible for public use and enjoyment . Abraham Lincoln ( February ___MASK35___ , ___MASK87___  April 15 , 1865 ) was an American politician and lawyer who served as the 16th President of the United States from March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865 . Lincoln led the United States through its Civil War  its bloodiest war and perhaps its greatest moral , constitutional , and political crisis . In doing so , he preserved the Union , abolished slavery , strengthened the federal government , and modernized the economy . Feldspars ( KAlSiO  NaAlSiO  CaAlSiO ) are a group of rock - forming tectosilicate minerals that make up as much as ___MASK62___ % of the Earth ' s crust . The National Mall is a national park in downtown Washington , D . C ., the capital of the United States . The National Park Service ( NPS ) administers the National Mall , which is part of its National Mall and Memorial Parks unit . The term " National Mall " commonly includes areas that are officially part of West Potomac Park and Constitution Gardens to the west , and often is taken to refer to the entire area between the Lincoln Memorial and the United States Capitol , with the Washington Monument dividing the area slightly west of its midpoint . A smaller designation , sometimes referred to as the " Mall proper ", excludes both the Capitol grounds and the Washington Monument grounds , applying only to an area between them . The National Mall contains a number of museums and memorials and receives approximately ___MASK53___ million visitors each year . The Thirteen Colonies were a group of British colonies on the east coast of North America founded in the 17th and 18th centuries that declared independence in ___MASK67___ and formed the United States . The thirteen were : Delaware , Pennsylvania , New Jersey , Georgia , Connecticut , Massachusetts Bay , Maryland , South Carolina , New Hampshire , Virginia , New York , North Carolina , and Rhode Island and Providence Plantations . The Continental Army was formed by the Second Continental Congress after the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War by the colonies that became the United States of America . Established by a resolution of the Congress on June ___MASK23___ , ___MASK34___ , it was created to coordinate the military efforts of the Thirteen Colonies in their revolt against the rule of Great Britain . The Continental Army was supplemented by local militias and troops that remained under control of the individual states or were otherwise independent . General George Washington was the commander - in - chief of the army throughout the war . The Washington Monument is an obelisk on the National Mall in Washington , D . C . , built to commemorate George Washington , once commander - in - chief of the Continental Army and the first American president . Standing almost due east of the Reflecting Pool and the Lincoln Memorial , the monument , made of marble , granite , and bluestone gneiss , is both the world ' s tallest stone structure and the world ' s tallest obelisk , standing 554 feet ___MASK54___ 11  32 inches ( 169 . 046 m ) tall . It is the tallest monumental column in the world if all are measured above their pedestrian entrances , but two are taller when measured above ground , though they are neither all stone nor true obelisks . Construction of the monument began in 1848 , and was halted from 1854 to 1877 due to a lack of funds , a struggle for control over the Washington National Monument Society , and the intervention of the American Civil War . Although the stone structure was completed in ___MASK3___ , internal ironwork , the knoll , and other finishing touches were not completed until 1888 . A difference in shading of the marble , visible approximately 150 feet ( 46 m ) or 27 % up , shows where construction was halted and later resumed with marble from a different source . The original design was by Robert Mills , an architect during first half of the 19th century , but he suspended his colonnade , proceeding only with his obelisk , whose flat top was altered to a pointed marble pyramidion in ___MASK3___ . The cornerstone was laid on July 4 , 1848 ; the first stone at the 152 - foot level was laid August ___MASK54___ , 1880 , the capstone was set on December 6 , ___MASK3___ , and the completed monument was dedicated on February 21 , 1885 . It officially opened October 9 , 1888 . Upon completion , it became the world ' s tallest structure , a title previously held by the Cologne Cathedral . The monument held this designation until 1889 , when the Eiffel Tower was completed in Paris , France . The monument was damaged during the 2011 Virginia earthquake and Hurricane Irene in the same year and remained closed to the public while the structure was assessed and repaired . After 32 months of repairs , the National Park Service and the Trust for the National Mall reopened the Washington Monument to visitors on May 12 , 2014 . Granite is a common type of felsic intrusive igneous rock that is granular and phaneritic in texture . Granites can be predominantly white , pink , or gray in color , depending on their mineralogy . The word " granite " comes from the Latin " granum ", a grain , in reference to the coarse - grained structure of such a holocrystalline rock . By definition , granite is an igneous rock with at least ___MASK68___ % quartz and up to 65 % alkali feldspar by volume . The Founding Fathers of the United States are the individuals of the Thirteen British Colonies in North America who led the American Revolution against the authority of the British Crown and established the United States of America . The term is also used more narrowly , referring specifically to those who either signed the Declaration of Independence in ___MASK67___ or who were delegates to the 1787 Constitutional Convention and took part in drafting the proposed Constitution of the United States . A further subset includes those who signed the Continental Association or the Articles of Confederation . During much of the 19th century , they were referred to as either the " Founders " or the " Fathers ". Metamorphic rocks arise from the transformation of existing rock types , in a process called metamorphism , which means " change in form ". The original rock ( protolith ) is subjected to heat ( temperatures greater than ___MASK1___ to 200 ° C ) and pressure ( ___MASK45___ bars ), causing profound physical and / or chemical change . The protolith may be a sedimentary rock , an igneous rock or another older metamorphic rock . National Mall and Memorial Parks ( formerly known as National Capital Parks - Central ) is an administrative unit of the National Park Service encompassing many national memorials and other areas in Washington , D . C . Federally owned and administered parks in the capital area date back to ___MASK95___ , some of the oldest in the United States . In ___MASK91___ , they were transferred to the control of the National Park Service . These parks were known as the National Capital Parks from their inception until 1965 . The NPS now operates multiple park groupings in the D . C . area , including : National Capital Parks - East , Rock Creek Park , President ' s Park , and George Washington Memorial Parkway . National Mall and Memorial Parks also provides technical assistance for the United States Navy Memorial . The Second Continental Congress was a convention of delegates from the Thirteen Colonies that started meeting in the spring of ___MASK34___ , in Philadelphia , Pennsylvania . It succeeded the First Continental Congress , which met between September ___MASK65___ , 1774 and October 26 , 1774 , also in Philadelphia . The second Congress managed the colonial war effort , and moved incrementally towards independence , adopting the United States Declaration of Independence on July 4 , 1776 . By raising armies , directing strategy , appointing diplomats , and making formal treaties such as the Olive Branch Petition , the Congress acted as the " de facto " national government of what became the United States . Henry Bacon ( November 28 , ___MASK58___  February 16 , 1924 ) was an American Beaux - Arts architect who is best remembered for the Lincoln Memorial in Washington , D . C . ( built 1915  22 ), which was his final project . Marble is a metamorphic rock composed of recrystallized carbonate minerals , most commonly calcite or dolomite . Marble may be foliated . Geologists use the term " marble " to refer to metamorphosed limestone ; however , stonemasons use the term more broadly to encompass unmetamorphosed limestone . Marble is commonly used for sculpture and as a building material . The Piccirilli Brothers were a family of renowned marble carvers and sculptors who carved a large number of the most significant marble sculptures in the United States , including Daniel Chester French  s colossal " Abraham Lincoln " ( ___MASK26___ ) in the Lincoln Memorial , Washington , D . C . The Lincoln Memorial is an American national monument built to honor the 16th President of the United States , Abraham Lincoln . It is located on the western end of the National Mall in Washington , D . C ., across from the Washington Monument . The architect was Henry Bacon ; the designer of the primary statue  " Abraham Lincoln ", ___MASK26___  was Daniel Chester French ; the Lincoln statue was carved by the Piccirilli Brothers ; and the painter of the interior murals was Jules Guerin . Dedicated in ___MASK2___ , it is one of several monuments built to honor an American president . It has always been a major tourist attraction and since the 1930s has been a symbolic center focused on race relations . The National Park Service Organic Act ( or simply " the Organic Act " within the National Park Service , conservationists , etc .) is a United States federal law that established the National Park Service ( NPS ), an agency of the United States Department of the Interior . The Act was signed into law on August ___MASK37___ , 1916 , by President Woodrow Wilson , and is located in Title ___MASK64___ of the United States Code .