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With expenses growing and Congress's move from Philadelphia approaching, these two architects focused on completing the Senate chamber housed in the North Wing, leaving work unfinished on the South Wing (House Chamber) and the Rotunda. As the nation's representatives prepared to head south from the temporary capital, word reached Phila- delphia that George Washington had passed away at Mount Vernon. His successor, President John Adams, shared the disheartening news with Congress and con- firmed the rumors: "It has pleased Divine Providence to remove from this life, our excellent fellow-citizen George Washington. . . . [I]t remains for an affectionate and grateful people, in whose hearts he can never die, to pay suitable honor to his memory." Virginia Represen- tative and future Supreme Court Justice John Marshall was tasked with leading a committee that would decide how best to commemorate Washington. Under Marshall's guidance, the committee proposed a monument inside the Capitol and requested Washington's family provide his remains "to be deposited under it." Once this mea- sure passed Congress unanimously, Adams asked Mar- tha Washington (fig. 6) to consider giving up her hus- band's body for the good of the country. After much deliberation Martha acquiesced, citing George's example of always forgoing "private wishes to the public will." 4 Tobias Lear, Washington's longtime secretary and confidante, crafted Martha's response to the Congres- sional request. He also wrote a personal letter to Adams describing the anguish that came from such a public demand. He informed the president that he had prom- ised Martha that "her remains would be deposited in the same Tomb" as her husband's. Around the same time William Thornton wrote to committee chairman John Marshall, telling him that he approved of the plan "to deposit [Washington's] body in the place that was long since contemplated for its reception," the "Center of that National Temple which he approved of for a Capi- tol." Thornton recommended that Marshall encourage a secret vote to oblige Martha's request in order to secure Washington's remains for future entombment. Only a month after Washington's burial at Mount Ver- non, a Federalist-controlled Congress had secured the national government's right to possess George Washing- ton's bodily remains. 5 In the wake of Washington's death, Democratic- Republicans captured the House and the Senate in the election of 1800. As the political landscape shifted, the idea of hero worship became extremely contentious; Federalists clung to Washington's image while Repub- licans tried to subvert it. On days of remembrance, politicians of both parties praised Washington, but Fig. 6. Martha Washington (The Athenaeum Portrait), oil on canvas by Gilbert Stuart (1796) 5 Fig. 5. This 1793 Capitol floor plan by William Thornton shows the chambers of both houses of Congress. THE CAPITOL DOME