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DC gets second statue at the US Capitol

The statue of Pierre L'Enfant puts the District on equal footing with the 50 states.

WASHINGTON — There's a new addition honoring D.C. at the United States Capitol Monday. A statue of Pierre L'Enfant was unveiled. The new statue was called a historic victory by D.C. Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton.

Under federal law, all 50 U.S. states get two statues on the Capitol grounds. The new statue finally puts the District on equal footing with the rest of the states, at least in this way.

Until now, D.C.'s only statue was of Frederick Douglass. 

The new statue of L'Enfant, the architect of D.C.'s unique city plan, was actually made more than a decade ago in hopes that it would one day make it to the Capitol.

“We have made historic progress on D.C. statehood this Congress, and the unveiling of D.C.’s second statue in the Capitol will be the latest recognition by the House that D.C. deserves statehood,” Norton said in a statement Friday. “I am grateful to Speaker Pelosi and Committee on House Administration Chair Zoe Lofgren for accepting D.C.’s gift of the L’Enfant statue and for their support of D.C. statehood and full D.C. equality. I am especially pleased that the statue will be unveiled on February 28, which will serve to inform the American public that D.C. residents were first denied congressional voting representation and self-government when the Organic Act was enacted on February 27, 1801.”

Norton said she looks forward to D.C. residents viewing the new statue at the Capitol when it reopens to the public.

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