Showcase the history of madison, wisconsin. To learn more about the cities on our 2014 tour, visit cspan. Org localcontent. We continue with our look at the history of madison, wisconsin. This is American History tv on cspan3. Welcome to wisconsins state capital. Were standing in the rotunda of the building. A this is the public area of the capital. This is where we have our parties and presentations. When you walk up, you will see a white stone building. That is stone we got from vermont. Stone from all over the world. Eight different states. Only a little bit of the stone is actually from wisconsin. A great big dome also covered with granite. We have the only state capital to completely cover the exterior in granite. We have a statue up on top. We call her wisconsin. On top of her helmet is a badger. We have wisconsin facing towards the nations capital. She weighs over 6000 pounds. Then we gave for that nice gold coat. As you look behind me, it says legislation. Artists created each of these mosaics with 100,000 pieces of colored glass. They represent the three branches of government. Legislation for the legislative branch, justice for the judicial branch, government for the executive branch. ,bove us, it says liberty representing all of us that live here. Stones from around the world on display right here. All of the patterned marble is from italy. All of the creamcolored marble is from france. This green stone is marble from greece. The red trim is actually marble from algeria. The building was designed by george post, an artist out of new york. A lot of the subcontractors and was controlled out of new york. We have a more global look at our state capital than most of the other state capitals you will see. Wisconsin goes back to 1836. At that time, wisconsin was part of michigan. Michigan wanted to be its own state. We called ourselves wisconsin. Thats an indian word that means the gapping of waters. In wisconsin, we have gathered over 15,000 lakes. We sent our paperwork to washington, d. C. , they approved us to be a new territory, and the president appointed henry dodge to be our first leader. Esther dodge moved to wisconsin a few years earlier. Get richo wisconsin to because we found lead in our hills 60 miles from here. All kinds of minors cant wisconsin. S came to wisconsin. Everybody said, they live like badgers. That is how we got the nickname the badger state. Nothing to do with the animal itself. Outside the office of the governor, we have a badger. He worked on a battleship called the uss wisconsin. From about 19001920, he got for sale all over the world. As the sailors left the port, they would rub his nose for good luck. We invite everybody who visits the capital to rub his nose. I am darned near the luckiest guy in the world. Hes working for me. We are now in the governors conference room. This is the Public Office for the governor. Scott walkers private office is behind this room. When he meets with a group of people, he meets them in this room. The room is copied from a palace in venice, italy. This is the most ornate room in the capital. Theres more gold in this room than any other room in the capital. Architecturally, we want to the capital to look like it was when it was first built. We also needed new infrastructure. Computer stuff, even central airconditioning. Spent 160002, we million to fix it up. All of the Wood Furniture you see is original. All of the artwork is over 100 years old, part of the conservation progress of renovating the capital. The murals in this room are unique. Over here is the first european to come to wisconsin. His name was jean nicollet. He was from france looking for a new route to china. He came up through the great lakes and couldnt get any closer than green bay. He fired his pistons in the air and scared the dickens of the of the winnebagos. The indians thought the guns were thunder sticks. The gentleman on my left is the first weatherman in the country. His name is increase allen left him. He started predicting the weather back in the 1870s. All of that Weather Technology starts right here in madison. In the 1870s, he knew somebody 60 miles west of here, and he would tell them when they would ask, what is the weather look like . He realizes most of our weather comes from the west. Dress. A lady in a brown that is cordelia harvey. She was the wife of the governor during the civil war. The person in the center is called unity. In those days, the women from your state would make bandages and medical supplies. Governor, tooke a load of military supplies to a tennessee Military Hospital. He drowned in the river. His wife decided she wanted to take up his cause. She got on the train and talk to abraham lincoln. She got a piece of paper. It says, wisconsin, you can build three Military Hospitals in the state of wisconsin. This was brandnew military thinking. In the civil war, you wanted your Military Hospital close to the battlefield so when you are better, you were there to fight. The idea you go from tennessee to wisconsin and return to fight, not very good. Cordelia convinced a blink and that the soldiers from wisconsin would do that. Wisconsin was the first state to be able to take care of their own civil war wounded soldiers. This is the highest court in the state of wisconsin. We have seven justices serving the Supreme Court, elected for 10year terms. For women and three men served as justices. This is an appeals court. Its their job to interpret the laws that are passed in the other wings of the capital. Somebody may challenge a law in madison, and we will take it to our court first. But he will say, why dont we appeal it to the Supreme Court . This is the only court in wisconsin that chooses which cases they want to see. They get over 1000 requests are year. The only pick out about 100 of them. 10 cases a year for 10 months. The murals are moments of history. Behind me, it says the signing of the u. S. Constitution. Independence hall, philadelphia. Do you recognize anybody . The guy sitting behind the desk with the george washington. There are three guys on his side. The chevy guy, that is ben franklin. The gentleman with the raincoat is james madison. Hes considered the author of the constitution. He ended up becoming the fourth president of the united states. Named our city after james madison, the president. We have a judge sitting in the chair. The monogamy tribe supposedly killed a member of the pawnee tribe. Look good at all for oshkosh. He said, wait a minute. I dont have power over oshkosh. He comes from the indian nation. He said they had already settled their dispute under indian law. He said, oshkosh, you are a free man. You committed no crime against the united states. Inve the door is the word latin for law. This is kind of unique to wisconsin that we have everything to do with legislature in the same building. We are now in the assembly. This is part of the legislature. We have two rooms, the senate and the assembly. 5,700,000 people live in wisconsin. We divided our state into 99 districts by population. We have 99 representatives, all elected to two years, all elected at the same time. Once you are all in the room, the elected political leader has the big chair in the front. That leader is called the speaker, and the speaker takes care of all the political issues. They decide when they are going to meet, what theyre going to talk about, who the chairman of the committees will be. The mere are in front of you is calling wisconsins past, present, and future. Was smart enough to show us a photocopy of this before he shifted to us. We got our copy instead, good story. How would we know it is wisconsin . Artist we wouldnt accept it until he put a badger in it. You see the better next to the american flag. 80 years later, we hired an artist to clean up this art. They used a 20,000 qtips as they wiped off 80 years of dirt and grime. War soldiercivil that needed to be repainted. Priest. A french on top