The Capitol is more than a building. It's a showcase for American ideals. B. Henry Latrobe commissioned a figure of Liberty and a magnificent clock for the House Chamber, and Justice, a relief in the Supreme Court. For the Senate, Latrobe designed a gallery supported by statues representing the states—though these were never made.

Charles Bulfinch's rotunda featured sculpture and paintings of European explorers, Indians, and settlers. Luigi Persico sculpted an allegory entitled Genius of America for the pediment over the east portico, and symbolic figures of War and Peace for niches flanking the rotunda entrance. In 1817, Congress commissioned John Trumbull to paint four Revolutionary War scenes for the rotunda. Twenty years later, four other artists began filling the remaining spaces with scenes of America's settlement by Europeans.