Washington Monument
Donations run out
#### Donations run out

[thumb\|upright\=1\|The partially completed monument, photographed by [Mathew Brady](/wiki/Mathew_Brady "Mathew Brady"), ](/wiki/File:Washington_Monument_circa_1860_-_Brady-Handy.jpg "Washington Monument circa 1860 - Brady-Handy.jpg")
Construction continued until 1854, when donations ran out and the monument had reached a height of . At that time a memorial stone that was contributed by [Pope Pius IX](/wiki/Pope_Pius_IX "Pope Pius IX"), called the Pope's Stone, was destroyed by members of the [anti\-Catholic](/wiki/Anti-Catholic "Anti-Catholic"), [nativist](/wiki/Nativism_%28politics%29 "Nativism (politics)") American Party, better known as the "[Know\-Nothings](/wiki/Know-Nothings "Know-Nothings")", during the early morning hours of  (a priest replaced it in 1982 using the Latin phrase "A Roma Americae" instead of the original stone's English phrase "Rome to America"). Economic and political conditions of the time caused public contributions to the Washington National Monument Society to cease, so they appealed to Congress for money.

The request had just reached the floor of the [House of Representatives](/wiki/United_States_House_of_Representatives "United States House of Representatives") when the Know\-Nothing Party seized control of the Society on February 22, 1855, a year after construction funds ran out. Congress immediately tabled its expected contribution of $200,000 to the Society, effectively halting the Federal appropriation. During its tenure, the Know\-Nothing Society added only two courses of masonry, or , to the monument using rejected masonry it found on site, increasing the height of the shaft to . The original Society refused to recognize the takeover, so the two rival Societies existed side by side until 1858\. With the Know\-Nothing Party disintegrating and unable to secure contributions for the monument, it surrendered its possession of the monument to the original Society three and a half years later on . To prevent future takeovers, the U.S. Congress incorporated the Society on  with a stated charter and set of rules and procedures.


Why was it necessary for Congress to incorporate the Society with a charter and set of rules?