Washington, D.C.
How Washington, D.C. Became America’s Capital City
New York City Is Named the Nation’s Temporary Capital
In 1787, the Constitutional Convention adopted the U.S. Constitution (though the document would not be ratified until the following year).
The enclave clause (Art. I, § 8, cl. 17) of this Constitution, states that Congress may choose an area, not exceeding 100 square miles, to become the national capital.
The Convention also agreed that New York City would serve as the nation’s temporary capital until such time as Congress chose a permanent location for the capital.
The Battle over Assumption of States’ Debts
By the end of the American Revolutionary War (1775-1783) America’s individual states were deeply indebted, having borrowed heavily to finance the war effort.
Moreover, inflation had rendered Continentals, the fiat money issued by the Continental Congress to finance the war, worthless.
So Alexander Hamilton, America’s first Treasury Secretary (1789-1795), sought to get the newly formed country’s finances in order.
To this end, Hamilton proposed a two-part strategy detailed in two major reports he submitted to Congress in 1790.
The second of these reports was his Report on a National Bank submitted to Congress in December of 1790.
The report called for the creation of a national bank which would act as a quasi-central bank.
Hamilton – after an intense debate over the constitutionality of the plan – ultimately got his wish with Congress establishing the National Bank of the United States in the city of Philadelphia.
The other prong of Hamilton’s two-part plan for repairing the nation’s finances was laid out in his Report on Public Credit, submitted to Congress in January 1790.
The report called for the federal government to consolidate and assume the $25 million worth of debts hobbling states’ budgets.
But the proposal, like Hamilton’s proposal for a national bank, was highly contentious.
And the principal opponents to this plan were the same two individuals that opposed his plan for a national bank: Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson and Congressman James Madison.
The two Virginians’ opposition to the plan stemmed from multiple concerns.
First, some southern states – such as Virginia – were less indebted than others.
Jefferson and Madison saw the plan as requiring these southern states who had paid off most of their war debts to prop-up states who had not (of course, this view ignored the role plantation slave labor played in propping-up the economies of these agrarian southern states).
Second, Jefferson feared that concentrating power in a strong federal government could one day lead to oppression of the sort the fledgling nation had just fought a war to escape.
And Hamilton’s plan would undoubtedly concentrate new power in his Treasury Department, the branch of the federal government that oversees its finances.
On the other, Hamilton felt that every American citizen, regardless of what state they resided in, benefitted equally from the Revolution.
It followed, his argument went, that the debts incurred by the union in the financing of that revolution should be a shared burden, rather than one that fell more heavily on states – such as Massachusetts – that played a bigger role in the war effort, and therefore took on more debt.
But more important for Hamilton than this argument from equality of financial burden was his view that this financial plan was essential to the long-term survival of the union: he viewed it necessary to bind the desperate states that made up the country in a fiscal union.
By tying the states together in a fiscal union, he hoped to make it more unlikely that states would one day seek to succeed from the union (a similar argument has today been applied to the Eurozone).
Hamilton viewed this financial plan as being so essential that he was willing to trade away another ambition of his: to have New York City, then serving as the nation’s temporary capital, remain the nation’s permanent capital.
The Compromise of 1790
So in June of 1790, Hamilton, Jefferson, and Madison met behind closed doors for dinner at Jefferson’s New York City residence on Maiden Lane.
The location of this home is today marked by a plaque and is - fittingly considering that Hamilton’s vision of an American economy based on commerce and finance came to be realized at the expense of Jefferson’s hope for an economy based on agriculture - overshadowed by the imposing façade of the New York Federal Reserve.
A plaque marking the site of Thomas Jefferson’s NYC home.
The Federal Reserve Bank of NY is located across the street from the former site of Thomas Jefferson’s New York City home.
At this dinner, Hamilton sought to get the support he needed to pass his fiscal program through Congress and was willing, however unhappily, to trade away New York City’s position as the seat of the federal government to do so.
Meanwhile, Jefferson and Madison were instinctively opposed to any proposals that would strengthen the federal government. But being Virginians, they also sought to have the capital city be as close to Virginia as possible.
Moreover, the agrarian-minded Jefferson loathe New York City which he viewed - not without reason - as a heaven for financial speculators. The city was so associated with Alexander Hamilton and finance that the Treasury Secretary’s detractors referred to it as Hamiltonopolis. Moving the nation’s capital from New York to the Virginia area was thus doubly important to Jefferson.
The chance for a grand compromise was ripe.
At the dinner, Hamilton agreed to urge congressmen from Pennsylvania to support Philadelphia becoming the nation’s temporary capital for 10 years.
After this period of 10 years, a yet-to-be determined location along the Potomac River located between Maryland and Virginia would become the nation’s permanent capital.
In exchange for Hamilton’s efforts on the issue of the temporary and permanent capitals, Madison would muster up support for Hamilton’s fiscal program from southern congressmen.
Today this agreement is referred to as The Compromise of 1790.
And that location along the Potomac is now Washington D.C., seat of the U.S. federal government.
The Residence Act of 1790
Following the accord reached at Jefferson’s New York City mansion, Congress exercised its power under the enclave clause to pass The Residence Act in July of 1790.
The Act decreed that Philadelphia would become the temporary capital of the United States for ten years, supplanting New York City’s claim to this title.
It also stipulated that, at the conclusion of these ten years (1800), a location along the Potomac River to be selected by President Washington would become the permanent capital of the United States.
In 1791, President Washington selected the location of present-day Washington D.C. as the permanent seat of the federal government.
Written By: Aiden Singh Published: July 19, 2020 Sources
Designing Washington, D.C.
A View of the National Mall (facing east).
The Residence Act, passed by Congress in July of 1790, decreed that a location on the Potomac River, to be chosen by President Washington, would become the permanent national capital.
1791, Washington selected the location of president-day Washington D.C. as the site of the new capital city.
However, in 1791 the area was scarcely developed and arduous labor was still required for a national capital to rise from this sleepy backwater.
But for a city planner it was the opportunity of a life-time, a blank canvas on which to erect a whole new city with a highly important purpose, from scratch.
Owing to his relationship with President George Washington, the opportunity would belong to Pierre Charles L’Enfant.
Pierre Charles L’Enfant was a Frenchman who, seeking glory as a war hero, joined the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War (1775-1783).
Following the War, L’Enfant became a New York City based architect and in 1788 was commissioned to remodel Federal Hall after New York was chosen as the temporary first seat of the new federal government.
L’Enfant had written to George Washington in 1789, requesting the opportunity to design the new permanent capital city, wherever it may be placed.
Upon designating the location of this new city in 1791, President George Washington obliged L’Enfant’s request, choosing him to design what would become Washington D.C.
So L’Enfant left New York City for Georgetown and set off to work on a plan for the new capital in March of 1791.
His resulting blueprint envisioned modern-day Washington D.C., including the national mall – what L’Enfant referred to as the “Grand Avenue” – flanked by Capitol Hill to the east and the White House to the west.
The plan also included numerous green spaces and public squares.
However, conflicts between L’Enfant and three commissioners President Washington had also appointed to work on the project would eventually lead L’Enfant to resign his position.
He died in 1825 having received no credit for his design or payment for his work.
And the city remained unfinished long after L’Enfant’s death, with his planned public squares sitting empty and his envisioned National Mall incomplete.
So in 1901, Congress created the McMillan Commission (1901-1902), compromised of architects and city planners, to finish development of the city.
The Commission finished designing D.C. based largely on L’Enfant’s original blueprint.
Today the National Mall - running from the Lincoln Memorial to Capitol Hill - serves as a center for civic life and public protests.
The Mall is also home to some of America’s most popular museums.
And Washington D.C. was visited by an estimated 20 million Americans in 2017.
Written By: Aiden Singh Published: July 19, 2020 Sources
When The British Empire Set The White House On Fire
On June 17th, 1812 the U.S. Senate voted to approve a resolution declaring war on the British Empire by a 19 to 13 margin.
You can view the Senate’s approval of the resolution declaring war on the British Empire here.
The House of Representatives had already voted to approve war against the British Empire by a margin of 79 to 49.
President Madison signed the bill into law on June 18, 1812, marking the start of the War of 1812.
This declaration of war was the first in American history.
(To learn more about the legal mechanisms by which the U.S. government declares war, see here).
The declaration of war was prompted by a desire among some American policy-makers to annex British Canada, frustration with European trade embargoes, the British Empire’s alliance with indigenous peoples locked in a bloody battle for survival with an America expanding westward, and British harassment of U.S. vessels in the Atlantic.
(Learn the full backstory here.)
Octagon House.
On August 24, 1814, the British Empire captured Washington D.C. and set the White House ablaze, forcing President Madison to flee to Virginia and later take up temporary residence in Octagon House, located a few blocks away from the White House.
Abbe House.
And Madison’s successor as president, James Monroe, would be forced to use Abbe House as a temporary executive residence while the White House underwent repairs.
The British assault on Washington D.C. also resulted in the immolation of the Capitol Building and the U.S. Supreme Court Building.
The war ended with the signing of the Treaty of Ghent (agreed in Ghent, located in present-day Belgium) in 1814.
The Treaty required that all territories captured during the war be returned.
Written By: Aiden Singh Published: July 19, 2020