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Washington DC – A Capital City

Article One, Section Eight, of the Constitution permits the establishment of a “District (not exceeding ten miles square) as may, by cession of particular states, and the acceptance of Congress, become the seat of the government of the United States”.  However, the Constitution does not specify a location for the capital.  In what is now known as the Compromise of 1790, Madison, Alexander Hamilton, and Thomas Jefferson came to an agreement that the federal government would pay each state’s remaining Revolutionary War debts in exchange for establishing the new national capital in the southern United States.

Foundation:

On July 9, 1790, Congress passed the Residence Act, which approved the creation of a national capital on the Potomac River.  The exact location was to be selected by President George Washington, who signed the bill into law on July 16.  Formed from land donated by the states of Maryland and Virginia, the initial shape of the federal district was a square measuring 10 miles on each side, totaling 100 square miles.

L'Enfant Plan for Washington DC
L’Enfant Plan for Washington DC

Two pre-existing settlements were included in the territory: the port of Georgetown, Maryland, founded in 1751, and the city of Alexandria, Virginia, founded in 1749.  During 1791–92, Andrew Ellicott and several assistants surveyed the borders of the federal district and placed boundary stones at every mile point.  Many of the stones are still standing.

A new federal city was then constructed on the north bank of the Potomac, to the east of Georgetown.  On September 9, 1791, the three commissioners overseeing the capital’s construction named the city in honor of President Washington.

Georgetown
Georgetown

The federal district was named Columbia (a feminine form of “Columbus”), which was a poetic name for the United States commonly in use at that time.  Congress held its first session in Washington D.C. on November 17, 1800.

Congress passed the Organic Act of 1801, which officially organized the District and placed the entire territory under the exclusive control of the federal government.  Further, the unincorporated area within the District was organized into two counties: the County of Washington to the east of the Potomac and the County of Alexandria to the west.  After the passage of this Act, citizens living in the District were no longer considered residents of Maryland or Virginia, which therefore ended their representation in Congress.

On August 24–25, 1814, in a raid known as the Burning of Washington D.C., British forces invaded the capital during the War of 1812.  The Capitol, Treasury, and White House were burned and gutted during the attack.  Most government buildings were repaired quickly; however, the Capitol was largely under construction at the time and was not completed in its current form until 1868.

Retrocession and the Civil War:

In the 1830s, the District’s southern territory of Alexandria went into economic decline partly due to neglect by Congress.  The city of Alexandria was a major market in the American slave trade, and pro-slavery residents feared that abolitionists in Congress would end slavery in the District, further depressing the economy.  Alexandria’s citizens petitioned Virginia to take back the land it had donated to form the District, through a process known as retrocession.

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