The Constitution survived its first major crisis because of the willingness of the American public to accept the Compromise… – Kenneth R. Bowling, "The Creation of Washington D.C."
Gadsby’s Tavern in Old Town Alexandria is hosting a three-part series on the “Making of the Capital.” Last Wednesday, Fergus Bordewich spoke about the role of slaves in building of the capitol.
Last night Kenneth Bowling talked about The Residence Act, the backroom deal that took the capital away from New York, brought it to Philadelphia for 10 years and then down to the Upper South on the Potomac. Bowling is the author of "The Making of Washington DC," and a professor of history at George Washington University. I find Bordewich the better writer but Bowling is the better speaker.
In front of an audience of about 20, Bowling began by listing the 32 cities and towns that desired to become the new capital. He noted that no one used the term “capital.” Instead, “seat of Federal Government.”
Bowling then summarized the fragile nature of the new government, and the fight over Federalism. Part of the new constitution called for a seat of government. The battle for its location was long and bitterly-fought. Gaining the capital would turn New York into a London, move Philadelphia past New York, or make wild dreams come true for a smaller city like York, Hagerstown, or Trenton. Even Rhode Island got in the game.
Leaders in the South cleared their throats and insisted the capital be somewhere closer to their lands. With this in mind, and the influence of strong leadership in the Quaker state, Harrisburg, PA won out. The powerful lion James Madison intervened, however, and that deal fell to the floor.
Bowling’s talk sagged a bit at this point but perked up when he got to the key players in the deal that was finally hammered out in the summer of 1790. Washington, who had a terrible case of “Potomac Fever,” cast the biggest shadow, but it was Alexander Hamilton, Secretary of the Treasury, and the Virginia tandem of Madison and Thomas Jefferson who burned the midnight oil. For several years those two had been wanting to see the home of the government moved somewhere near their lands. A merchant in Georgetown had touted the area we now know as Washington as the perfect location, an ideal reinforced by the fact that the geographic middle of the longer-than-wide nation was Arlington.
Bowling did an excellent job of setting the stage for the crisis. The Revolutionary War created staggering debts and led to economic depression.
By the summer of 1790, Hamilton was getting desperate over his desire to implement his Federalized plan to solve debt problem. As Washington’s man on all affairs economic, Hamilton wanted the Federal Government to assume the state’s debt. The Northern states favored the deal while the South, who had been paying off some of their red ink, did not.
Much back and forth occurred in 1790, with the two questions, assumption and residency, hanging over the country like dark clouds.
In June, Jefferson crossed paths with Hamilton in New York, noticing his desperation and weariness. Bowling noted this disheveled look was alarming for a man who always looked sharp for passing ladies.
The next night, Hamilton and Madison joined Jefferson in his modest New York apartment. A compromise deal was finally ironed out. The northern legislators would give up the capital in order to enact Hamilton’s plan. The Pennsylvania vote was captured by agreeing to put the Federal City in Philadelphia for ten years before moving it to a spot wherever Washington chose along the Potomac. The vote was 14 to 12 and 31 to 29, with Madison doing the job of getting the final votes.
Filled with dreams of ships pouring past his Mount Vernon home on their way up river to his beloved Alexandria, Washington usurped the powers of the three-man committee and chose the 500-acre site just east of Georgetown and bordered by the Potomac and the Anacostia Rivers. (Bowling noted that Florida Avenue’s crooked shape was the northern border of the new district)
The President now needed someone to develop a city plan. In his conclusion to his sterling presentation, Bowling hawked his book on Pierre L’Enfant. It is much smaller, however, than the authoritative one by Scott Berg, who will bring this excellent lecture series to a close next Wednesday.
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