------------------------------------------------
Washington DC: 1787 – 1864; A Look into the Founding of the Nation’s First Permanent Capitol and Its Near Collapse, Part II
Congress would approve the city’s commercial future, but first had to build a city to do so. On the 15th day of April, 1791, the cornerstones of the city were placed at Jones’ Point, near Alexandria. From that point onward, the city – then known as the Federal City, or the District of Columbia – would construct a massive series of public buildings. Developed by French architect Charles Peter L’Enfant, the city would create a series of grand governmental structures, as well as gorgeous park and recreational grounds. In an article written by L’Enfant to The American Apollo, he describes his vision of the future city. Included in the plans were the blueprints to build a great memorial in honor of the nation’s first president, George Washington. Also included were plans to build a national park, known as a mall. This mall, 1800 feet in width and three-fourths of a mile in length, would lead directly from the Washington Monument to the Capitol Building. Grand fountains would also be a fixture of the city plans, as L’Enfant was greatly influenced by other famous world cities . His concept was to takes the best parts of the world’s best cities and build upon them.
Additionally, streets would run vertically and horizontally, with oblique roads running throughout the city. These streets would begin with a fixed radial center, the Capitol Building. All streets would be given directional titles. For example, the first street east of the capitol would be known as First Street East, while the first street west of the capitol would be known as First Street West. Meanwhile, the oblique avenues – with titles of states given to them, were designed to give direct linkage to some of the more prominent governmental fixtures. For example, Pennsylvania Avenue was designed to connect the Capitol Building to the President’s House, moving in a northwestern direction. Maryland Avenue connects the Capitol to the Potomac Bridge. Indeed, roads make up a large part of the city. The design of the city featured roughly 3,604 acres of paved roads while the accumulated government lots totaled only 3,529 acres of land . The streets were intended to support a grand supply of transportation, and while the total number of government lots has increased over the years, the streets continue to dominate much of the city’s infrastructure.
The positions for many of the government’s buildings were a matter of suitability, as the executive offices were to be placed immediately south of the President’s House. Also, the structures for the War, Navy, State, and Treasury Departments were constructed to the east and west of the house as well. It is believed that the exact location was selected both due to the proximity and the cost of which it could be built (the ground surrounding the President’s House was on the slope of a hill and would be costly to build upon such grounds). Another placement of convenience was housing for foreign aids and ministers. At a mile and a half, the distance between the executive and legislative branch of the government has been continually problematic for lawmakers. The distance for these two buildings has never been truly answered. Other buildings, such as the Patent Office, were placed in a preexisting structure, once serving as a church. Once a hotel, the General Post Office was first rented by the government until it finally decided to purchase the structure and redesign the interior to better suit its purposes.
Yet despite its grand intentions, the city had no great roadway leading up to it. In her first travel to the city, First Lady Abagail Adams – wife of President John Adams – remarked in a letter to her daughter how difficult it was to procure the lodgings of her future home.
“I arrived here on Sunday last, and without meeting with any accident worth noticing, except losing ourselves when we left Baltimore, and going eight or nine miles on the Frederick road, by which means we were obliged to go the other eight through the woods, where we wandered two hours without finding a guide or the path. Fortunately, a straggling black came up with us, and we engaged him as a guide to extricate us out of our difficulty; but woods are all you see from Baltimore until you reach the city, which is only so in name.”
In fact, prior to the city’s completion, few if any buildings existed. On July 4, 1800, then-Secretary of the Treasury Oliver Wolcott wrote a letter to his wife. Wolcott, who had recently moved to Washington, remarked that the few houses that did exist were nothing more than simple huts and that the President’s House – if looked upon by visitors – would be met with ridicule or pity. But not all people met the city with such contempt. Despite her difficulty in finding the city, Mrs. Adams continued in her letter that she found the city delightful.
During that time, the city was fairly scarce, but did reside next to the cities of Alexandria and Georgetown; both housing a few thousand residents each. From the years 1800 to 1850, the population consisted of nearly 5,000 people, with an increase of nearly 550 people per year. Of that, blacks consisted of nearly one-fourth of the population. Throughout this time, the number of free vs. enslaved black people would differ greatly. In 1800, nearly 20 percent of the city’s population was slaves, with freed blacks consisting of nearly four percent. By 1860, slaves would only consist of roughly three percent, while freed blacks made up about 15 percent of the city’s total population. However, while the quantity of freed African-Americans continued to increase, the quality of their livelihood remained fairly consistent. The majority of work that black people could find was often laborious; cooking, cleaning, and farming were the most common forms of employment, one that did not allow them to fully grasp the idealisms that the national capitol was supposed to exemplify.
Despite this seemingly unjust practice, the city was considered wildly liberal for its time. Beginning with Jefferson, formal dinners became a staple of his presidency; for, James Madison, attending the President’s House meant attending a reception. Social balls were quite common during this time period and would often times feature a plethora of bachelorettes who were said to be quite beautiful. One author of the day remarked that the women were both of high statue and grace, remarking, “Between these young ladies, who are generally not only good looking but good tempered, and, if not well informed, capable of becoming so.”
No comments:
Post a Comment