USA > Washington DC > Washington DC > Centennial history of the city of Washington, D. C. With full outline of the natural advantages, accounts of the Indian tribes, selection of the site, founding of the city to the present time > Part 13
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chapter clearly indicated, long and earnest. Now York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Trenton, Harrisburg, and other places pressed their claims upon Congress to be made the Capital City of the new Nation. For a time it seemed as if no selection was possible. Maryland and Virginia, as may be seen by reading the acts of those States recited above, by ceding territory to the United States, had each done its part toward a solution of the question; but at length, in much the same manner that legislation is effected even down to the present day, a compromise was arrived at in the passage of the act of Congress above mentioned. This act was introduced first into the Senate, and passed by that body, June 1, 1790, by the following vote:
Yeas- Bassett, Butler, Charles Carroll, Elmer, Gunn, Hawkins, Henry, Johnston, Langdon, Lee, Maclay, Morris, Read, and Walker -- 14. Nays - Dalton, Ellsworth, Few, Foster, Johnson, Izard, King, Pat- terson, Schuyler, Stanton, Strong, and Wingate - 12.
The history of the struggle in the House of Representatives has been presented in Chapter III.
If the interior history of the passage of this act could be accurately and fully ascertained, it would doubtless be much more interesting and instructive than anything that can now be written upon the subject. However, enough is known to establish the fact of a compromise between the friends of this measure and the friends of another measure which was radically different in every way from this one. The other measure was one favoring the assumption of the debts incurred by the respective States in establishing the independence of the United States. With reference to this assumption, Mr. Madison, then a member of the House, wrote on the 13th of April, 1790, as follows: "The last vote was taken yesterday, and it passed in the negative by 31 against 29. The minority do not abandon hope, however; and 't is impossible to foretell the final destiny of the measure. Massachusetts and South Carolina, with their allies from Connecticut and New York, are too zealous to be arrested in their project unless by the force of an adverse majority."
May 24, 1790, while the debate upon the public debt was in progress in the House of Representatives, Mr. Gerry, of Massachu- setts, moved to insert a clause providing for the assumption of the State debts by the United States, thus bringing the subject again before that body, which led to considerable earnest debate, by Mr. Sherman, Mr. Boudinot, Mr. Ames, and Mr. Madison. Mr. Madison, with most of the Southern members, was opposed to the proposed assumption, as they were generally favorable to the location of the
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Federal District on the Potomae, "in the woods at the Indian town of Connogocheague," as it was expressed by some of those favoring a more northern location. June 22, 1790, Mr. Madison wrote to Edmund Randolph: "We are endeavoring to keep the pretensions of the Potomac in view, and to give to all the circumstances that oceur a turn favorable to it. If any arrangement should be made that will answer our wishes, it will be the effect of a coincidence of causes as fortuitous as it will be propitious."
It is, from this extract, evident that there was but little hope existing then for the success of the Potomac site. But the fortuitous coincidence of causes, which was Mr. Madison's only hope, did in a short time afterward occur. How it occurred, is related in a most interesting manner by Mr. Jefferson in the ninth volume of his works, commeneing on page 93. Mr. Jefferson says:
"This measure [the assumption of the State debts ] produced the most bitter and angry contest ever known in Congress before or since the union of the States. I arrived in the midst of it [ from his mission in Paris]. But a stranger to the ground, a stranger to the actors on it, so long absent as to have lost all familiarity with the subject, and as yet unaware of its objects, I took no concern in it. The great and trying question however was lost in the House of Representatives. So high were the feuds excited by the subject that on its rejection business was suspended. Congress met and adjourned from day to day without doing anything, the parties being too much out of temper to do business together. The Eastern members particularly, who, with Smith, of South Carolina, were the principal gamblers in these scenes, threatened a secession and a disunion. Hamilton was in despair. As I was going to the President's House, one day I met him in the street. He walked me backwards and forwards before the President's door for half an hour. He painted pathetically the temper in which the legislators had been wrought; the danger of the secession of their members, and the separation of the States. He observed that the members of the administration ought to act in concert; that the Presi- dent was the center on which all administrations ultimately rested, and that all of us should rally around him and support with joint efforts measures approved by him, and that the question having been lost by a small majority only, it was probable that an appeal from me to the judgment and discretion of some of my friends might effect a change in the votes, and the machinery of the Government, now suspended, might be again set in motion.
"I told him that I was really a stranger to the whole subject; that
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not yet having informed myself of the system of finance adopted, I knew not how far this was a necessary sequence; that undoubtedly, if a rejection threatened a dissolution of our Union at this incipient stage, I should deem that the most unfortunate of all consequences, to avert which all partial and temporary evils should be yielded. I proposed to him, however, to dine with me next day, and I would invite another friend or two, bringing them into conference together; and I thought it impossible that reasonable men, consulting together fully, could fail, by some mutual sacrifices of opinion, to form a compromise which would save the Union. The discussion took place. I could take no part in it save an exhortatory one, because I was a stranger to the circumstances which should govern it. But it was finally agreed that whatever importance had been attached to the rejection of this proposition, the preservation of the Union and of concord among the States was more important, and that therefore it would be better that the vote of rejection should be reconsidered, to effeet which some members should change their votes. But it was observed that this pill would be exceeding bitter to the Southern States, and that some concomitant measure should be adopted to sweeten it a little to them. There had before been propositions to fix the seat of government either at Philadelphia or at Georgetown, and it was thought that by giving it to Philadelphia for ten years and to Georgetown permanently afterwards, this might act as an anodyne, and calm in some degree the ferment which might be excited by the other measure alone. So two of the Potomac members ( White and Lee, but White with a revulsion of stomach almost convulsive ) agreed to change their votes; and Hamilton undertook to carry the other point.
"In doing this, the influence he had established over the Eastern members, with the agency of Robert Morris with those of the Middle States, effected his side of the engagement, and so assumption was passed, and twenty millions of stock divided among favored States, and thrown in as a pabulum to the stock-jobbing herd. This added to the number of votaries to the treasury, and made its chief the master of every vote in the legislature which might give to the Government the direction suited to his political views."
The debate on the assumption of the debts of the States was long and earnest, frequently "bitter," as Mr. Jefferson says; but it is evident that it is unnecessary to give a summary or further description of it in this connection, except to say that the proposition to assume was as strongly supported by Hon. Elbridge Gerry, of Massachusetts, as it
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was by Mr. Smith, of South Carolina; and that according to these gentlemen's opinion it was a duty the General Government owed to the States, because these debts had been assumed by the States at the request of the General Government when that Government could not meet its obligations. Upon such representations as these the bill for the assumption passed the House of Representatives August 4, 1790, three weeks and five days after the passage of the bill locating the seat of government on the Potomac River.
The act of Congress, as first passed, directed that the district of ten miles square should be located "on the River Potomae, at some place between the mouths of the Eastern Branch and Connogocheague." President Washington, not being fully satisfied with the limitations prescribed by this act, in his proclamation of January 24, 1791, provided for the location of a part only of the distriet, in the fol- lowing language: "I do hereby declare and make known that the location of one part of said district of ten miles square shall be found by running four lines of experiment in the following manner:" ete., trusting to Congress to grant him the authority to locate a part of the district below the mouth of the Eastern Branch. President Washington preferred the location as it was at length determined upon, because it was the most suitable for the public buildings, and Congress, perceiving the propriety of his suggestions, passed an amend- atory act, March 3, 1791, which enacted "that it shall be lawful for the President to make any part of the territory below the said limit and above the mouth of Hunting Creek a part of the said district, so as to include a convenient part of the Eastern Branch, and the lands lying on the lower side thereof, and also the town of Alexandria." Then, on March 30, 1791, the President issued his proclamation for the purpose of amending and completing the location of the whole of the said territory of ten miles square, in conformity with the said supplemental act, in which he recited all of the previously related official matters connected with the project of locating the Federal District, and then went on to say:
"Now, therefore, for the purpose of amending and completing the location of the whole of said territory of ten miles square, in con- formity with the said amendatory act of Congress, I do hereby declare and make known that the whole of said territory shall be located and included within the following lines: that is to say,-
" Beginning at Jones's Point, being the upper cape of Hunting Creek, in Virginia, and at an angle in the outside of forty-five degrees west of north, and running in a direct line ten miles from the first
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line; then beginning again at the same Jones's Point, and running another direct line, at a right angle from the first, across the Potomac ten miles for the second line; then, from the determinations of the first and second lines, running two other direct lines of ten miles each, the one crossing the Eastern Branch aforesaid, and the other the Potomac, and meeting each other in a point.
" And I do, accordingly, direct the commissioners named under the authority of the said first act of Congress, to proceed forthwith to have the said four lines run, and by proper metes and bounds defined and limited; and thereof to make due report under their hands and seals; and the territory so to be located, defined, and limited, shall be the whole territory accepted by the said act of Congress as the dis- trict for the permanent seat of the Government of the United States."
April 3, 1791, President Washington wrote to the commissioners from Mount Vernon with reference to the form of deed, etc., that should be used in transferring the lots to the public, saying:
" As the instrument which was subscribed at Georgetown by the landholders in the vicinity of that place and Carrollsburgh was not given to me, I presume it was deposited with you. It is of the greatest moment to close this business with the proprietors of the lands on which the Federal City is to be, that arrangements may be made without more delay than can be avoided.
"To accomplish this matter so that the sales of the lots around the public buildings, etc., may commence with as much facility as the nature of the case will admit, would be, I conceive, advisable under any circumstances. Perhaps the friends of the measure may think it materially so from the following extract of a letter from Mr. Jefferson to me, of the 27th ultimo:
"'A bill was yesterday ordered to be brought into the House of Representatives here for granting a sum of money for building a Fed- eral Hall, house for the President, etc.'
" This ( though I do not want any sentiment of mine promulgated with respect to it) marks unequivocally in my mind the designs of the State, and the necessity of exertion to carry the residence law into effect agreeably thereto."
April 13, 1791, President Washington wrote: "It having been inti- mated to me that the proprietors of Georgetown are desirous of being comprehended within the limits of the Federal City, I see no objection to the measure, provided the landholders adjoining to it, included within the red lines of Messrs. Beatty & Orme's survey, referred to in the first offer from Georgetown, agree to cede to the public on the same terms
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with those under the last or combined agreement; and if those within the blue lines are likewise desirous of being comprehended on the same terms, it may be so, -the doing of which could only place them on the same footing with the rest of the subscribers, at the same time that it would render the plan more comprehensive, beneficial, and promising, drawing the center of the Federal City nearer to the present town.
"If this measure is seriously contemplated, the present is the fit moment for carrying it into effect; because in that case it will become part of the original plan, and the old and new towns would be blended and assimilated as nearly as circumstances will admit-and Major L'Enfant might be instructed to lay out the whole accordingly."
The commissioners appointed by President Washington, January 22, 1791, to locate, define, and limit the Federal District, were Governor Thomas Johnson, of Maryland; Hon. Daniel Carroll, of Maryland, and Dr. David Stuart, of Virginia. At the time of his appointment Daniel Carroll was a member of Congress, and for this reason refused to serve; but after the termination of the Congress, March 4, 1791, he consented to serve, and a new commission was issued to him. The first meeting of these commissioners was held at Georgetown, April 12, 1791, and on April 15 the corner stone was laid near Jones's Point, in the vicinity of Alexandria, on the Virginia side of the Potomac River. The ceremony in laying this corner stone was under the supervision of Hon. Daniel Carroll and Dr. David Stuart, and was in accordance with Masonic customs. An address was delivered by Rev. James Muir, and was as follows:
" Amiable it is for brethren to dwell together in unity; it is more fragrant than the perfumes of Aaron's garment; it is more refreshing than the dews on Hermon's Hill. May this stone long commemorate the goodness of God, in those uncommon events which have given America a place among nations. Under this stone may jealousy and selfishness be forever buried. From this stone may a superstructure arise whose glory, whose magnificence, whose stability, unequaled hitherto, shall astonish the world, and invite even the savage of the wilderness to a shelter under its roof."
Difficulties having arisen with reference to the boundaries of the District, President Washington wrote to the commissioners from Charleston, South Carolina, May 7, 1791, as follows:
"It is an unfortunate circumstance in the present state of the business relating to the Federal City, that difficulties unforeseen and unexpected should arise to darken, perhaps to destroy, the fair prospect which it presented when I left Georgetown, and which the instrument
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then signed by the combined interest [as it was termed ] of Georgetown and Carrollsburgh so plainly describes. The pain which this occurrence occasions me is the more sensibly felt, as I had taken pleasure during my journey through the several States to relate the agreement, and to speak of it on every occasion in terms which applauded the conduct of the parties, as being alike conducive to the public welfare and to the interests of individuals, which last, it was generally understood, would be most benefitted by the amazing increase of the property reserved to the landholders.
"The words cited by Notley Young, Peter, Lingan, Forrest, and Stoddert may be nearly what I expressed; but will these gentlemen say this was given as the precise boundary? or will they, detaching these words, take them in a sense unconnected with the general explanation of my ideas and views upon that occasion, or without the qualifications which, if I am not much mistaken, were added, of running about so and so, for I had no map before me for direction ? Will they not recollect that Philadelphia stood upon an area of three by two miles? and that if the metropolis of one State occupied so much ground, what ought that of the United States to occupy ? Did I not, moreover, observe that before the city should be laid out and the spot for the public buildings be precisely fixed upon, the water courses were to be leveled, the heights taken, etc. ? Let the whole of my declaration be taken together, and not a part only, and being compared with the instrument then subscribed, together with some other circumstances that might be alluded to, let any impartial man judge whether I had reason to expect that difficulties would arise in the conveyances. When the instrument was presented, I found no occasion to add a word with respect to the boundary, because the whole was surrendered upon the conditions which were expressed. Had I discov -. ered a disposition in the subscribers to contract my views, I should then have pointed out the inconveniences and the impolicy of the measure. Upon the whole, I shall hope and expect that the business will be permitted to proceed, and the more so as they cannot be ignorant that the further consideration of a certain measure in a neighboring State stands postponed; for what reason, is left to their own information and conjecture."
The agreement alluded to by President Washington, about which some trouble had arisen, was signed by nineteen of the principal proprietors of the lands constituting the present site of Washington, March 30, 1791, and presented to the commissioners, and by them accepted April 12. It has been given in full in Chapter IV.
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September 24, 1791, the following resolution was passed by the commissioners:
" Resolred, That Major L'Enfant be instructed to employ, on the first Monday of October next, one hundred and fifty laborers to throw up clay at the President's House and the house of Congress, and in doing such other work connected with the post road and the public buildings as he shall think most proper to have immediately exeented.
" Resolved, That Major L'Enfant be instructed to direct three hundred copies of the plan of the Federal City to be transmitted to such parts in the Northern States as he shall think proper, and that he keep the remainder subject to the direction of the commissioners."
On November 18, 1791, Pierre Charles L'Enfant presented to the commissioners the following agreement between himself and John Gibson, of Dumfries, merchant:
" The said Pierre Charles L'Enfant, on behalf of the public, hath rented from the said John Gibson, for ten years, to commence on the 1st day of next month, all the quarries of freestone on the land on Acquia Creek sold on the 14th of this present month by the trustees of Robert Brent, deceased, to James Reid, and by him bought for the said John Gibson, at the rent of £20 current money, to be paid to the said John Gibson, or his assigns, on the 1st day of December of every year, the first rent to become due and payable on the 1st day of December, 1792. And it is further agreed by the said Pierre Charles L'Enfant, that full and free use and occupation of the soil of the lands, woods, and all appartenances to the land belonging or in any wise appertaining, shall be and remain the property and at the sole disposal of him, the said John Gibson, or his assigns, during the term aforesaid, except only the quarries aforesaid, four acres of land adjoining for buildings, with reasonable right of egress and ingress from and to the same; and the said John Gibson doth hereby agree to let the said quarries with the right aforesaid to the said Pierre Charles L'Enfant for public use at the yearly rent before mentioned, £20 current money for the term of ten years as in the former part of this agreement, and both parties bind themselves each to the other in the penalty of £200 for the true performance of this agreement and to execute any other or further article or writing for the better perfection of the same."
A full account of the proprietors of the land at the time of the location of the Capital of the country, may be found in another chapter; but it is necessary to mention briefly, in this connection, one of them who was quite unfortunate in more ways than one. This
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one was "Daniel Carroll, of Duddington," whose estate, known as the "Duddington Manor," covered nearly the whole of what has since been known as "Capitol Hill." Daniel Carroll was a man of culture and of high social standing in Maryland. He belonged to the famous Carroll family, which embraced among its members the Rt. Rev. John Carroll, first Bishop of Baltimore, who founded the college of Jesuits at Georgetown, and the venerable Charles Carroll, of Carroll- ton. Daniel Carroll was a brother of the former and a cousin of the latter. His residence was known as the "Duddington House," and shortly after the streets had been marked out, in accordance with Major L'Enfant's plan, Mr. Carroll, who was one of the commissioners, assumed and asserted the right to erect his house in the middle of New Jersey Avenue, near the Capitol grounds. Against this proceed- ing Major L'Enfant vigorously protested, as it would close up the avenue and destroy the symmetry of the plan he had marked out. Mr. Carroll paying no attention to the protests of the Major, he, one morning, gave orders to his assistants to demolish the structure, and himself went down to Acquia Creek. The work of demolition had not proceeded far, when Mr. Carroll hastened to a magistrate, pro- cured a warrant, and put a stop to it. That night, when the Major returned from Acquia Creek, he found his orders unfulfilled, and so he organized a gang of laborers, took them quietly up the hill in the darkness, and set them to work on the demolition of the house. By sunrise next morning not one brick of the obnoxious building was left upon another. Mr. Carroll was, of course, very indignant at this high- handed proceeding, and made application to the President for redress; and Major L'Enfant, on December 8, 1791, wrote a letter to the com- missioners in explanation of the reasons for his course. This matter was under consideration by the commissioners for some time, and considerable interest was taken in it by the other proprietors. Decem- ber 21, a memorandum was received from some of them as follows:
"GENTS: Understanding that Daniel Carroll, Esq., of Dudding- ton, has lodged a claim with you for the full value of his house lately taken down by order of Major L'Enfant, we hope and request that you will not apply any money granted for the improvement of the city of Washington to the payment thereof.
" By this, however, we do not mean to reflect on Major L'Enfant's conduct; but, on the contrary, we are of opinion that his zeal, activity, and good judgment in the affairs of the city merit the thanks of the proprietors and well deserve the approbation of the public," etc.
This memorandum was signed by Robert Peter, Overton Carr,
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William King, for himself, and also for William Prout; George Walker, Uriah Forrest, for himself and for P. R. Fendall; Samuel Davidson, and David Burns.
In order to settle the matter, President Washington sought the advice of the Attorney-General, and at length ordered the reconstruc- tion of the "Duddington House" precisely as it was before, but not in the same location. December 22, 1791, Major L'Enfant informed the commissioners that Notley Young's house was in the middle of a street, and made suggestions for the conduct of the commissioners in connection with the fact. December 27, President Washington wrote the commissioners in reference to both these houses, saying that he hoped the Major did not mean to proceed to the demolition of the house of Mr. Young also, unless properly authorized and instructed.
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