USA > Washington > Standard history of the city of Washington from a study of the original sources > Part 10
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"The Conveyance to be executed, according to the form
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of the laws of Maryland, by the Proprietors of the land designated by the President for the Federal seat.
"The preamble to recite the substance of that part of the Residence Act which authorizes the President to receive grants of lands or money for the use of the United States and to declare that the object of the conveyance is to furnish both Land and money for their use. The body of the deed to convey the lands designated for the city (suppose 1500 acres) to A and B and their heirs in trust for the follow- ing purposes :
"1. To reconvey to the commissioners their heirs and successors to be named by the President, such portions of the said lands as the President shall designate for the site of the public buildings, public walks, streets, &c., to remain for the use of the United States.
"2. To reconvey the residue of such lands, to such per- sons, and on such conditions as the Commissioners shall direct, for the purpose of raising money, and the money when received to be granted to the President for the use of the United States according to the Residence Act.
"The effect of this last clause will be such that the President (without any further legislation from Congress) may proceed to lay out the town immediately into 1, pub- lic lots; 2 public walks and gardens; 3 private lots for sale; 4 streets. The 1, 2 and 4th articles to be reconveyed to the Commissioners, and the 3rd to private purchasers as above proposed. It is understood that this conveyance will have been preceded by articles of agreement signed by all the proprietors of the lands in and about those several spots which have such obvious advantages as ren- der it presumable to every one that some one of them will attract the President's notice and choice."
Not all the land within the city was conveyed to the Trus- tees at the time the first deeds were executed. The record of the proceedings of the Commissioners for that day (June 29, 1791) recites that the deeds of trust executed by Robert Peter, Notley Young, Benjamin Stoddard, James Pierce, Anthony Holmead, Daniel Carroll of Duddington, James M. Lingan, David Burnes, Jonathan Slater, Samuel Davidson, William Young, Abraham Young, Charles Beatty, Clement Woodward, and George Walker, were lodged in the care of the Commis- sioners and they directed their Secretary to have them recorded
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in due time in the General Court Records. The proceedings for the same day recite that Messrs. U. Forrest, Wm. Bayly, Philip R. Fendall and Wm. Deakins, Junior, entered into an agreement to convey about five hundred acres under the terms of the other deeds of trust as soon as required after obtaining deed from John Warring and that Jonathan Slater previous to executing his deed entered into an agreement that if the contract he had made with John Prout should not take effect he would subject the land concerning which it was made to the same terms as the other lands were by the proprietors subjected within the proposed limits of the Federal City, and that whether the contract should take place or not he would subject his land reserved out of that contract to the same terms.
On September 3, 1791, Mr. Johnson submitted to the Com- missioners the form of the deeds to be used for the Hamburgh and Carrollsburgh lots and rapid progress was made in secur- ing the execution of the deeds by such of the owners as were competent and could be located. These deeds conveyed all the general grantors' lots in Hamburgh and Carrollsburgh subject to the trusts named in the other deeds and provided that one- half the quantity of land thereby bargained and sold should be conveyed as near the old situations as possible to the grant- ors so that each respective former proprietor should have made up to him one-half of his former quantity in as good a situa- tion as before, but that if from appropriations for the use of the United States one-half could not be assigned in like situa- tion as before, satisfaction should be made in ground in the city to be agreed upon or if the proprietors and commission- ers could not agree the proprietors should be compensated in money to be raised by a sale of such parts of the lots conveyed as should remain clear of appropriations, the proceeds to be applied first to compensate the proprietors and the remainder to go to the President as a grant of money for the purposes of the city, the sales to be subject to such building regulations as might be established.
By means of the various deeds above mentioned all the lands within the limits of the city, except such as belonged
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to persons incompetent to convey or to such as could not be reached, came eventually into the hands of the Trustees Beall and Gantt, the Commissioners by a memorial to the Maryland Legislature dated September 8, 1791, reporting as follows :
"That within these Limits (i. e. as outlined in the deeds of trust) your memorialists do not know nor have reason to believe that there are any proprietors and possessors who have not come into the common terms of agreement except Elizabeth the wife of Aquilla Wheeler who is said to be insane and whose husband is willing her land should be subjected in the same manner as the land of others, the minor Children of Stephen West, whose nearest friends have agreed to subscribe for their own parts and wish the lands of the minors to be put on the same footing, and the heirs of Joseph Coones and some of the persons entitled to Lands in Carrollsburgh and Hamburgh though but a few of them considering their dispersed situation. That some lots belonging to persons absent, and may have been trans- mitted by descent and devise, the heirs and devisees in some cases being minors."
The titles to such parcels of land as were not conveyed to the trustees, Beall and Gantt by the deeds before described were acquired under the provision of an Act of Maryland to be later referred to more at length.
It is a matter of interest that the execution of the deeds to the greater part of the property within the boundaries of the city, on June 29, 1791, occurred approximately one year after the passage of the act to establish the temporary and permanent seat of Government. Within that time President Washington, notwithstanding the manifold public matters of gravest import which claimed his attention as Chief Executive of the new Republic, and which enforced his presence the greater part of the time at Philadelphia, had inspected the entire territory mentioned in the Act, selected the site and determined upon the boundaries of both the Federal Territory and the Federal City; had brought about the acquisition of the greater part of the land for the city, and had seen the plan- ning of the city well advanced towards completion. Such an achievement furnishes some idea of the extraordinary caliber of the man.
CHAPTER IV
The First Board of Commissioners
HEN President Washington left Georgetown on June 30th, 1791, the day after the execution of the deeds in trust by the conciliated proprietors, he in large measure shifted the burden of responsibility for the progress of the city from his own shoulders which up to that time had chiefly borne it, to the shoulders of the Commissioners.
The President in dealing with the proprietors of the land had found his task no easy one, but the eagerness of the latter to have the city located upon their lands, added to President Washington's prestige and the force of his personality, had enabled him to overcome all difficulties without serious opposi- tion. The case with the Commissioners was different. The prospect of funds from the sale of lots, upon which President Washington calculated for the prosecution of the public works, fell far short of materialization. The expectations. of a rapid development and settling up of the city and of early wealth to accrue to the proprietors therefrom, which had been President Washington's chief argument in dealing with the proprietors, proved to have been founded on an undue optimism. Misunder- standings and quarrels resulted in breaches between the Com- missioners and their most important subordinates, which, added to their shortage of funds, contributed greatly to hinder the prosecution of the work. Among the proprietors were some whose disappointment, joining with the hostility of the enemies of the city, manifested itself in criticism and abuse amount- ing at times almost to vilification.
Through these tribulations the Commissioners pursued their course with a singleness of purpose and a devotion to the object
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of their appointment which has placed the nation under an obligation to them which has been singularly overlooked. Frequent mention is heard of the desirability of according recognition, by some adequate memorial, to the designer of the plan of the Capital City, and it is indeed fitting that this should be done. But equally fitting would be some appropriate acknowledgment of the debt which is owing to the Com- missioners who bore the brunt of the administrative labor of preparing the city and public buildings for the reception of the government. Particularly is such recognition due to the three original Commissioners, Daniel Carroll, Thomas Johnson and David Stuart, who organized the administrative details of the work and continued in control of it until the processes of cstablishing the Federal City were fairly on the way to success.
In following the story of the founding of the city, it is gratifying to note one bright and compensating aspect of the Commissioners' connection therewith; namely, the unwavering loyalty which President Washington at all times displayed towards them. In every contingency he sustained their dignity and authority, and insisted upon their being accorded recogni- tion as his accredited and plenipotentiary agents. With a few rare exceptions when especial exigencies or the slowness of com- munication made it necessary for him to vary his rule, he refused to consider matters coming within the scope of their functions until passed upon by the Commissioners and their recommendations made; and practically without exception sus- tained their acts and decisions.
In following the proceedings of the Commissioners it is well to bear in mind that none of the three original members of the board lived at the scene of operations. Mr. Johnson lived at Frederick, Maryland, Doctor Stuart at Alexandria, and Mr. Carroll near the present station of Forest Glen, Maryland. The Commissioners usually met once a month, and their meet- ings often lasted for a week or longer. Communications requir- ing special action were generally sent to Mr. Carroll as most convenient to Georgetown; and he in turn summoned his colleagues by express messengers.
At the first meeting of the Commissioners on April 12,
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1791, John M. Gantt was appointed Secretary. On June 30, William Deakins was appointed Treasurer; his compensation to be one per cent of the amount of money paid out by him. He was required to give bond in the sum of £10,000 ($26,600) and qualified with Benjamin Stoddert and Thomas Beall as his bondsmen. He was directed, in the event of the anticipated establishment of a bank of deposit or branch of the bank of the United States of Alexandria, to lodge there all moneys beyond eight hundred dollars which should come to his hands, subject to be drawn by him as wanted. On October 22d, Thomas Cooke was appointed clerk and bookkeeper.
The Commissioners served for nearly two years without salary until March 4, 1793, when on the recommendation of the President it was resolved that they be allowed one thousand dollars per year each.
The task which it became the duty of the Commissioners to superintend, aside from completing the acquisition of the land within the limits of the city, which, it will be remembered, had been only partly accomplished by President Washington, may be summarized as consisting first, in the perfection of the plan of the city; second, in surveying, platting and marking the streets, reservations, squares and lots; third, in effecting divis- ions of the lots with the proprietors; fourth, in raising the money needed for the erection of the public buildings and for the expenses of administration-this by collecting the Virginia and Maryland grants, by the sale of lots, and by negotiating loans; and lastly, in the erection of the public buildings and the completion of such other public improvements as the needs of the city dictated and the means at hand permitted.
It was deemed imperative by the President to hold a sale of lots at the earliest possible date, and when he left the Com- missioners after obtaining the execution of the deeds of trust on June 29, it was with instructions to proceed vigorously with that purpose in view.
Accordingly at their meeting the day after his departure, the following advertisement was directed to be published in the Georgetown Weekly Ledger:
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"Georgetown, 30th June, 1791.
"The President having approved the scites of ground for the public buildings to be erected in pursuance of the Act of Congress for establishing the Temporary and permanent seat of Government of the United States, the Commission- ers appointed in virtue of that act will meet at George Town on Thursday the seventeenth day of October next and proceed to sell at vendue a number of Lots in the best Situations in the Federal City. A deposit of eight per cent will be required. The residue to be on bond with security payable in three equal yearly payments. The regulations as to the manner of Improvements and other circumstances will be made known at the sale.
Thomas Johnson,
David Stuart,
Danl. Carroll, Commissioners.
"Printers throughout the United States are requested to insert the above in their papers."
Meanwhile, Major L'Enfant was proceeding vigorously with his work of laying out the city, with the assistance of Major Ellicott who had been called in from the work of running the boundary lines of the ten miles square in order that the survey of the city might be sufficiently advanced for the October sales.
As to the manner in which the basis for the survey of the city was established, the legend upon Major L'Enfant's map entitled "Observations Explanatory of the Plan," affords the following interesting information :
"First. The positions for the different grand edifices, and for the several grand squares or areas of different shapes, as they are laid down, were first determined on the most advantageous ground, commanding the most extensive pros- pect, and the better susceptible of such improvements as the various intents of the several objects may require.
"Secondly. Lines or avenues of direct communication have been devised to connect the separate and most distance objects with the principal, and to preserve through the whole a reciprocity of sight at the same time. Attention has been paid to the passing of those leading avenues over the most favorable ground for prospect and convenience.
"Thirdly. North and south lines, intersected by others running due east and west, make the distribution of the
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city into streets, squares, etc., and those lines have been so combined as to meet at certain given points with those divergent avenues, so as to form on the spaces first deter- mined the different squares or areas, which are all propor- tioned in magnitude to the number of avenues leading to them."
L'Enfant then states how these lines were drawn.
"In order to execute the above plan, Mr. Ellicott drew a true meridional line by celestial observation, which passes through the area intended for the Congress House. This line is crossed by another line due east and west, which passes through the same area. These lines were accurately meas- ured and made the bases on which the whole plan was executed. He ran all the lines by a transit instrument, and determined the acute angles by actual measurement, and left nothing to the uncertainly of the compass."
The line due east and west mentioned by L'Enfant was doubtless the same line as that referred to in the deeds in trust as "the east and west line already drawn from the mouth of Goose Creek to the Eastern Branch."
The "Observations" furnish the further information that in the space now occupied by Lincoln Square near the terminus of East Capitol Street, it was proposed to erect "a historic column, also intended for a mile or itinerary Column, from whose station (a mile from the Federal house) all distances of places through the continent are to be calculated."
Much speculation has been indulged in as to the reasons for the adoption of the diagonal avenues as a feature of the plan, and as to the source from which L'Enfant obtained the idea of employing them. On the former question it has been suggested that the diagonals centering upon the open reserva- tions were designed to facilitate movements of troops from one part of the city to another in the event of riots; the park spaces affording room for concentration. L'Enfant however, makes no reference to such a purpose in any of his official com- munications, extracts from which, bearing upon this question were quoted in the preceding chapter. Whether the idea of employing these diagonals in his plan originated in his own mind or was suggested by plans of other cities is problematical. Mr. Glenn Brown, in an illustrated article in Volume 6, of the
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Records of the Columbia Historical Society, suggests that either Sir Christopher Wrenn's plan for the rebuilding of London after the fire, or the plans of Annapolis, Maryland, or Williams- burg, Virginia, may have furnished the idea. From the illus- tration given by Mr. Brown of the plan of Annapolis, the conclu- sion is hard to resist that it was from this source, if from any other than his own inind, that L'Enfant received his inspira- tion. This plan shows two centers: the State House Circle and the Church Circle, highly suggestive of L'Enfant's centers at the Capitol and President's House, each having its radiating system of streets and both lying in the course of one of the chief thoroughfares of the town. The plan is startlingly sug- gestive of L'Enfant's plan for the federal city. L'Enfant was doubtless familiar with the town, or at least had access to a plan of it; whereas there is no evidence that he ever saw Sir Christopher Wrenn's proposed plan for the rebuilding of Lon- don. Letters quoted in the preceding chapter, show that in his request to Mr. Jefferson for the plans of foreign cities which had been collected by the latter, he mentioned that of London ; but Mr. Jefferson, in his letter enumerating the plans sent to L'Enfant in response to this request, makes no mention either of the plan of London or of Sir Christopher Wrenn's proposed plan of it.
The result of the labors of those engaged in this work was that by the middle of August Major L'Enfant had completed his plan which he took to Philadelphia for the President's inspec- tion. With his plan, Major L'Enfant submitted a lengthy statement largely consisting of a very cogent argument in favor of a postponement of the contemplated sale of lots. In setting forth the state of progress of the federal city he allows his characteristic enthusiasm to manifest itself in the following :
"Brought to the point as matters do now stand enough is done to satisfy every one of an earnestness in the process of Execution-and the spots assigned for the Federal House and for the President's palace in exhibiting the most sumptuous aspect and claiming already the suffrage of a crowd of daily visitors both natives and foreigners. will serve to give a grand idea of the whole, but nevertheless it is to be wished more may be done to favor a sale-this being
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to serve very little towards evidencing the beauties of local (ities) reserved for private settlements all being absolutely lost in the chaos of pulled timber without possibility to judge of the advantages of relative conveniency much less of agreement, to be derived from improvements intended in a surrounding local of which but few can form an idea when after inspecting a map.
"The Grand avenue connecting both the palace and the federal House will be most magnificent and most convenient, -the Streets running west of the upper square of the federal House, and which terminate in an easy slope on the canal through the tiber which it will overlook for the space of above two miles will be beautiful above what may be imagined-those other streets parallel to that canal, those crossing over it and which are as many avenues to the grand walk from the water cascade under the federal House to the President's Park and dependency extending to the bank of the Potomac, and also the several Squares or area such as are intended for the Judiciary court-the national bank-the grand church-the play House-the Market and exchange-all through will offer a variety of situations unparalleled in point of beauties-suitable to every purpose and in every point convenient; both are devised for the first offset of the City and combined to command the highest price in a sale."
This plan, it may be here stated, was submitted by the President to Congress for its inspection on December 13, 1791, with the following brief comment :
"Gentlemen of the Senate and House of Representatives : I place before you the plan of the city that has been laid out within the district of ten miles square, which was fixed upon for the permanent seat of the Government of the United States."
It was shortly after withdrawn to be used by Major L'Enfant in preparing the draft for the engraver.
While Major L'Enfant was in Philadelphia with his plan he was requested by the President to hold a conference with a number of persons interested in the new city, among them Mr. Jefferson and Mr. Madison. As the result of this conference it was decided that Mr. Madison and Mr. Jefferson should stop at Georgetown on their way to Virginia a little later, and obtain the views of the Commissioners relative to the matters
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which had been discussed at the Philadelphia conference. Pur- suant to appointment, Mr. Madison and Mr. Jefferson met with the Commissioners at Georgetown on September 8th, 1791, and went at length into many details with reference to the policy to be followed in establishing the City. Mr. Jefferson came equipped with a set of questions, which with the answers agreed upon by the Commissioners, are set forth in the record of the meeting.
Mr. Jefferson's report to the President of the action taken by the Commissioners is but one of the many testimonials to be found to the complete liberty of judgment and action on the part of the Commissioners upon which the President at all times insisted. Writing on September 8, 1791, the day of the meeting, Mr. Jefferson says :
"We were detained on the road by the rains so that we did not arrive here till yesterday about ten o'clock; as soon as horses could be got ready we set out and rode till dark, examining chiefly the grounds newly laid open, which we found much superior to what we had imagined,-we have passed this day in consultation with the Commission- ers, who having deliberated on every article contained in our paper and preadmonished that they should decide free- ly on their own view of things, concurred unanimously on, I believe every point with what had been thought best in Philadelphia."
From the record of the Commissioners' meeting for that day, it appears that Major L'Enfant's recommendations in favor of a postponement of the coming sale were considered and overruled; that the question of attempting to effect a loan on the security of the public's share of the lots in the city was discussed and decided to be impracticable until the approximate value of the property should be established at a sale, as well as being of doubtful legality without previous legislation; that it was decided to increase the ready money deposits on sales of lots to one-fourth ; that the building of a bridge over the Eastern Branch, the digging of the Tiber Creek Canal and the construc- tion of wharves on the river below Rock Creek as had been proposed by Mr. Peter of Georgetown were postponed for want of funds; that no wooden houses should be allowed in the town;
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that it was concluded (doubtless in accordance to Mr. Jeffer- son's pronounced views on the subject) that liberty should be allowed as to the distance of buildings from the streets, but some limit placed upon their heights-no house wall to be higher than thirty-five feet in any part of the town and none lower than that on any of the avenues; that it was determined that the digging of earth for bricks the coming fall was indispensible, the procuring of other materials to depend upon the funds; that it was thought advisable to advertise a prize for the best plans for the public buildings ; that encroachments in the streets such as stoops or projections of every kind should be prohibited ; that the plan of the city should be engraved; that the names of the streets should be alphabetical one way and numerical the other, the former to be divided into north and south letters, the latter into east and west numbers from the "Capitol;" that lots with springs on them should be appropriated to the public if practicable without too much discontent, the springs not to be sold again; that the public squares should be left blank except that for the Capitol and one for the executive department, which should be considered as appropriated; that soundings of the Eastern Branch should be made and a post road established through the city; and lastly that the name of the city and territory should be "City of Washington and Territory of Columbia."
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