USA > Washington > Standard history of the city of Washington from a study of the original sources > Part 4
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"In conversation with Mr. Carroll, Mr. Stoddert and Mr. Deakins they were properly impressed with the idea that if the present occasion of securing the Federal seat on the Potowmack should be lost, it could never more be regained, that it would be dangerous to rely on any aids from Congress, or the Assemblies of Virginia or Maryland, and that therefore measures should be adopted to carry the Residence Bill into execution without recourse to those bodies; and that the requisites were 1st land enough to place the public buildings on; and 2ndly money enough to build them, and to erect moreover about 20 good dwell- ing houses for such persons belonging to the Government as must have houses to themselves, about as many good lodging houses, and half a dozen taverns.
"To obtain this sum, this expedient was suggested to them. To procure a declaration from the proprietors of those spots of land most likely to be fixed for the town, that if the President's location of the town should comprehend their lands, they would give them up for the use of the U. S. on condition they should receive the double of their value, estimated as they would have been had there been no thought of bringing the federal seat into their neighbor- hood. It was supposed that 1500 acres would be required in the whole, to-wit, about 300 acres for public buildings, walks, etc., and 1200 acres to be divided into quarter acre lots, which, due allowance being made for streets, would make about 2000 lots, the vacant lots in Georgetown now
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sell at £200, those of Alexandria at £600. Suppose those of the new town should bring only £100 clear this would produce £200,000 a sum adequate to the objects before men- tioned. It was further supposed that the Assembly of Maryland would interpose to force the consent of infant or obstinate proprietors for a reasonable compensation.
"It was also suggested as a more certain means of ensuring the object, that each proprietor within the whole ten miles square should cede one-half his lands to the public, to be sold to raise money; perhaps this would be pushing them too far for the reputation of the new government they were to come under, and further than is necessary when we consider the sum which may be raised by the sale of lots, the donation of 120,000 dollars by Virginia, and the possi- ble donation of an equal sum by Maryland; at least it might show a commendable moderation not to push this proposition until experiment should prove the other resources inadequate; great zeal appeared in the gentlemen before mentioned, and they seemed to approve the proposi- tion for the 1500 acres; that for a moiety of all the lands within the ten miles square was hazarded only to Mr. Carroll ; they will probably proceed immediately to make the best arrangements practicable and to come forward with them to the President."
After visiting with the President at Mount Vernon, Mr. Jefferson and Mr. Madison appear to have visited with General Stevens Thomson Mason, who then owned and resided on Analostan Island, such at least being the probable identity of the person referred to in Mr. Jefferson's account of their visit in a letter to President Washington written from Fredericks- burg, Va., on September 17, 1790, wherein he says :
"Sir: In the course of the visit we made the day we left Mount Vernon we drew our host into conversation on the subject of the federal seat. He came into it with a shyness not usual in him. Whether this proceeded from his delicacy as having property adjoining Georgetown or from what other motive I cannot say. He quitted the subject always as soon as he could. He said enough however to show his decided preference of Georgetown. He men- tioned shortly in its favor these circumstances: 1. Its being at the junction of the upper and lower navigation where the commodities must be transferred into other vessels :
.
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(and here he was confident that no vessel could be con- trived which could pass the upper shoals and live in the wide waters below his island). 2. The depth of water which would admit any vessels that could come to Alex- andria. 3. Narrowness of the river and consequent safe- ness of the harbour. 4. Its being clear of ice as early at least as the canal and river above would be clear. 5. Its neighborhood to the Eastern Branch whither any vessels might conveniently withdraw which should be detained through the winter. 6. Its defensibility, as derived from the high and commanding hills around it. 7. Its actual possession of the commerce and the start it already has.
"He spoke of Georgetown always in comparison with Alexandria. When led to mention the Eastern Branch he spoke of it as an admirable position, superior in all respects to Alexandria."
Not feeling justified in confining his attention to the vicin- ity of Georgetown and the Eastern Branch, President Wash- ington later took a trip up the river for the purpose of investigating the advantages of the various available sites in that region. The Georgetown newspapers of October 26, 1790, state that the previous Friday President Washington had arrived in town and that in company with the principal gentle- men of the town he had set out to view the adjacent country in order to fix upon a future situation for "the Grand Columbian Federal City," and that he left on Saturday for the Great Falls and Conogocheague. In this work he enlisted the services of Francis Deakins, the brother of Col. William Deakins, whom he commissioned to make a plat of the lands in the neighborhood of the Monocacy and the Conogocheague and to obtain such propositions as the land owners might see fit to put forward. Mr. Deakins reported the results of his efforts in the following letter to the President at Mount Vernon :
"Monocacy, November 12th, 1790.
"Sir: I now enclose you a draft of the Lands you viewed about this place, with the offers the proprietors has made for the use of the public buildings, etc. You'l please to Consider our neighbours as retired Industrious planters having no income but the produce of their farms; not more than a moderate Support for their families, as a Reason why they have not been more Liberal.
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"I expected Mr. Williams to have sent me some papers and notes about the mouth of Conogocheague which has not come to hand, his Brother Genl. Williams was up im- mediately after you, who I suppose will make that return to you.
"Having no assistance in laying down the plats-much other business on hand and a faint expectation of its possessing superior advantages to any other place, I hope will in some degree apologize for the roughness of it.
"I have the honor to be Sir,
Your most obedt Servt
Francis Deakins."
In the meantime Col. William Deakins had been active among the proprietors of the lands lying between Georgetown and the Eastern Branch with the result that on November 3rd he wrote from Georgetown to the President at Mount Vernon :
"Sir: The day after you left this place we employed a Surveyor to lay down our Situations, but it has taken more time than we expected, to ascertain the Axact Quantity of Land held by each proprietor within the lines laid down. I expect on Sunday or Monday next to hand you the platt and proposals from the holders of the land.
"I am, very respectfully,
Sir, Your obdt Servt
Will Deakins, Junr."
The proposal from the owners of the land to which Mr. Deakins referred was in the following language:
"We, the subscribers, do hereby agree and oblige our- selves, our heirs, Executors and Administrators, to sell and make over by sufficient Deeds, in any manner which shall be directed by General Washington, or any person acting under him, and on such terms as he shall determine to be reasonable and just, any of the Lands which we possess in the vicinity of George-Town, for the uses of the Federal City provided the same shall be erected in the said vicinity.
"Witness our hands this thirteenth day of October, 1790. Robt. Peter, for One hundred Acres, should so much of mine be tho't necessary.
Thos. Beall of Geo.
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Benj. Stoddert.
Uriah Forrest.
Will Deakins, Junr.
John Stoddard, Any land on the north side of my meadow.
J. M. Lingan, George Beall, Anthony Holmead."
Accompanying this proposal was a lengthy statement setting forth the merits of Georgetown as an harbor and place of residence, the opening and closing of which recited :
"The object of the subscribers to the paper annexed, is to accommodate,-they will cheerfully consent to any other arrangement, that may be thought reasonable, should their Lands, or any part of them, be selected for the Federal City.
"They are induced to make the offer of their Lands under the idea that if the Federal City should be erected on navigation, no place in the small distance from the mouth of the Eastern Branch, to the highest Tide water, offers so many advantages and that to none there can be so few solid objections, as to George Town and its immediate vicinity.
"The subscribers cannot but be of opinion (and where their observations are just, they will not bear less weight for coming from men interested) that the speediest means of extending the town all over and between the Country between Georgetown and the Eastern Branch, would be, to erect the Federal Buildings adjacent to George-Town- in such an event no doubts could be entertained of the rapid improvement of the City and Country around it .- No build- ings would be omitted in consequence of apprehensions that the Seat of Government might not after all be on Potowmak, for all men would be satisfied that if disappoint- ed in this favorite object, their improvements would still afford them ample compensation for their expenses, from being in a large Commercial Town."
The plat which had been prepared for the proprietors as mentioned by Mr. Deakins was probably one by Beatty and Orme, reference to which will later be found in President Wash- ington's correspondence with Messrs. Stoddert and Deakins.
The President appears to have requested of Mr. Deakins
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to procure an extension of this plat to include Georgetown and to have taken up with the proprietors the question of a con- veyance from them to the public on the basis of every third lot being reconveyed to the proprietors, for shortly after Mr. Deakins' letter of November 3d we find him writing to the President who was just about to start on his return to Phila- delphia :
"Geo. Town, Novr. 18th, 1790.
"Sir: I saw my brother a few days ago and he tells me he will have the Platts for the Situations above Lodged in my hands by Monday next, to be delivered on your way through this place and I will also have another platt of our situation with the Streets of Georgetown and its addi- tions Laid down for your Information.
"If the second proposition of the proprietors should be preferred, that is for them to retain every third Lott in the Federal Town you may Extend the Limits to 3,000 As. "I am with every Sentiment of Respect and Esteem,
Your obt servt,
Will Deakins, Junr."
While the negotiations with the proprietors of the land were going on the President was proceeding with the other duties imposed upon him by the Residence Act. One of those duties was the naming of the three Commissioners to carry on the work of preparing the new federal seat for the reception of the Government. Diverse considerations were to be weighed in this connection. On this subject Mr. Jefferson's notes are again a source of valuable information and throw much light upon the considerations by which the President was influenced in making his selection.
With regard to the Commissioners to be appointed Mr. Jefferson says :
"3. Commissioners to be appointed.
"I suppose them not entitled to any salary.
" (If they live near the place, they may, in some instances, be influenced by self interest, and partialities; but they will push the work with zeal; if they are from a distance and northwardly, they will be more impartial, but may affect delays.)"
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Further on he continues :
"The act for establishing the temporary and permanent seat of Government of the U. States requires the follow- ing steps for carrying the latter into effect.
"1. The appointment of three Commissioners of sufficient respectability having good will to the general object with- out any particular bias of private interest .*
"Should it be advisable after securing a majority near at hand to make an appointment with a view to attach particular parts of the Union to the object. N. England particularly Massachusetts, first occurs-and next, S. Caro- lina and Georgia. Mr. Ellicot (Mr. Gorum, Mr. Bull) Mr. Fitzhugh (of Chatham) Mr. O. Wolcott, Mr. Tucker, Mr. Lloyd (of Annapolis), Mr. of R. I., Mr. Baldwin, Rev'd. Mr. Lee Massey." And again :
"The Commissioners should have some taste in Archi- tecture, because they may have to decide between different plans.
"They will however be subject to the President's direc- tion in every point."
The result of the President's deliberations was the selec- tion of Thomas Johnson, Daniel Carroll and David Stuart, and the issuance of a commission to them in the following form :
"(Seal) George Washington, President of the United States.
"To all who shall see these presents, Greetings :
"Know ye, that reposing special trust and confidence in the integrity, skill, and diligence of Thos. Johnson and Daniel Carroll, of Maryland, and David Stuart, of Vir- ginia, I do, in pursuance of the powers vested in me by the act entitled 'An Act for establishing the temporary and permanent seat of the Government of the United States, approved July 16, 1790, hereby appoint them, the said Thomas Johnson, Daniel Carroll, and David Stuart,
*Quer. If local situation or interest be an objection outweighing the advantage of proximity and zeal for the object, as the President is to prescribe the place and the comiss, only to define the district, and as the subsequent discretion in the Comiss, will give no oppor- tunity of sacrificing their trust to local considerations. The essential point seems to be that the Commission's be filled by men who prefer residing (a majority at least) so conveniently to the scene of business as to be able to attend readily and gratis.
.
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commissioners for surveying the district of territory accepted by the said act for the permanent seat of the Government of the United States, and for performing such other offices as by law are directed, with full authority for them, or any two of them, to proceed therein according to law, and to have and to hold the said office, with all the powers, privileges, and authorities to the same of right appertaining each of them, during the pleasure of the Presi- dent of the United States for the time being.
"In testimony whereof I have caused these letters to be made patent and the seal of the United States thereto affixed.
"Given under my hand at the city of Philadelphia, the twenty-second day of January, in year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and ninety-one and of the Inde- pendence of the United States the fifteenth.
George Washington.
By the President :
Thomas Jefferson."
Thomas Johnson was a resident of Frederick, Maryland, and an old friend of President Washington. Prior to the Revolutionary War he had been interested with the latter in the project of rendering the upper Potomac and its tributaries navigable by a series of improvements in the channel and the construction of canals around the Great and Little Falls. As one of the Representatives of the State of Maryland in the Continental Congress he had nominated Washington to be Com- mander-in-Chief of the Continental Army and he had later served under General Washington in the Army. After the Revolutionary War he had taken an active part with Washing- ton in reviving the project of improving the navigation of the Potomac, and after the organization of the Potowmack Company for that purpose in 1785, had given special attention to the supervision of the work which the company undertook. He had been the Governor of his State, and at the time of his appointment as Commissioner was its Chief Justice. Shortly after his appointment as Commissioner, President Washington appointed him to the Supreme Court of the United States to take the seat vacated by Mr. Rutledge. He continued to serve
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as Commissioner while holding his place on the Supreme Bench. He was of a brusque, impetuous temperament, and was strong- ly addicted to swearing, though he is spoken of as generous and warm hearted.
President Washington probably was moved by a number of considerations to name Mr. Johnson as one of the Commis- sioners. He knew that the latter's residence near the location of the new city and his interest in the Potowmack Company would give him a strong incentive to push the development of the city. He knew from observation of Mr. Johnson's efforts in directing the work of the Potowmack Company that he was a man of great energy and executive capacity. He knew him to be an astute lawyer, thoroughly grounded in the Maryland laws and he doubtless anticipated that such a man would be invaluable as legal adviser to the Commission and particularly in preparing the conveyances which would be required in carry- ing out his scheme for acquiring the site for the proposed city and in drafting such legislation as would be needed to facilitate the work of the Commission.
Daniel Carroll was a resident of Carroll Springs, Montgom- ery County, Maryland. He was born at Upper Marlboro, and with his brother John Carroll had received a finished education abroad. His brother entered the priesthood and later became the first Catholic Bishop of Baltimore and the founder of Georgetown Academy-afterwards Georgetown University.
Daniel Carroll had been a member of the Continental Con- gress and of the Constitutional Convention and at the time of his appointment as Commissioner was a member of the United States House of Representatives from Maryland. On this account he declined to accept the appointment as Commissioner until the expiration of his term in Congress on March 4, 1791, when a new Commission was sent him. He was commonly spoken of as Daniel Carroll of Rock Creek to distinguish him from Daniel Carroll of Duddington.
David Stuart was President Washington's family physician, and a resident of Alexandria, Va. He had married the widow of John Parke Custis, the son of the President's wife. He had
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long been the trusted advisor of President Washington whose correspondence during the early years of his presidency contains numerous letters to Dr. Stuart explaining the President's atti- tude on public questions, inquiring as to the state of public opinion and soliciting the Doctor's views and advice. In a sense the Doctor may be regarded as having been the President's personal representative in the Commission.
The Commission was directed to Mr. Carroll with a letter notifying him of his appointment. A similar letter was sent to the other appointees. These letters are in the handwriting of Mr. Jefferson by whom they were probably prepared. That to Mr. Carroll reads :
"Philadelphia, January 24th, 1791.
"Dear Sir: The President of the United States desirous of availing himself of your assistance in preparing the federal seat on the Potomac is in hopes you will act as one of the Commissioners directed by the Law for that pur- pose. I have the honor now to enclose a joint commission for yourself and two others, together with a copy of the Proclamation meant to constitute your first direction. The President will from time to time communicate such further directions as circumstances shall call for.
"I have the honor to be with great esteem. Dear Sir, Your most obt and most h'ble servt. Honorable Daniel Carroll."
The organization of the Commission as a whole was delayed owing to the doubt expressed by Mr. Carroll as to his qualifications for the position during his term as Congressman. Mr. Jefferson, however, wrote to the other two, calling atten- tion to the provision in the law which authorized two Com- missioners to act and they took steps looking to the organization of the Commission prior to Mr. Carroll's qualifying for the position. The first full meeting occurred on April 12, 1791.
While the President was deciding upon the selection of the Commissioners he was devoting much thought to the deter- mination of the exact location, extent and outlines of the terri- tory not exceeding ten miles square within which the Federal City was to be located.
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History of the City of Washington.
As to the question of extent, the probabilities are that Presi- dent Washington at no time gave serious consideration to the acquisition of less than the full quantity of land allowed by the Residence Act, though Mr. Jefferson was for a time at least disposed to regard an area five miles each way as sufficient. Both President Washington and Mr. Jefferson, however, quickly perceived the extreme desirability of including both shores of the Eastern Branch, Mr. Jefferson going so far as to strongly advocate the inclusion of Bladensburg, which at that time was an important point for the shipment of tobacco. President Washington was also desirous of including the town of Alex- andria.
The difficulty in carrying out this plan was the provision in the Residence Act requiring the federal territory to be locat- ed above the Eastern Branch. A means of surmounting this difficulty was, however, soon devised and is set forth by Mr. Jefferson in his notes on the Federal City, where, in his enumer- ation of the steps to be taken under the Residence Act he includes :
"3. That the President direct the Survey of the District which he shall ultimately elect. It seems essential that the District should comprehend the water adjoining the estab- lishment and eligible that it should comprehend the oppo- site shore. The legality of this seems to be decided by the clause confining the purchase or acceptance of land for the use of the U. S. 'to the East side of the river within the said district' which imply that the whole district was not necessarily to be on that side. Quer: whether it will not be convenient to accept in the first instance so much less than ten miles square as will allow places to be afterwards taken in, which may not now be obtainable, or it may not be prudent now to accept."
Further on in a series of queries he suggests the solution which was eventually adopted. He asks :
"Would it not be well if a position below the little falls should be decided on, to begin the ten miles just above the commencement of the canal; and accept from Mary- land, for the present, only from thence down to the Eastern Branch, supposed about seven miles; and to accept from Virginia ten miles beginning at the lower end of Alexandria,
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and running up as far as it will extend, which probably will be as far up as the commencement of the Maryland side this being accepted, and professedly (as to Maryland) in part only of their session, when Congress shall meet they may pass an amendatory bill authorizing the President to compleat his acceptance from Maryland by crossing the Eastern Branch and compleating the ten miles in that direction, which will bring the lower boundary on the Maryland side very nearly opposite to that on the Virginia side-it is understood that the breadth of the territory accepted will be of five miles only on each side."'
The plan outlined by Mr. Jefferson in being put into operation was modified in that instead of limiting the sides of the territory to five miles and locating the territory below the Little Falls, the sides were given the full length of ten miles allowed by the law and the territory made to extend a consider- able distance above the Little Falls. Conformably to this plan President Washington on January 24, 1791, issued his proclama- tion announcing the location of one part of the district by running as "lines of experiment" the lines which he expected would constitute the boundaries of the District when finally designated.
The text of this proclamation follows :
"BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. A PROCLAMATION.
"Whereas the General Assembly of the State of Maryland, by an Act passed on the 23d day of December, 1788, entitled, 'An Act to cede to Congress a district of ten miles square in this State for the seat of Government of the United States,' did enact, that the representatives of the said State in the House of Representatives of the Congress of the United States, appointed to assemble at New York on the first Wednesday of March then next ensuing, should be, and they were thereby, authorized and required, on the behalf of the said State, to cede to the Congress of the United States any district in the said State not exceeding ten miles square, which the Congress might fix upon and accept for the seat of Government of the United States.
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