Washington Becomes U.S. Capital
(Adams, 1800)
In 1800 the United States government moved to its permanent location in Washington, D.C. The 1790 Residence Act had authorized then President Washington to select a site on the Potomac for the nation’s capital. Over his six remaining years in office, Washington energetically promoted the development of his namesake city so it would be ready to receive the federal government in 1800, according to the terms of the Residence Act.
Washington asked the French engineer Pierre L’Enfant in 1791 to design the city. L’Enfant’s plans included great public squares, extensive parks and gardens, a system of avenues radiating from the city’s center, and public buildings located majestically along the Potomac. His dismissal from the project in 1792, combined with a lack of funding for construction, rendered the city woefully under-developed when the federal government arrived in 1800. (It was not until the twentieth century, in fact, that L’Enfant’s designs for the city were gradually implemented.) At the dawn of the nineteenth century, only one wing of the U.S. capitol was complete and the federal city consisted of just 366 houses with a population of about 3000. Roads were scarce, entertainment virtually non-existent, and housing limited. Fewer than three hundred federal personnel moved into the city. Congressmen frequently rented rooms in boarding houses two to a bed.
President John Adams moved into the still incomplete White House, of which only the box-like center had been built. Life in the White House seemed only a slight improvement over congressmen’s circumstances. The Adamses lacked an expense account to furnish the house and a staff to maintain it. Yet, they were expected to host social functions and official receptions. Adams did not have to struggle under the burden for long, however. Just a few months after moving in to the White House, he turned it over to Thomas Jefferson, who defeated him in the election of 1800.
Despite the initial hardships and inadequacies of the federal government’s new home, a general optimism about the city prevailed. Unlike the Adamses, who were from Massachusetts, Jefferson, knew the Potomac region well and had long supported its location for the nation’s capital. His election, the “Revolution of 1800,” along with the rapid progression of construction in Washington, breathed life into the fledgling capital city. His election, the “Revolution of 1800,” renewed enthusiasm for the federal government and provided impetus for the further development of the nation’s capital city.
References/Further Reading:
Stanley Elkins and Eric McKitrick. The Age of Federalism, chap. 4, “The Republic’s CapitalCity.” New York: OxfordUniversity Press, 1993.
John Whitcomb and Claire Whitcomb. Real Life at the White House: Two Hundred Years of Daily Life at America’s Most Famous Residence, 1-14. New York: Routledge, 2000.