Essay Sample on The History of Washington, DC

Washington DC is our nation's capital, home to our president, and the base of where our country operates. But how and why was DC created? Washington was created to be a compromise. Alexander hamilton and the northern states wanted the new federal government to assume revolutionary war debts while Thomas Jefferson and the southern states wanted a capital placed in a location that was friendly for slaveholding and agricultural interests, and President Washington wanted something close to home. So President Washington, Thomas Jefferson, And Alexander Hamilton chose a little area along the Potomac and Anacostia Rivers. The city was officially founded in 1790 after both Maryland and Virginia both gave up pieces of their land and the “Residence act” was signed. From these two pieces of land a new 10-mile square district was formed, and the “Federal City” was established. 

(washington.org)

George Washington appointed 3 commissioners to oversee the construction of the Federal City Thomas Jefferson, Davis Stuart, and Daniel Carol. Then the President appointed a French military engineer who served in the Revolutionary war.  Pierre Charles L'Enfant, who had aspirations of making a bold, modern city, featuring grand boulevards, to design the base for the capital. He was appointed after he was the first to write to Washington about how he wanted to design the “Federal City”. L'Enfant planned out a grid system and located the Capitol at the elevated east end of the Mall, on the brow of what was then called Jenkins' Hill. The site was, in L'Enfant's words, "a pedestal waiting for a monument”(washington.org). L'Enfant was expected to design the U.S. Capitol Building and supervise its construction. However, he refused to produce any drawings for the building, claiming that he carried the design "in his head"; this fact and his refusal to consider himself subject to the commissioners' authority led to his dismissal in 1792. In March of that year, the commissioners announced a competition, suggested by Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson, that would award $500 and a city lot to whoever produced "the most approved plan" for the U.S. Capitol Building, by mid-July. None of the 17 plans submitted were satisfactory. But in October, a letter arrived from Dr. William Thornton, a Scottish physician living in Tortola, British West Indies, requesting an opportunity to present a plan even though the competition had closed. The commissioners eventually granted this request.Thornton's design represented a three-sectioned structure. Two rectangular wings were to border the central section, which was to be crowned by a low dome, on the north and south (one for the Senate and one for the House of Representatives). President George Washington praised the idea for its "grandeur, simplicity, and convenience," and the commissioners approved it on April 5, 1793; Washington provided his formal assent on July 25. 

(visitthecapitol.gov)

On September 18, 1793, hundreds of slaves gathered to construct our nation's capitol building. Although the entire contribution of enslaved African Americans in the construction of the Capitol Building cannot be determined due to the scarcity of documentation, there is enough information to know that the role they played had a significant impact on the project. The new capital city's site was in an area with a scarcity of carpenters, bricklayers, stone cutters, and other tradespeople needed to complete such a project. Engineers and architects were brought in from other parts of the country, but the majority of the work was done by local laborers, who were largely African American slaves. These slaves, together with other laborers, quarried the stone for the Capitol's flooring, walls, and columns, and sawed both wood and stone. Slaves also framed the roof and fitted the shingle covering, which solved one of the most significant problems and was one of many contributions slaves made to the Capitol's construction.

(aoc.gov)

The project moved slowly under the direction of a series of architects, including Stephen Hallet, George Hadfield, and James Hoban. The project was said to be finished by 1800 but in 1803 Benjamin Henry Latrobe was hired. He renovated the senate wing and completed the house wing. The original design did not last very long though as 11 years later the British set fire to the building in the war of 1812. Fortunately, a rainfall saved the Capitol from total ruin, and Latrobe began restoration and redesigning the next year. The structure was finished in 1826 by Charles Bulfinch, a renowned Boston architect who succeeded Latrobe in 1818 and made only minor changes to Latrobe's interior scheme. While the Capitol was considered finished in 1826 after the renovations, the need to expand the structure became apparent by 1850 due to the nation's massive expansion. Since 1793, the number of states in the union had more than doubled, and Congress had grown drastically. The Senate had increased from thirty to sixty-two senators, and the House had grown from 69 to 233 members. With a constantly expanding Congress, it was clear that the structure was inadequate and after all this, the nation continued to expand which led to the library of congress needing to be moved to its own separate building in 1897.Now let's take it back to 1792 when the construction of the Executive mansion (White House) commenced. After George Washington chose a symbolic spot for the building to be constructed. The chosen location and position for the White House symbolically linked the President’s House to the U.S. Capitol via Pennsylvania Avenue. The construction and design of the president's home had a large influence from Pierre Charles L'Enfant (The architect that designed the plan for the federal city), But Washington and his Secretary of State, Thomas Jefferson, both had personal interests in architecture. And agreed that the design of the White House and the Capitol would be chosen in a design competition. Although all of his Submissions for the Capital were rejected, James Hoban's idea and plan for the Executive Mansion caught the eye of Thomas Jefferson and George Washington. It even beat out the anonymous submission that Mr.Jefferson submitted to the competition. Hoban was born in Ireland and attended the Dublin Society of Arts for his education. After the revolution, he moved to the United States in search of work, first in Philadelphia and then in South Carolina, where he designed various buildings, notably the state capitol in Columbia which eventually burned down in 1865. 

(britannica.com)

(wikipedia.org.)

During his "Southern Tour" in May 1791, President George Washington stopped in Charleston, South Carolina, to see the construction of the Charleston County Courthouse designed by Hoban. He is said to have met Hoban at that time and invited the architect to Philadelphia the next year and met with him in June 1792. The president met with the commissioners of the federal city on July 16, 1792, to make his decision in the architectural competition. His examination was noted as being brief, and he chose Hoban's submission quickly. Hoban's design had many influences from all over, he had Irish influence and some roman influence. While there is no record of a proper ceremony, the construction of the white house began in the afternoon of October 13th, 1792, with the laying of the cornerstone. A large chunk of the labor was done by enslaved African Americans, free labor African Americans, employed Europeans, and immigrants that did not yet have their citizenship.  The large sandstone walls were constructed by scottish imagrents that Hoban had hired. Same with the high-relief rose and garland decorations above the north entrance and the "fish scale" pattern beneath the pediments of the window hoods (wikipedia.org). The original construction took eight years and cost $232,371.83 (equivalent to $3,710,000 in 2021). And The White House was ready for occupancy around November 1, 1800, despite the fact that it had not yet been completed. Due to a lack of materials and manpower, the original idea for a "palace" that was five times larger had to be changed and set back. The finished structure had just two main levels instead of the planned three, and the stone façades were lined with a less expensive brick. While the original design and layout were short-lived because on August 24th, 1814 the British invaded America and its capital during the Chesapeake campaign of the War of 1812. This was known as the burning of Washinton. The British came and set fire to our newly founded and established capital after there defeat to the Americans in the battle of  Bladensburg. On the night of the 24th General Robert Ross marched into Washington with 4,500 “Battle Hardened men”. (Wikipedia.org) They set fire to multiple military buildings, the Capitol Building, the Executive mansion, and many other U.S government facilities. While there were many casualties and it was a major loss for America a thunderstorm/ possible hurricane came through Washington forcing the British to evacuate and extinguished the flames.

(britannica.com)