The House of Representatives had proposed a bill naming Baltimore as the site, but the Senate struck out this provision, and on July 1, 1790, voted 14 to 12 for the Potomac River site between the mouth of the Eastern Branch and the Connogochegue, a tributary of the Potomac, 20 miles south of the Pennsylvania State line. The bill which became a law July 16, 1790, reads as follows:
An Act for establishing the temporary and permanent seat of the Government of the United States
Section 1. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That a district of territory, not exceeding ten miles square, to be located as hereafter directed on the river Potomac, at some place between the mouths of the Eastern Branch and Connogochegue, be, and the same is hereby, accepted for the permanent seat of the government of the United States. Provided nevertheless, That the operation of the laws of the state within such district shall not be affected by this acceptance, until the time fixed for the removal of the government thereto, and until Congress shall otherwise by law provide.
Sec. 2. And be it further enacted, That the President of the United States be authorized to appoint, and by supplying vacancies happening from refusals to act or other causes, to keep in appointment as long as may be necessary, three commissioners, who, or any two of whom, shall, under the direction of the President, survey, and by proper metes and bounds define and limit a district of territory, under the limitations above mentioned; and the district so defined, limited and located, shall be deemed the district accepted by this act, for the permanent seat of the government of the United States.
Sec. 3. And be it further enacted, That the said commissioners, or any two of them, shall have power to purchase or accept such quantity of land on the eastern side of the said river, within the said district, as the President shall deem proper for the use of the United States, and according to such plans as the President shall approve, the said commissioners, or any two of them, shall, prior to the first Monday in December, in the year one thousand eight hundred, provide suitable buildings for the accommodation of Congress, and of the President, and for the public offices of the government of the United States.
Sec. 4. And be it further enacted, That for defraying the expense of such purchases and buildings, the President of the United States be authorized and requested to accept grants of money.
Sec. 5. And be it further enacted, That prior to the first Monday in December next, all offices attached to the seat of the government of the United States, shall be removed to, and until the said first Monday in December, in the year one thousand eight hundred, shall remain at the city of Philadelphia, in the state of Pennsylvania, at which place the session of Congress next ensuing the present shall be held.
Sec. 6. And be it further enacted, That on the said first Monday in December, in the year one thousand eight hundred, the seat of the government of the United States, shall, by virtue of this act, be transferred to the district and place aforesaid. And all offices attached to the said seat of government, shall accordingly be removed thereto by their respective holders, and shall, after the said day, cease to be exercised elsewhere; and that the necessary expense of such removal shall be defrayed out of the duties on imposts and tonnage, of which a sufficient sum is hereby appropriated.
It is said that the loftiest minds of Congress were swayed by the judgment of George Washington in this matter. They agreed with him that America should establish the precedent of a nation locating and founding a city for its permanent capital by legislative enactment. Furthermore, they wished to honor that first President and great general and counselor, who had made their independence possible, by conferring upon him the power to select for this Federal City the locality he had in prophetic vision chosen as a suitable site for the capital of the Republic. By this act Congress expressed its faith in President Washington by permitting him to establish the capital anywhere along the Potomac between the Eastern Branch and the Connogochegue, a distance of 80 miles. The boundaries of no other city were ever fixed with more certainty. It is recorded that George Washington was harassed by the importunities of anxious residents and aggressive speculators, but that he never wavered in his purpose to select for the site of the Federal City that which in former years he had chosen for the Federal home upon the establishment of the Republic.
By proclamation of January 24, 1791, President Washington directed that a preliminary survey be made, or, in the President’s words, “lines of experiment” were to be run. This survey was substantially in accord with the lines subsequently adopted, moving the southern boundary point of the “ten miles square” farther south so as to include a convenient part of the Eastern Branch and also the town of Alexandria.
The act of July 16, 1790, was thereupon amended accordingly by act approved March 3, 1791, as follows:
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That so much of the act, entitled “An act for establishing the temporary and permanent seat of the government of the United States,” as requires that the whole of the district of territory, not exceeding ten miles square, to be located on the river Potomac, for the permanent seat of the government of the United States, shall be located above the mouth of the Eastern Branch be and is hereby repealed, and 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 of the lands lying on the lower side thereof and also the town of Alexandria, and the territory so to be included, shall form a part of the district not exceeding ten miles square, for the permanent seat of the government of the United States, in like manner and to all intents and purposes, as if the same had been within the purview of the above recited act: Provided, That nothing herein contained, shall authorize the erection of public buildings otherwise than on the Maryland side of the river Potomac, as required by the aforesaid act.
Thus within a period of nine months the limits of the Federal territory were established. The corner stone was set with appropriate ceremonies at Jones Point, Alexandria, Va., April 15, 1791. Not a cent was advanced by Congress for buildings or grounds. In fact, the Treasury was empty, and without credit Congress was unable to give financial assistance. Washington himself drew up the original agreement by which the owners were to convey the land to the Government which the Cincinnatus of the West bought from the landholders at £25 per acre.
Of George Washington, Daniel Webster said, at the ceremonies for enlarging the Capitol to its present size, on July 4, 1851:
He heads a short procession over naked fields, he crosses yonder stream on a fallen tree, he ascends to the top of this eminence, where original oaks of the forest stood as thick around as if the spot had been devoted to Druidical worship, and here he performed the appointed duty of the day.
In earlier years Washington had noted the beauty of the broad eminence on which the Capitol was destined to be reared, and had marked the breadth of the picture and the strong colors of the landscape with its environing wall of wooded heights, which rolled back against the sky as if to inclose a beautiful area fit for the supreme deliberation of the governmental affairs of a great Republic in the New World, founded on the truths “that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” These truths, as set forth in the unanimous declaration of the thirteen original colonies of the United States of America adopted July 4, 1776, formed the basis of the Magna Charta of American liberty, known to us as the Declaration of Independence.
Somewhat more than a century and a half before (in 1608) Capt. John Smith and his men sailed up the Patawomeck and visited the site of the future Federal City. The famous adventurer only partially explored the country, the principal item in the log book of his voyage being that they found the river full of luscious fish and its shores lined with ferocious savages. They met with opposition from Chief Powhatan and were subject to continual attacks. Nevertheless the exploration was continued up the Potomac as far as Little Falls, about 5 miles above the city of Washington. At the time of this exploration there were about 30 tribes, principal and subordinate, living along the shores of Chesapeake Bay in Maryland and Virginia. The chief of these principal tribes were the Powhatans, the Manahoacs, and the Monacans. The Powhatans lived along the shores of the Chesapeake as far north as the Patuxent in Maryland, and the other two lived in the territory contiguous to the York and Potomac Rivers. The Manahoacs and the Monacans, who were continuously at war with the Powhatans in Virginia, inhabited the present District of Columbia. The Manahoacs were almost exterminated by war, pestilence, and spirituous liquors, and about 1712 migrated to the west, joining the Iroquois and the Tuscaroras. Among the smaller tribes were the Nacotchants and the Toags, who were friendly to Capt. John Smith. The Toags lived near Mount Vernon, as is shown by the name Tauxement on Capt. John Smith’s map. The Moyaones lived directly opposite Mount Vernon, in Maryland, at the mouth of the Piscataway. The Nacotchants lived just below the Eastern Branch, within the District of Columbia.
There is a tradition of the early settlers of Maryland that the valley at the foot of Capitol Hill, drained by Tiber Creek, was a popular fishing ground of the Indians, and that they gathered not far from there, at Greenleaf’s Point, for their councils. The Indians of Maryland and Virginia closely resembled each other. Those of Maryland were descendants of the same race as the Powhatans and spoke dialects of the great Algonquin language. Powhatan claimed jurisdiction over the Patuxent, but it is doubtful whether he ever enforced the claim.
The Indians lived along the banks of the rivers in this part of the country, and thus many Indian names, suggested by the suffixes “annock” and “any,” have come down to us, as the Susquehanna, Rappahannock, Allegheny, and Chickahominy. The name Chesapeake is said to have come from the Algonquin language, and Potomac comes from the Indian name Patawomeck. The Powhatans were won over to the English by the marriage of Pocahontas to John Rolfe, but the marriage, though notable in history, offered no advantages to the settlers. The original inhabitants were finally driven out by the relentless Iroquois. Among the early fighters against the Indians was Col. John Washington, who came to America in 1657 and settled at Bridges Creek, Va., later called Wakefield. He led 1,000 men against the Susquehannas. The Maryland tribes were gradually consolidated with the Piscataways, and about 1700 they moved to a new settlement on the lower Susquehanna, near Bainbridge, Pa. Here, in 1765, they numbered about 150 persons and were under the jurisdiction of the Iroquois. Thereafter they moved to the Ohio Valley and joined the Delawares.
To-day the name Anacostia, derived from the name of the small Indian tribe of Nacotchants, reminds us of the occupation of the District of Columbia by Indians. As has been said, they lived just below the Eastern Branch, in a suburb of Washington known as Anacostia. The great Anacostia Park, in the immediate vicinity, is named after them. They were a tribe of peaceful Indians, about 80 in number, and were kind and well disposed to Capt. John Smith and his explorers. The name of Anacostia was also given to an island near the shores of Virginia, at Georgetown. Later it took the name Analostian and also Anacostian Island. When George Mason, prominent delegate to the Virginia Legislature, purchased it in 1777, it came to be known as Masons Island. Later it was called Analostan Island. Stone implements and fragments of pottery and traces of Indian villages have been found in these locations, which give evidence of habitations of the Indians in the District of Columbia in those days. It was a region favored by the Indians for its game of all kinds, as well as fish. The soil was rich and fertile and crops were plentiful. Then, too, the climate was agreeable; that is, it did not have the extreme cold of the North, nor did the inhabitants suffer from the continued heat of a tropical sun. The latitude of Washington is 38° 52′ 37″ N. and the longitude 76° 55′ 30.54″ W.
Weather reports of a hundred years ago give 97° for the average of maximum in summer and 24° above zero for the winter. This mild climate has had its consequent effect on the flora of the District of Columbia. A report of the Botanical Society of Washington, made in 1825, gives us the names of 860 distinct species and varieties of plants in the District of Columbia. To-day grow here the oak, walnut, hickory, elm, maple, and other hardy trees; pine trees in all their varieties, and magnolia, also the rhododendron, laurel, box bushes, privet hedges, holly; and roses bloom in Washington almost the entire year. In spring the beautiful Japanese cherry trees add charm to the city.
WASHINGTON, 1792