A City Designed for Democracy

A History Lover's Guide to Washington, D.C. by Alison Fortier (Charleston, SC: The History Press, 2014). ISBN 978.1.62619.529.5 Chapter 1 Washington, D.C. is a government town...a city, also a federal district created specifically to serve as the capital of the United States. Since Washington opened its doors in 1800, its main industry has always been the public business. [It] is unique among American cities. It is the only one whose origins are in the United States Constitution. Article I of the Constitution establishes the power of the legislative branch to raise taxes, borrow money and regulate commerce. Article I also describes the power of Congress over a district that would serve as the seat of the United States government. ...Many existing cities were contenders....New York City [was] the temporary United States capital from 1789 to 1790....Philadelphia, serving as the interim United States capital from 1790 to 1800, was bigger and even better....Quite a few remembered Annapolis, Maryland, the 1783-84 capital, with great fondness. ...Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson, in 1790, invited to dinner Alexander Hamilton [Secretary of the Treasury] and James Madison [a U.S. Representative from Virginia]....Over dinner[they] came up with a solution. To convince the southern states to agree to help pay the Revolutionary War debt, the location of the new U.S. capital would be convenient to the South --on the banks of the Potomac River. The compromise...was a turning point in American history....giving the North and the South something each desired. To formalize this agreement on the location of the U.S. capital, Congress passed "An Act for Establishing the Temporary and Permanent Seat of the Government of the United States." President Washington signed this act into law on July 16, 1790. The law gave the authority to the president to select the precise site for the new capital. pp13-15 Chapter II President George Washington appointed three commissioners and an architect, Pierre Charles L'Enfant, to oversee the capital's creation. The commissioners, together with Thomas Jefferson and James Madison, selected names for the new entity. They called the one-hundred-squre-mile federal district "Columbia" after Christopher Columbus and the city that would grow up within the District "Washington" after the president himself. Pierre L'Enfant would be responsible for the city of Washington plan and for the design of the principal governement buildings. Born in France, L'Enfant had come to America to seve with the Revolutionary army. After independence, he gained recognition for his design of New York's city hall. Renamed Federal Hall, this building was the location of the very first American presidential inauguration when George Washington took the oath of office on its steps on April 30, 1789. L'Enfant's inspiration for the city of Washington was the new democratic form of government. He made the building that would house the United States Congress and the home of the president the two main focal points of his plan. p.27 The Founding Fathers...placed great emphasis on the strength of the legislative branch as the voice of the people. To achieve a visible demonstration of the importance of the legislature, L'Enfant selected for the location of the United States Congress the most commanding place in the District: Jenkins Hill. The Legislative House would enjoy a grand vista across the city, uncluttered and unobstructed. It was Thomas Jefferson who insisted that the Legislative House be named the United States Capitol. "Capitol" recalled the political institutions on Capitoline Hill in ancient Rome, considered to be the birthplace of democracy. L'Enfant placed the house where the president would both live and work in the very heart of the city. He wanted the president's home to be in the midst of the people he would lead. As a symbol of democracy, the home would be visible and accessible to all. In fact, until the mid-twentieth century, it would be possible for any passerby to walk onto the White House grounds and stroll right up to the front door of the President's House. There was to be a clear line of sight from the Capitol to the Executive Mansion. The Capitol and the President's House would keep an eye on each other. Neither would allow the other to become too powerful. The system of checks and balances that is fundamentals to American democracy is physically expressed in Washington, D.C. There were to be no tall buildings between the two important branches of government that would block their view of each other. The practice of not constructing buildings in Washington that would overshadow the Capitol was formalized in the 1910 Height of Buildings Act. All Washington buildings are limited to no more than fifteen stories. Washington, D.C. is not a city of skyscrapers. pp28-29 The third branch of the United States government is the judiciary. The judiciary is the watchdog of the Constitution and the guardian of basic rights and liberties. In eighteenth-century America, there was little appreciation for the powerhouse that this third branch of government would become. There was no separate building for the Supreme Court, the highest court of the land. The was housed in the U.S. Capitol. [It] would not have its own building until 1935. ...a great swath of green would run west from the Capitol past the President's House to the Potomac River. This would be called "the Mall," a name used to described a public area for walking. At the point on the Mall where a north-south line drawn from the Executive Mansion would intersect with an east-west line drawn from the Capitol....this invisible center point is near where the Washington Monument stands today. ...buildings promoting the arts and entertainment would edge the length of both sides of the Mall. It would... take quite a few years to complete this aspect of his vision. Today, the many museums of the Smithsonian Institution fulfill the L'Enfant Plan. ...Washington, D.C.'s distinguishing characteristic is a series of round points with streets radiating out like spokes from a wheel....L'Enfant divided the town's diamond shape into four quardrants: Northeast, Northwest, Southeast and Southwest. Thomas Jefferson recommended that streets running east-west have letters for names, such as C Street, H Street, K Street, M Street and so on. After one completetion of the alphabet, the east-west streets have one-syllable names whose first letters tract the alphabet, and then there is a series of two-syllable names. For example, there is C Street, Calvert Street and Chesaapeake Street moving through the alphabet three times as you move north in the District. The north-south streets are numbered: 1st Street, 2nd Street 3rd Street and so on. L'Enfant's plan called for grand avenues that would provide great vistas across the city. These avenues carried the names of the fifteen states then in the Union....The broad avenue connecting the President's house to the Congress was called Pennsylvania Avenue after the largest and most populous state then in the Union. From 1790 to 1800, the capital of the United States would temporarily be Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. ...the new city of Washington was to be built and ready itself for the tremendous responsibility it would assume....in November 1800, President John Adams, the United States Congress, and all 130 esecutive and legislative personnel of the United States government, with their files and furnishings, moved from Philadelphia to Washington. The cost of the move was $78,925. L'Enfant's vision has endured. His plan for Washington, D.C., is still very much in evidence today. He did not, however, personally implement his plan. His was a difficult personality. Often quarrelsome, L'Enfant thoroughly antagonized the three commissioners to the point that they relieved him of his responsibilitites early in 1792. L'Enfant's many appeals to Congress for payments for his work would sadly go unanswered. He died in 1825, impoverished. He never received during his life the recognition or recompense he felt he deserved. In an attempt to correct this injustice, the United States Congress in 1909 had the remains of Pierre L'Enfant disinterred from their original resting site and reburied in Arlington Cemetery, overlooking the city he had helped created. Responsibility for carrying out hte L'Enfant's Plan went to his Deputy, Andrew Ellicott. Complementing Ellicott's expertise as a surveyor was the talent of Benjamin Banneker, a friend of the Ellicott family and Maryland neighbor. Banneker, born to a free African American mother and a father who had been enslaved and then freed, was a self-taught astronomer. His expertise was essential to the exact placement of the markers for the boundery of the new federal district. Banneker used scientific instruments to observe the position of the stars, as well as mathematical calculationsfor the accurate completion of the town site survey. Banneker departed Washington in 1791, returning to his home in Baltimore County, Maryland, where he would work and publish a well-regarded annual almanac fo the next six years. He would also write essays and letters to Thomas Jefferson on racial equality. As an abolitionist, Banneker would term slavery "a cruel act." pp29-31 The White House p.43 "I pray Heaven to Bestow the best of Blessings on THIS HOUSE and ALL that shall hereafter Inhabit it. May none but Honest and Wise Men ever rule under this Roof." John Quincy Adams (1825-29) This was the sentiment expressed by JQA in a letter he wrote on his second night in the White House as president. It was carved into the mantel of the State Dining Room of the White House. p. 45 The United States Capitol pp.55-71 To select the design for the legislative building, three commissioners appointed by President George Washington conducted a competition in 1792. There were fifteen entries....none of them suitable....one final entry submitted three months after competition had closed. This design was the work of Dr. William Thorton, a physician and amateur architect. Thomas Jefferson, George Washington and others agreed that Thorton's work was superior. Jefferson enthused about the elegant, classical, low-domed central section, with its columns and colonnades reminiscent of Rome's famous Pantheon.p.55 The Thorton Capitol included a north wing for the Senate and a south wing for the House. The basic elements of the Thorton design remain today, though in several major renovations, the wings have been lengthened, the East Front extended and the dome significantly enlarged....The area immediately to the east of the Capitol, known as Capitol Hill, became a mostly residential neighborhood. [The building was not completed at the time of Washington's death. John Adams... (1797-1801) was the first American president to enter the Legislative House. p.55] In 1800, only the north wing was ready for occupancy...the first Joint Session of Congress [was] on November 22, 1800.... there were 141 members of the House of Representatives. In a "Grand Compromise," the Founding Fathers had decided that the number of Representatives per state would be proportional to the state's population. ...In contrast, there would be two senators per state no matter no matter how large geographically or how populous. In 1800, there were sixteen states and, accordingly, thirty-two senators. The House and the Senate, the United States Supreme Court, the Circuit Court and the Library of Congress all met within the north wing. The south wing... was not ready for the House of Representatives until 1807. By then, Thorton had resigned his supervisory role for the construction of the U.S. Capitol. A succession of architects contributed to the building. In 1814, disaster struct Washington, D.C. and the Capitol building. The War of 1812 had been raging for two years....The Bitish Commander, Rear Admiral Sir George Cockburn, personally oversaw the torching of the Capitol itself....a heavy rain fell the night of August 14, 1814, and doused the flames that burned the town....After the fire, the U.S. Capitol was a shell, as was the Executive Mansion....a red brick building across the street --on the place where the Supreme Cort now stands --[served] as the home to the U.S. Congress during the reconstruction of the U.S. Capitol. This became known as the era of the "Red Brick Congress." [Benjamin Latrobe, Charles Bulfinch, Thomas U. Walter contributed to the Capitol reconstruction from 1814 until after the Civil War.] Philadelphia architect Thomas U. Walter significantly expanded the wings of the Capitol and created a new, larger dome using cast iron that weighs about 9 million pounds. This cast-iron structure has an inner dome and an outer dome that expands and contracts as much as four inches as the temperature rises and falls. Walter based his design for the dome on the dome on the Pantheon in Paris. This is the dome you see today. The dome's exterior was completed in 1863 and the interior in 1866. President Abraham Lincoln was determined to continue the construction of the Capitol during the Civil War to demonstrate that the Union would survive. Sadly, slaves provided labor to complete the Capitol dome, a grand symbol of democracy.p.58 Look up at the exterior of the Capitol dome at night. If the lights at the very top of the dome are burning bright, then either the House or the Senate or both are in session. Another sign is ...the American flag is flying over their respective wings of the Capitol building. pp.56-57 Under President Franklin Pierce (1853-57), the War Department took over responsibility for supervising the U.S. Capitol enlargement. ...the secretary of war was Jefferson Davis, who in a few more years would be president of the Confederate States...affected the design of the statue of Freedom that is atop the Capitol dome. The scultop, Thomas Crawford, designed a statue that was the female presonification of freedom. She carried a sword and a shield of the United States. ...In the original version, she wore a liberty cap much like the soft, round felt cap that newly liberated slaves in ancient Rome wore to cover their shaved heads. The liberty cap had become a powerful symbol of freedom in the French Revolution; it then migrated across the Atlantic to become a symbol in the American struggle for emancipation of the slaves. Jefferson Davis. a Mississippi landholder, owned slaves....He objected the liberty cap so Thomas Crawford redesigned the statue to place on her head a helmet with eagle feathers. The bronze statue, cast by Clark Mills, was lifted into place atop the Capitol dome by a steam hoist and a hand-cranked winch on December 2, 1863....a plaster cast of Freedom is on view in the Visitor Center during the tour of the Capitol building. ...Frederick Olmsted, the landscape artist who had designed Central Park in New York City, was appointed in 1874 to design the U.S. Capitol grounds. He not only provided the majestic setting of the grounds, but also added marble terraces to the West Front. p.58 The first United States president to be inaugurated in the Capitol was the third president, Thomas Jefferson (1801-09). Jefferson took the oath of office for his first and second terms in the Senate Chamber now restored as the Old Supreme Court Chamber, its role from 1810 to 1859. p.59 Andrew Jackson ...(1829-37), was the first to take the oath of office [on the East Front] outside the Capitol building. He started the tradition that continues today. ...Since the first inauguration of President Ronald Reagan in 1981, it has become customary for the president to take the oath of office on the West Front of the Capitol so that the crowd of onlookers...may spill down onto the Mall. ...A song frequently played at inaugurations or when the president of the United States enters a room is "Hail to the Chief," an old Scottish anthem. It was the idea of First Lady Srah Polk to have this music played to salute the entry of her husband, President James Polk (1845-49). ...The oath of office for the president is in Article II, Section I, Clause 8 of the United States Constitution: I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will do the best of my Ability, preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the the United States. ...in 1789 at Federal Hall in New York, George Washington swore the oath on the Bible and added the words, "So help me God." ...Each president personally selects the particular Bible he or she will use for the ceremony. p.59 Since ...the 1933 inauguration of President FDR, the inauguration date has been January 20. ...When January 20 falls on a Sunday, the inauguration is a small ceremony on that day. Public festivities and a restaging of the swearing-in then take place the next day on Monday January 21. This has occurred twice in recent years: in 1985 ...and in 2013....p.60 Look up 180 feet to the inside of the U.S. Capitol dome to see the spectacular painting by Constantino Brumidi, The Apotheosis of Washington, or the glorification of the father of our country, first president George Washington. During a twenty-five year period from 1855 until his death in 1880, Constantino Brumidi painted corridors and rooms throughout the Capitol,....a masterpiece reminiscent of the painting in the Vatican of Rome and elsewhere in his native Italy. Brumidi left Italy during a time of politically uproar, arriving in New York City in 1852. he became an American citizen five years later. His work in the Capitol carried great personal meaning for him....: My one ambition and my daily prayer is that I may live long enough to make beautiful the Capitol of the one country on earth in which there is liberty. Directly below the Rotunda is the Crypt, with forty strong stone columns to support the Rotunda and the Capitol Dome. In the middle of the Crypt is the brass Compass Stone, where the four quartrants of Washingtyon D.C. (NE/NW/SW/SE), converge. p.65 The Mall and the Smithsonian The Mall is, as L'Enfant had envisioned, an area for public walking. It offers some of the best views of Washington, D.C. Look east to see the beautiful United States Capitol building. Look west[to see] the Washington Monument, and beyond it, the Lincoln Memorial. Part of L'Enfant's plan was to line the Mall with institutions that would inform and entertain the public....James Smithson, a respected British scientist who had never even been to the United States, [but who helped make L'Enfant's vision a reality], died in 1835, leaving $508,318 to found the institution that would be named for him: the Smithsonian. Smithson had long admired the young democracy. He thought it the best place to put his fortune to increase human knowledge. Deciding how to implement Smithson's wishes or whether to accept the Englishman's money generated controversy and a lively debate in Congress. Finally, 1846, thanks to the advocacy of U.S. Representative John Quincy Adams, Congress passed ligislation creating the Smithsonian Institution. Adams, our sixth president (1825-1829), defeated in 1828 by Andrew Jackson, served in the House as a member of Congress from Massachusetts from 1830 until his death in 1848. p. 103 The first director of the new institution was Joseph Henry, a highly regarded American physicist who would preside over the Smithsonian for 32 years. Under Henry's leadership, the Smithsonian became a place for scientific research. There is a statue of [him] by William Story; it was dedicated in 1883 in front of the Smithsonian Castle on the Mall side. ...in 1878 ...the Smithsonian became a museum with a focus on reaching out to the public. Today, it is a complex in Washington D.C., of 16 individual museums. ..., the largest museum complex in the world. Two of its museums --the Museum of Natural History and the AIr and Space Museum, regularly hold the international records for the second- and third- greatest annual attendance for a museum. [An] additional museum, the NAtional Museum of African American History and Culture [was opened ] in 2015. p. 104 The Castle The Castle is the symbol of the Smithsonian. It serves as home to the institution's administrative offices and the Smithsonian Information Center. There is a Smithsonian overview provided by touch screens, large relief maps and an introductory video. As you enter the Castle from the Mall side, there is a small room on the left with the sarcophagus (stone coffin) of James Smithson. [He]died in Genoa, Italy, in 1829. He was buried nearby in a small English cemetery. When one of the Smithsonian regents --the famous Alexander Graham bell, inventor of the telephone-- learned that the San Benigno Cemetery in Genoa was to be demolished, he traveled to Italy to bring the Smithsonian remains to the United Statesto rest within the walls of the institution he helped created. There is also a statue of the second director, Spencer Fullerton Baird, by Leonard Baskin and dedicated in 1978 near the Castle. p.106 The Washington Monument located at the intersection of two imaginary perpendilular lines in Pierre L'Enfant's original plan from the President's House and the Legislative House. ...Robert Mills was the architect who drew up the design for a simple shaftrising into the sky. The shaft, or obelisk, form of monument was popular in early 19th century America. ...The cornerstone for the Washington Monument was laid on July 4, 1848. It was not completed until 1884. Today{it] remains the tallest structure in Washington, D.C. , at 555 feet. p. 104