![]() ![]() Jefferson’s proposal for a modest town with a simple grid was quietly moved aside, but Jefferson himself maintained a key supervisory position. L’Enfant’s grandiose plan, embraced by Washington and ultimately imprinted on the landscape, called for 5000 acres and radiating avenues between the primary centers of power. Both men dreamed of a monumental federal capital, one that would signify the strength of the national government. Washington and L’Enfant were well-matched. Upon selection of a site in the vicinity of Georgetown, Maryland, Washington appointed French Major Pierre Charles L’Enfant to design the new city. ![]() His letters, memoranda, and reports covered land acquisition surveys, boundaries, and plats public buildings and bridges a canal and wharves domestic and foreign workmen the sale of lots, financing, and additional issues as they emerged. Through regular communication with Washington and the commissioners, Jefferson addressed every aspect of the project. įrom 1790 through 1793, when he resigned as Secretary of State, Jefferson served as Washington’s “second in command” on matters concerning the capital. In a memorandum written from Alexandria, Jefferson noted that he “supposed that 1500 acres would be required in the whole,” and that the ideal layout would be a rectangular grid. Immediately, the creative Jefferson began to envision “the federal Capitol, the offices, the President’s house & gardens.” Early in September 1790, Jefferson and Madison traveled from New York to meet with landowners in the designated area. Washington turned to Jefferson and Madison for advice. The Residence Act of July 1790 provided for a national capital on the Potomac River and empowered President Washington to appoint commissioners to oversee the project. Realizing that assumption was a “bitter pill” for Virginia and other like-minded states, the negotiating parties agreed to soothe them with “the removal of the seat of government to the Patowmac.” he should not be strenuous” in opposing assumption. Discussion and dinner, Jefferson recalled, “ended in Mr. Hamilton’s proposal, opposed by most of the Southern states, favored the debt-ridden Northern states. Jefferson later described his role in bringing Hamilton and leading Congressman James Madison “to a friendly discussion of the subject.” Hamilton and Madison dined together, at Jefferson’s invitation, to discuss the assumption of state debts by the federal government. Congress was then embroiled in controversy over the economic program introduced by Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton. Īppointed Secretary of State by George Washington in 1789, Jefferson moved to New York in March 1790 to assume his position. The story of his impact on the city, however, begins with the Compromise of 1790. Thomas Jefferson lived in Washington, D.C., from late 1800 until his retirement from the presidency in March 1809. ![]()
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