nipers. >> up next on american history tv historian kenneth boling recounts the story of how washington, d.c., became the capital of the united states. he spoke about how the location was chosen, and the figures that shaped the city's creation, and the plan that architect peter charles l'enfant presented to president george washington in 1791. this is about one hour. >> i don't have any visuals and i could claim that is because i do not know how to do it, but the truth is i never know what i am going to say and how i am going to say it until i get here. at so, i hope you will forgive me for the lack of visuals. my title is dreams, nightmares,

and reflections. i will start with earlier than 1783. i will start with the beginning of european explorations, the early part of the 17th century so it is going to be almost a 200-year dream, but it will go fast, as i want to concentrate on what happened once the dream was realized. in 1607, john smith entered the seven-mile wide mouth of the potomac river and headed north. whether he got this far north, we are actually not certain, but people living here, algonquin peoples called the place pe tomek.

it translates to something like the place where something is brought, a training place, a place to which tribute is brought. it was a beautiful area in which the tidewater from the ocean stopped. the river narrowed, and as you know, north of georgetown, it is a very different river. here, where georgetown was to rise, there was a huge tidal marsh, and this is the origin of the swamp myth. washington, d.c. was not built in a swap. it is an insult to george washington to think he would locate the capital of the united states in a swamp. it was a very well drained area of ancient potomac river territory. think of the cathedrals coming down the columbia river, down

from dupont circle and eventually down to the level of the white house, to where it sits now. very well drained. in fact, if there was a torrential rainstorm in the 18th or 19th century, logs and dead cattle would slow down the -- flow down the creeks. in the 17th century, the calvert family began to provide speculative land grants in the area. so, there were places here plantations if you will, although there -- they were not settled at the time named very sleep rome, new troy, widow 's might cuckold's delight -- [laughter]

all of those were encompassed in what became the federal city. settlement took place at the end of the 17th century, and through the 18th-century so that by 1749, when georgetown was founded and soon became the largest tobacco exporting port in maryland, there were many plantations, tobacco plantations, and in fact by the 1770's the land had pretty much been exhausted of tobacco. slave economy. very prominent catholic community as well. there was a route that crossed from virginia to georgetown and up to ballmer in philadelphia and new york. the revolutionary war was not fought here. fought elsewhere in the united states. the revolutionary war lasted seven and a half years. but the revolution was much

longer. because i'm sure most of you are americans, you know very little about the revolution -- [laughter] that is because we deny that we had one. it was actually a 30 to 40 year event from 1762 about 1800 and -- 1760 two about 1800 and the -- 1760 tpoo about 1800 and the location of the capital is very much a metaphor for what happened constitutionally during that revolution. more property was appropriated taken by the states in the united states during that revolution and more people fled then fled france during the french revolution. like all revolutions, pretty much a minority event. probably a third of the people , as john adams estimated supported it. it had an ideology.

republicanism. the belief that a people were capable of governing themselves and they did not need a king or some strong executive figure. secondly, there was something called the westward course toward empire. there was a sense that empire, the concept, had a life of its own and since the time of the fertile crescent in egypt, it had been progressively traveling westward. greece, rome. in the 18th century it was a competition between england, france, and spain over which would be the great new empire , and which would control the new world.

americans of course thought americans should control its. they thought continental he, most of them. the pacific was going to be part of the united states. we were going to go across the continent in time. 1783, the war came to an end and suddenly there were 17 of -- 13 of england's 32 colonies that were no longer british. the people had very strong prejudices against people and other colonies. indeed, the man who drafted the united states constitution and owned the south bronx, his father's well provided any amount of money necessary to educate him anywhere in the

world except for the colony of connecticut, where the people hide behind god, but are really avaricious criminals. he did not use the word criminals, but if there is that kind of prejudice you can imagine the attitude that new englanders had towards southerners and southerners had toured new england. what held the united states together after 1783? it was very fragile, believe me. a national debt. $25 million. a common language. and the pride in having defeated the strongest military, and especially naval, power in the world. well, from where was congress going to govern this country?

we had a constitution. it was called the articles of confederation. it may be states supreme over the federal government. it was ratified in 1781. he granted the united states of america power over foreign affairs, war, and a post office area that was it. if congress wanted money, which of course it needed, it had to requisition it from the states. congress would have to tell each state what their share would be. often the money never arrived. congress had no power over commerce. no power of revenue, no taxation, and certainly no power to create -- as it would, later

-- a 100-square mile federal territory over which the united states congress had exclusive jurisdiction. in 1783, congress consisted of the 13 states. each delegation could have as many members, up to seven, as it could pay for, but only one vote. it took seven votes to do anything and nine votes to do anything that cost money. consequently, it did not get too much none. so, immediately there were attempts to amend it, to strengthen it, to give congress the ability to tariff. like all revolutions, when the articles of confederation were first written, everybody was on the same side of things, so they put in a provision in the articles that in order to amend the articles, it took the

unanimous vote of all 13 states. never happens. very quickly, the patriot party divided into two camp's. those who believed in strong states, the dominance of the states and those who increasingly saw the necessity of a stronger federal union, if indeed the united states was going to survive. in early june 1783, while it was sitting in philadelphia, congress had not sat since 1774 except on two occasions, when it fled to baltimore and then to -- had sat since 1774 except on two occasions, when it fled to baltimore and then to lancaster and york in order to avoid the british army. on june the fourth, congress invited the states to submit

proposals for a place within their boundaries that might be the seat of federal government. the offers came quickly. there is going to be eventually 50 places between newport news and norfolk, virginia that were either mentioned in the newspapers as possibilities are actually offered by states. the offers that came in in the summer of 1783 were very limited in size and jurisdiction. from one-mile square, over which congress would have limited jurisdiction, but with places like princeton and new brunswick and newark, new jersey and williamsburg and annapolis. each offer trying to top the previous offer so that by the end of the summer, they were talking about 36 square miles. congress was not in philadelphia when the decision was made.

congress informed the states in june, please make your offers. we are going to make a decision the first week of october. congress was not in philadelphia because of an event. probably the most destructive event in washington, d.c. history. on june 21, a saturday, soldiers of the continental army, wearing their arms, marched on what we call independence hall. it was the pennsylvania state house. that is where the assembly of pennsylvania met, these of prima -- the supreme executive council of pennsylvania, and to give you an idea of the relative unimportance of the congress of the united states, the congress of the united states met in the pennsylvania statehouse. but the soldiers were not

stupid. they knew -- what they wanted was to demand their backpay, various other promises. but they knew that congress had no revenue. there was no point in confronting congress. it was the states that had the revenue. so, they chose saturday because congress never met on a saturday, but the executive council of pennsylvania did. they surrounded the statehouse and alexander hamilton who was the chairman of a congressional committee to deal with this mutiny that had been going on now for five days got congress to call a special session. the congressman went into the building, because hamilton and congress wanted it to appear this was a demonstration against the united states of america.

this was the horror of the republic, the military rising against civilian control. and that would appeal to the american people's feelings and they would come to the defense of congress. so congress, even though they did not get a quorum, congress was not surrounded by these troops, it nonetheless represented to the supreme executive council and asked the president or governor if you will, of pennsylvania, the great john dickinson to call on the philadelphia militia and drive the continental soldiers away from the building.