tv. >> published by the u.s. capital historical society, the book ,reating capitol hill: place proprietors, and people, details how the district of columbia was chosen, how the land was purchased, and how the neighborhood and city developed in the early years of the republic. next, on american history tv, a book launch and a discussion with the three co-authors, the editor, and the mapmaker of the book. the event begins with a talk with dean melissa, portraying george washington, who was instrumental in founding the u.s. capitol. this is about an hour and 15 minutes. >> we are going to start our program now, i want to thank everybody for coming tonight for this occasion that represents the culmination of many years of work on behalf of the authors

and the u.s. capital historical society. i want to welcome our guest and recognize our authors, charles, william, don, and pamela, who you will all be hearing from. i want to thank everyone who has worked on this. our editor don cannon, particularly our guest tonight, from mount vernon, we we look forward to working with them in the future, including september 13th at mount vernon related to the release of the book. i want to thank all the members of the carter family who are here with us tonight. and also, a special thanks to everyone who donated to the production of this book, especially frank and tricia. this is the culmination of many years of work on behalf of so

many people. we are delighted to have this, which we truly believe will be one of the real books that will always be referred to in the future in any discussion of capitol hill and the impact that has had on this country. the first part of our program allows me to introduce our special visitor. i would like to say ladies and gentlemen, his excellency, the president of the united states, general george washington. [applause] >> thank you for the introduction, what am i supposed to do with that? >> it is a little after your time. >> all the modern

inconveniences. what a great honor. i apologize, i'm still wearing my boots. i had rid four hours from mount vernon to be here today. i found that i had failed to bring shoes. you are seeing me in my boots and i apologize for that. bad form to begin with an apology. but it's a great honor and i hope we will see each and everyone of you at mount vernon. we extend our warm and sincere virginia hospitality to each and every one of you. capital cities. there has always been for me a great allure. my boyhood imaginings of london, my hopes to go to london, i was supposed to go to london for my formal education at the appleby school. which was just outside of london.

but those hopes were dashed when as a lad of 11 years of age, my father died suddenly. i never got to see london. but, i read about london. i had also read about the great capitals of rome and the classic governments there. and, of course, the colonial capital, philadelphia city. i had always dreamed of going to philadelphia city, which was, i'm not sure if you know this, it was the second greatest city in the british empire. at that time, only second to london town. you probably do know that after july 2 it became the greatest city in america in 1776. after ime furled brows

said july 2. you do know the question of our dependency was voted upon july 2? i hope. it was just adopted on the fourth as a formality. it was read to the public on the eighth. i saw these capital cities as bustling places of mystery. vibrancy. even at an early age, i was quite clear that capital cities were not simply the seats of government. the story behind the selection of the location both permanent and temporary for the seat of government, our capitol and are building is one that comes down to, or to use a whiskey maker's vernacular, i am a whiskey maker, distilled to pretty much

one thing. coming together in the spirit of amity and mutual concession. that is the story behind the formation of our nation itself. it is the very essence of the founding and the raising up and the success of these united states of america. it is the very essence of our future success coming together in amity and mutual concession. the secret of her success or the secret lacking thereof of her failure. so, how did we even get to the point where we could decide we could have a capitol? that's the question. how do we form up a sovereign or

independent nation to take our place on the world stage? the arc of the story is all but a miracle, and humbly and with great humility, i suggest that my life has been intrinsically interwoven with that very story. it begins when our national capitol was london. and our colonial capital was philadelphia city. we were happy, loyal, british subjects. here in british america. we had all the rights and all the privileges, at least all the ones important to us. the most important thing of all, is that our masters in great britain left us alone for nigh on 150 years.

going back to the 1600s. i refer to it a salutory neglect. it means we governed ourselves for 150 years. it means we adjudicated our own cases in our own courtrooms. it means we raised our own money for 150 years. as i said i was a loyal british subject. i served the king, i served the country. i joined the virginia colonial regiment at age one and 20 as major george washington. you may be wondering how someone goes from being a civilian to being a major? the answer is, i purchased my commission. that's the way it was done in great britain and in europe. practice in the american military. if i had had more money, i would have purchased a higher rank but i did not. i became a soldier at a remarkable time. sabres were battling between britain and her hereditary enemy, france.

always at war, short periods of peace. it was shaping up to be a war of empire. this would be a seven-year fought war. fought as far away as the philippines and india. fought in the africa. fought in europe and fought most extensively in north america. that portion known as the french and indian war. however, great britain is ultimately successful. they push the french out of north america. they take holdings and garrison troops around the world, victorious to the french. there is one problem, it all but bankrupted great britain. i tell you this because the king panicked. he turned to his ministers and told them to do something about this. the ministers put their heads together and they came back to the king of england and said we have just finished fighting this expensive war against the french. most of the cost of that war was spent in british america.

let us turn to the american colonials. we shall rebuild the treasury of great britain. it was a brilliant ideal on face value. remember, they had left us alone for a long time. they did not understand us. many of us saw this as the absolute arrogance of an island nation trying to control the continent. what followed was a period of 11 years, starting in 1764, with the systematic stripping of our freedoms and the usurpation of our liberties. this ultimately led, as you might imagine, to a decision to raise up arms against our king. this is something no colony had done successfully, and we were going to do it against most -- the most powerful fighting force on earth , the british army and the british navy.

you know how that story ends. but i will tell you three days ago was the anniversary of my commissioning as commander-in-chief of the united colonies of america. when i was commissioned, we were 13 months away from declaring independence. i had written a letter to mrs. washington that day. i sent her a copy of my will. this is june 15th. 1775. she was not happy to receive my will. as you can imagine. i also made her a promise i would be home on christmas eve. i did not tell her which christmas eve. but i walked across the threshold of our home on christmas eve eight and a half years later. so, we were now a sovereign independent nation. we had cast off the yoke of tyranny. we had to ask ourselves what kind of country we were going to be. make no mistake about that, because there were a wide range

of options and opinions, including those ill-conceived who wanted to make me what? king? you are bright as fresh paint. you know the context of my time, however, is when we signed our declaration of american independency, and then again when we signed our constitution, which i call the delivery upon that promise, america is the only nation on earth that is not under the control of men and women of absolute power. every other country, kings, queens, lords, ladies, emperors, we for the first time in human history would raise up a nation based on ideas constrained by

laws, the constitution. the constitution included a section for the establishment of a seat of government. we had had capitols, don't get me wrong. i mentioned philadelphia, we had philadelphia, we had new york, during the war. we had baltimore, we had lancaster, we had an annapolis annapolis. we had prince town, we had trent town, we had york, we had capitols. but now, we were faced with a permanent seat of government. we were faced with other things as well. please make no mistake about it, this was a very busy time. we had much to do. you need to understand what was going on at this time. we had to establish the major departments in the government,

and in the executive branch, in my case. we had to appoint the judiciary, we had to recast our colonial era postal service. the post office. we had to determine the size, and the organization for our national defense, an army that would be subordinate to the civilian authority. we had to deal with our crushing war debt, and, of course, put in place a governmental financial mechanism going forward. i'm glad you are all sitting down. because if you are not aware of what our war debt was, it was a staggering number. our debt came close to $70 million. i'm sure in your day and time it is nowhere near that high. it is unimaginable. did i mention, the politically imperative bill of rights?

we had to memorialize and agree on them as well. it was with these seemingly sisyphean tasks in motion we also took on the tones of determining the location of a permanent seat for the new federal government. as you might imagine, everyone did not believe we needed a permanent city. some believing that even its creation was a disservice to the citizenry. that it would cause a centralized government that would be too large and too strong. there was a great deal of concern and fear in some quarters for a strong centralized government. some thought that the capital would be a center for stock jobbers and speculators. i reckon you all know how it was

selected? yes? no? i will tell you a little bit about it. general alexander hamilton had released a report on the public credit. this was in january of 1790. it painted a fairly bleak picture in terms of the public credit situation. and, one of the ways that in a very complex scene that hamilton in to set ourselves straight the financial matter going forward, he proposed the new federal government would assume the new war debts of the state. i'm telling you i myself had hamilton explain this to me repeatedly, usually telling him, simpler, simpler. simpler, alexander. concurrent with this, mr.

madison and mr. jefferson. they had a strong desire to see the seat of government in or towards the south-ward. so this yielded a compromise. these disparate directions ultimately resulted in a compromise over dinner at mr. jefferson's house in philadelphia city with mr. madison and colonel hamilton with jefferson in attendance. this compromise yielded the act of establishing the temporary and permanent seat of the government of the united states, the residence act. i signed that into law of mid july of 17 and 90. it called for a permanent seat of government on the potomac river.

somewhere between the mouth of the eastern branch, and the of another. that dinner compromise also yielded the debt assumption being included in the funding act. quite simply, colonel hamilton agreed that he would not stand in the way, and he would get others to agree to not stand in the way of locating the capitol city on the potomac river. mr. madison and mr. jefferson agreed they would not stand in the way any longer. they had been into matters of the assumption of the war debt. at this point, i was granted full power to pick the exact location of the federal city. and i announced that location by proclamation in january 1791.

it would be 100 square miles shaped like a diamond. it would include parts of georgetown, maryland and alexandria, virginia. these were two port towns and two tobacco inspection towns. they were centers of commerce, if truth be told. i also appointed the first board of commissioners, it would be their responsibility to supervise the building of the federal city and to manage their affairs. there are many daniel carols in my day. all of them fine and good men. this particular one was daniel carol of rock creek. johnson, and through marriage, a relative of mine,

david stewart. one of the immediate challenges, nigh on all of that land and particularly the core was privately owned. some of it in considerable amounts by a small number of owners, proprietors as they were i count myself in the position to negotiate and manage a group of men with widely disparate interests. and to diffuse those interests, those divisions, those factions. it's the real reason my hair turned white, truth be told. i had writ in my diary after meeting the proprietors, the

interests of the landholders about georgetown and those about rollsburg and that their fears and jealousies of each were counteracting the public purposes. whilst if properly managed, they made to subserve. this was a tense time, where amongst too many captains could sink the ship. we had a rather intense meeting, i think i am accurate in characterizing it as such, and inls seemed to be digging in that meeting. however, miracle of miracles,

after the proprietors had a night to sleep on the matter and perhaps some quiet well applied additional conversations on my part, we will not go into light, int a's that same journal as before, i was pleased to note that the proprietors saw the propriety of my observations. they were contending for the shadow, they might have lost, but such was not the case. we signed an agreement that same day, the 30th of march, the very end of the month of march. so, you may ask yourself, because many did at that time, why did the proprietors sign over their land to the new federal government? why? self-interesthout

in the sense of business. lost, and itwholly should not have been. i remember during the war of american independency, the congress kept insisting the citizenry, who made shoes, who made coats, who made muskets , produce these things for no pay and no profit. i told him this will not work. it will only take you so far. people have interest and they have needs. and the proprietors had interests and they had needs. they also reckon that the continuous landholdings would yield great returns once the federal city was fully established. by the by, they would also

derive some real current income. from the tenets of the new capital of the united states of america. got to work at , and he began working closely with my commissioners. not seamless, i will tell you. it was not a perfect relationship, but it ultimately worked. i also elected, because of the future prospects for the proprietors, there should be a building inmental each and every one of the sectors of the city. my friends, i said at the the essence was that

we came together as a people during the period of time leading up to the war, american independence, in the war, and in the peace. we came together in the spirit of mutual amnesty and mutual conception. my vision for the city was the same as my boyhood interpretation, that this city, washington city, the federal city in the district of columbia would not just be a seat of electednt where officials visited at prescribed times by the government. i saw the federal city as a living city, where people thrived and engaged in discourse with each other.

where business was conducted, where tradesmen profit, where cultural events, the arts occurred. ,may divine providence not disappoint our fervent expectations. i want to conclude by once again conveying to you the most important message of what i have spoken of. this idea of amnesty and mutual concession. i remember september 17, 1787, anyone know the significance of that date? the constitution was signed on that date. we had been at work more than a third of the year. i was presiding officer at philadelphia city. ank all of the delegates and dismissed them to return to their respective states the

-- respective states for the ratification process to begin. i was up on the dais, house in my own papers together, and i heard a tap coming closer to the dais. theing closer to the dais sage of philadelphia, dr. benjamin franklin. he was in great agony, he had gout in both feet and stones in his kidneys. there were days when dr. franklin could not walk into the constitutional convention. he was carried in on a sedan chair on the shoulders of four prisoners from the wall street jail. other days, worse than that, kerry then horizontally on a litter. i stepped down, i took his arm in support and i said to him, doctor, how may i be of service? he had a walker with a beautiful gold walking stick with a liberty cap at the top.

i will to you when he passed, that being his most prized personal possession, he left it to me. he started poking that passet "general said throughout these proceedings i , have been looking at your chair." said, my chair? he said, your chair. i said, i don't pretend to know you're saying. he said, general, in our day and time when a woodcarver cards the sun on a horizon, one never knows. i said, one never knows what, doctor? he says, one never knows if it is a rising sun or if it is a setting sun. and throughout the great rancor of this constitutional versusion, small states larger states, slave states

versus non-slave states, both the states versus poor states, i saw the union crumbling before it formed. but today we signed this constitution, and i had the itat happiness of knowing was a rising sun on america, and not a setting one. i tell you this because you may have problems in your day and time. you need to know that we have always had problems here, before we were a country, when we fought a war, when we became a country. not happenl city did easily. but, as i have written and you may read that we americans can overcome absolutely anything. we can defeat any enemy as long

as we set aside faction, and set aside division, and as i have written, dare i say, set aside political party which does little but bring the interest of party above the interest of nation, and come together in the spirit of amnesty and mutual concession. i thank you for your kind attention. i remain your humble and your obedient servant. thank you, kindly. [applause] >> there is no need to stand on

ceremony, i will set myself down. >> good evening. i am john adams. [laughter] like i am not, but i feel john adams. trying to follow george washington is a difficult task, certainly. n my other life i am don kennon. it is my privilege to introduce and moderate a question and answer session with them. , briefly a little bit about how i'm involved in this project

-- even though i retired three years ago, the project had begun before then and i felt a responsibility to continue and see it through to conclusion. i'm a little biased. i think this is a wonderful book, a very attractive book, and a real contribution to the scholarship about the founding of capitol hill and its growth and development. before i introduce the panelists, i would like to give special recognition to three people who weren't able to be here tonight. is the recently retired president of the u.s. capital historical society whose support along with the support of trustees saw this long, complex process to completion.

second, i would like to give special recognition to 2 talented professionals whose work gave the book its distinctive and attractive look. and thee editor designer and layout artist. other individuals and institutions provided key assistance and are listed in acknowledgment section of the book. following the introductions of the speakers and brief opening statements, we will have time for questions from the audience. questionf you have a raise your hand. he will be identified. you will be identified. c-span will bring you a microphone because we want to get your comments recorded as well. if you look at the book's dedication page, it is dedicated to charles carroll carter. it is probably not customary to

dedicate a book to its author, but charles carroll carter was more than an author. oft was the unanimous wish the society and hezbollah contributors to dedicate the fellow and his contributors to dedicate the book to him for his support and creation and publication. charles carroll carter is the descendent of three important american families. the carrolls of maryland, the carters of virginia, and the lees. he graduated from georgetown preparatory school, the university notre dame. he served as a commissioned officer during the korean war. he joined the newly formed u.s. department of transportation and became special assistant to the

secretary. in 1974, he became the founder, publisher, and editor of mass transit magazine. wife,l and his beloved rosemary, have six children and 14 grandchildren. the legacy will continue. in perpetuity. it is my pleasure to turn the microphone over to you to tell us about your book.

great afternoon. it is too early for evening, but here we are. my name is charles carroll carter, and i have been captivated since i was a boy by arroll family history and the place held in that history by the carrolls of maryland. to tell thelled this most valuable capital city for the united states of america was formed and how it came about.

this could easily be called the ultimate real estate deal. i thought it necessary to write about this so as to describe the vital roles played first by my ,irect forbear daniel carroll the signer of the constitution and one of the first commissioners of the city of .ashington, and then his nephew if the titles and names confuse you one of the reasons we are is because to a great extent everyone is confused about who these people are. and so, one of these people is

25-year-oldll, that owner of the key 1400 acres where the capital itself and much of the national mall itself is cited. follows theosely development and the enormous risks he took to create this great monument to democracy. he paid for it. after the destruction of both his professional home and the early days of the founding of capitol hill, right where you are sitting, through the destruction of other key land and improved properties of his,

in 1842 he stood fast to further his properties. 1814 he stood for the rebuilding and improvement of the area that is today, capitol hill. he did so for the balance of his life. my personal hope is that this book will stand for the same belief for all the early founders and building a better city, a better country, and they better world. this is a special day for my co-authors and all of you who have worked hard to see this book published. also, for all of our descendents.

there are a lot of them. those who value our founders ' vision and struggles to bring this great nation to life. may god bless all of us in this. [applause] williamext speaker, charles digiacomantonio, known studied at the university of chicago before returning to washington, d.c. in the great bicentennial year of 1989 when he joined the staff of

the george washington university's first federal congress project. notice the george washington university. that was another that had our tonding father's commitments higher education. ofck was one of the editors the 22 volume history of the first federal congress. he joined the capital historical society as chief historian and vice president for education and scholarship. focus onarly interests early constitutional history and the politics and personalities of the federalist area. tell us about your contribution. chuck: thank you for allowing me to be a part of this. recruited me to be

chief historian, he didn't say there was a book in the wings. he brought me to rosemary and carroll's house for lunch, they lured me with high caloric food and got me to see this was a book that needed to be written. this takes place in the early republic. they wanted to be sure. we all agreed from the jump that we needed to tell the underlying story that made it possible for the proprietors to act on their self-interest for the public good, as the general spoke to us about a few minutes ago. that was enabled by an understanding, as i interpreted in my essay that i hope you will read in the book, and interpretation that applies the lessons of -- i chose this as a

trope -- madison's federalist essay number 10. the more you bring in stakeholders to a project, to an endeavor, the more likely you are to further promote the success of that endeavor. washington brought in these proprietors. he didn't buy them out, but made sure they had a half stake in the success of the city. the rest of that story i leave to my more capable co-authors. i feel very them, proud to be able to work with. i knew both of them since i came back from grad school and long, long time ago. being able to appear on the same inle page with you two particular is an absolute highlight of my life. thank you. [applause] speaker is don

alexander hawkins, a life attacked and nearly lifelong resident and student of washington, d.c. the citiespping early history while earning a masters degree in urban design a catholic university. he has lectured widely on washington, d.c.'s beginnings and occasionally on its major unbuilt projects in "washington history" magazine. he is preparing for publication of book to be entitled plan:ngton's l'enfant described and deconstructed." 's contribution includes a special section of maps, most of which he compiled and drew himself. there are some displayed on the room. you can see them when you look at the book. don, tell us about your work on

the maps. found me somewhere 14 or 15 years ago and asked me to do a map describing some of attachmentsfamily's to the land. that this is a book about family, a book about money, a book about building, a book about politics. it is also, there is no other way of dealing with maps, it is about space. this is about space in this area that we know and all kinds of ways. as a guy who got into -- i am really an architect. look into how do things when i was first studying washington formally. how something looks on the ground, what it's shape is, with

the space is like, cannot be dealt with in any other way than drawing maps. you have to have a map. imagine someone trying to describe -- take any map you've ever known. imagine someone trying to describe everything in the map, no matter how simple it really can be done. they have to have a diagram. i'm lucky, i am the one that gets to draw the diagram. what happens if you are that kind of person, people like , when theyarroll come to me they do the work finding out what is there. i hopebeen reading this, you will realize maps really help reading about real estate, reading about politics. this is a plea for work for all

mapmakers. i believe maps are so much more important. not only the maps that i did, but the detailing of what daniel and those guys,n did she found more maps. enjoy the book. i've so much enjoyed the experience. as with every project i've ever been involved with, the other people bring me stuff that i could have not known any other way. don has been a master. we aren't cats, but i'm sure the erdingrase about h them came to mind when he was trying to get this going. on triumphs,n kenn among other things.

as a dog lover, i was never into herding cats. considering how stubborn my dog is, i could never herd dogs. one thing i want to point out, i don't know that this has come up, why is the capital of the historical society, capitol what is the connection to capitol hill and the carroll family? daniel carroll was the largest landowner in what became the district of columbia. it was on his land that the capital building -- capitol building was situated. i don't want to steal any of carroll's thunder from any question that might be asked, but when i first asked carroll,

which was probably 50 years ago, one of the first questions he'd why isked anyone was capitol hill referred to as jenkins hill when it was on carroll land? someone else can tell you the reason why the name jenkins hill stuck, but that is the connection between the capitol historical society, the carroll family, and capitol hill. it was on carroll land. our final panelist is pamela scott. an independent scholar that has been teaching, lecturing, generating exhibits and writing about planning and landscape for more than four decades. i have no idea what she can do in her spare time. she doesn't have any. ol has been the center

of her research. she has delved into the contributions of key individuals. her 1993 exhibit capitol's early architecture. her next book will be on charles' washington career with a focus on his work at the capitol. pam's section of the book is the largest and the most detailed history of the origins and development of capitol hill and the neighborhood, it's infrastructure, and so forth. pam, tell us a little bit about your work on the book. pamela: thank you, don.

i as well met carroll 15 years ago when he asked me to go through newspapers. looking for information on daniel carrolll of dunnington. this is before the digitization of newspapers. it was a microfilm intense project. i was surprised at how much i learned. his name came up quite frequently. it was the beginning of this long interest in the early development of capitol hill as a residential neighborhood. the same names kept coming up in newspapers. , in official records, in private correspondence. they were the people who actually carried out the process of creating the residential neighborhood around the capital itself. my view of history is that context is everything. that you need to place people in

the context of the place where they lived, what they did, and who they interacted with. that process has led me to a that, atf hoovering, my own peril, i neglect an interesting tidbit. i have learned that it can be the hinge or the doorway into a much more meaningful addition to what it belongs to. how to arrange thousands of pieces of papers into a coherent and meaningful story was the challenge. it took months to arrive at nine subject headings for my chapter in this book. all the while, new information was coming in as i searched to clarify what it is i already had.

the first section, capitol hill in the 1790's, introduces daniel carroll of dunnington. buto was a known quantity, also, thomas law, a highborn anglo-indian who came to america in 1794. he was enticed by the developers to become involved in developing capitol hill. he married eliza. martha washington's eldest granddaughter, but also -- it was her eldest granddaughter. law spent most of his huge fortune developing and promoting washington, because he believed that every american would be interested in its new capital

city. he soon learned otherwise. he enticed three members of jefferson's cabinet to live on capitol hill by offering them finer properties at lower rent available near the president's house. thus, he changed the social dynamic of capitol hill and influenced its political one. boarding houses and hotels, churches, turnpikes, and bridges, a local bank that invited even working population to buy shares and develop businesses. this african-american william washington'sa grandson but also her nephew,

worked for both carroll and law, built houses for his family, one facing the capital square. , where he and his daughters lived in harmony with their neighbors. congressional employees and such living in hotels. new information about washington's double house that he erected at considerable cost to help develop the neighborhood for the accommodation of congress, how the residences fared in august of 1814 when the firing of the capitol destroyed it and some private properties. , including washington's double house. this helped to fill out the capital's neighborhood. carroll's home was one of many important houses lost.

homes of the 21st century claimed their space to this is just the tip of the iceberg in a much broader story that we hope to go on and continue with. thank you. [applause] donald: now, as we turn to the q and a portion, let me exercise a moderator privilege of opening the session by asking one follow-up question to pamela. one thing you need to know about pam is that she never gives up. when she takes on a subject, she never stops researching. pamela, in your continuing research since the book went to press, what more new things have you learned that you can share with us today? pamela: one of the most brutal but least known group of documents are the papers of congressman of the era. letters, accounts of various

kinds, i discovered that david of connecticut was the person that both carroll and law turned to to introduce to congress, petitioned on their behalf and on behalf of other residents of capitol hill. at a time when the district of columbia had no way, legally, to petition congress. he also, in addition to carroll and law, introduced legislation relating to robert sewall's house, which was one of those burned by the british.

now, this is a very wonderful development in historical studies, many institutions are not digitizing their documents and putting them up, putting their availability up on the internet, on their webpages and inviting people to buy them or in some cases, actually have them sent to them. so, i found that among these papers was a letter or letters thomas law's son, john law, who, along with his two brothers, he was an anglo-indian, educated at harvard university.

he married in 1815 francis ann carter of stafford, virginia. this brings us full circle in this interesting story. during his career as a lawyer in washington, he often helped african americans who were fighting for their liberty. he lost a lawsuit to alexander r alexander scott for slander. law said that he had enslaved a freed man whose mother was white. according to law at that time, that african american should have been free. but law lost that lawsuit. then he was fined $5000.

he was moved to indiana, where , for a couple of years, he carried on various business arrangements. when he returned to washington, he applied for the job as secretary of the senate but did not achieve it. he was so well-liked in washington, that in 1822, he was chosen to give the principal address belaying the cornerstone of city hall. so you see that there is a much broader and complex and nuanced history that is yet to be explored. thank you. [applause] we will open it up to questions from the audience. if you have a question, raise

your hand to be identified. wait for c-span to bring the microphone to you. who has the first question? don't be shy. connie: i am connie carter, daughter of one of the authors. if carter, i was wondering you can tell us, maybe the general could add a little bit, what was it about that particular place of all of the land that could have been purchased or acquired that made it so attractive to become the siting for the capital? charles: well, initially, in representatives

, you want to know its size and shape. you especially want to know its elevation. that, youn to especially want to know its approach to water and drainage. and possibilities for being connected to other bodies of water. we are talking about the 1800's here. the shape of the land is very ever important. one would say that it is the most important characteristic of whatever interest we might have in land at one point or another.

but it is relationship to water, secondly, it is the elevation that the land is at. three, the extent to which that site lets you into other bodies of land. what am i rambling on here about? i'm saying there are a lot of these qualities having to do with land that are important. that, enoughas to on that for now. afaunt said

this was woodland area, it had to be cleared. but he said, it is a pedestal in need of a monument. do we have another question? anyone? yes. >> i would ask anyone of the authors if they could briefly explain why it was called jenkins hill and not carrolll hill? [laughter] >> there was a jenkins family in the old area of the city that mostly seemed to rent land.

north of carrollsberg, my mind 's eye says it might have been about 60 acres or so that was actually owned by jenkins. a good half-mile away. i think it may have been 60 acres or so, it was owned by a jenkins. this was a good half-mile away from carroll hill. the jenkins were around. i think we generally agreed that the only reason we use the term jenkins hill now is that l'enfant characterized it the first few days he was on the sight, he mentioned jenkins hill. he heard from somebody in georgetown that over there was jenkins hill. it was something sloppy that made that 225-year-old mistake.

pamela: i would like to add something as well. i have been through the papers in great detail. he gives several place names as well as the names of streams and so forth that we don't otherwise know about today. he was very well-informed about how to describe this whole area in terms of those current names. he does what became of greenleaf point. he referred to the eastern part of it as carroll point and the western part of it as maryland point. so those are the -- there were several different examples. >> so was he well-informed about many things but misinformed about the name of the hill? pamela: no, it was called jenkins hill at the time. capitol hill is a hill but then it is a plateau.

the land that he thought of as that entire hill, not just where the capitalnt where is located but the plateau behind it. it was called jenkins hill. pam,es: thank you,, for that. i am interrupting. this is a fine art. when it comes to 18th-century washington real estate. there is a description in the book on why it is called jenkins usedecifically how it is and why it is called jenkins hill. it has to do with l'enfant and others doing his kind of work. coming upon the land in

of then, up of a branch potomac river, and as he progressed toward this woods area, he was not familiar with it and so on. he comes along across the land and goes in to a nearby farmer and says "can you tell me who owns this land?" and the answer comes back "carroll." the order that he is pointing to is something on the order of 100 acres. squared up right on the flat. it is a square plot.

25 acres by 100 acres, something like that. it is set among a number of property owners that own land on a parcel of that part of the countryside. that was owned by who? who owns this? the question was asked. and the answer came back jenkins. why was that? it was because, right near there, or in fact, right there, there was a 100-acre plot that was surveyed and was owned or occupied by a jenkins. whoever was asked -- how did you get here? i got up here through jenkins' property. it was a name of convenience that casual comers to the land in question used in connection.

with the larger site. sorry for the convoluted answer. sorry it took so long. sorry, but it is as it is. we have got some maps that we had made. this was especially to help people with this kind of question. is this one of them? don: yes. >> i just want to emphasize the value of the map. [laughter] jenkins was here and rented over there. charles: it is that sort of thing you are confronted with here. pamela: he sold the property. i have a question to his

excellency about his relationships with the carroll family, charles carroll, daniel carroll of rock creek, or his cousin, john carroll, the bishop. >> why would you have an interest in that, sir? >> only because i am related to charles carroll carter and i am charles carroll carter, jr. >> you do know that i knew that. [laughter] charles junior: yes, sir, i did. >> in the declaration of independence, he was one of the 56 men who pledged everything.

for this nation. i could go individually amongst the three daniels but all of them were fine, upstanding individuals. all of them were my contemporaries. they were well-respected gentlemen. i will tell you that they did selfless public service. in other words, in agreeing to this negotiation with them, it did not work out particularly well for all of them. and so, i believe that in many respects, it is the height of selfless public service that is being displayed by this family in general. donald: if there are no other questions, i think i will close by saying that this is the kind of question that i would have asked but in reverse. i would have asked the panelists, what was their reading of the relationship between the carrolls and the president? there was a famous story, you

probably heard it, about a conflict between daniel carroll and pierre l'enfant. wast the house that carroll building. this was about one of the houses he was building. he ordered his workmen to dismantle the structure. i won't tell you anything more about that other than george washington gets involved. >> i told you, i got white hear from it -- hair from it. [laughter] donald: you can read mr. washington's correspondence about this in the book. charles: we have a photocopy of the letter so that you can be certain of our sources. donald: let me know turn the podium back to don carlson. [applause] don: i hope you all have enjoyed

the commentary about the book as much as i have tonight. i encourage you to take the time now to meet the authors, purchase the book, and prepare to join one of our capitol hill tours. i think you all for coming tonight on behalf of the capital historical society, for your support of our work and your support of this book. thank you so much. [applause] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2018] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] you are watching american history tv, 48 hours of running on american history every weekend on c-span3. c-span us on twitter @ history and for information on the latest news. america"eek, "reel brings you are unable films --

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hysteria, 61d murders by lynching, revolution in russia touching off panic at home.

victims of the, their houses ransacked without warrants. arrested,gn-born denied without lawyers, held without charges for three months. in pittsburgh and derry, indiana, it was a 12-hour day, take it or leave it, and you had better take it, if it was good for you very >> ♪ he was a vigilante man what is a vigilante man? his he carried a gun in hand? would he beat your brother and sister down? ♪ >> amalgamated clothing workers of america found their

contribution $100,000 for relief of the steel strikers. we know this is only the beginning of one of the greatest attacks against american labor. 1920. in six short years, we built ourselves one of the strongest unions in the country. week andrk, a 44-hour it working machinery of arbitration. but employers decided assigned to wreck the union, set the clock, bring back the sweatshop. and when we turned it down, lockout. >> they haven't all figured. shut down the machines, shut the doors against picketers. >> it just came back into the

courtroom. >> what happens if they get the injunction? >> is what happened. >> energy you come in here you, the supreme court is back -- hear ye, hear ye, the supreme court is back in session. >> representative of capital of the captains of industry. >> injunction granted. while the employers may succeed in getting injunctions, basic feet and nothing else. as long as they think they can ship customers injunctions instead of pens, let them go ahead. >> sit tight and hang on. the end of, it means the union, they open shop again, 7-day week, 12 hour day. your organization must have great sacrifices.

we ask you to walk instead of spending nickel car fare. your lives depend on it, your future, the future of your children. we will make sure there is not a single house without bread. we will not give you meat, but your sisters and brothers will not let you starve. >> you can watch this and other american history programs on her website, where all of our videos are archived. that is c-span.org/history. artifactsek, american >> up next, we toured the american exhibit in the national museum of the american indian here in washington dc with a curator cecile ganteume. in the pocahontas gallery we see images of the indian princess and how she was used as a symbol for america's founding.