Washington D.C named capital of U.S

The story of how it happened is actually a bit more complicated than is generally recognized. And the popular story about the "dinner deal" -- if it really happened -- still leaves quite a bit out.

"Options"

The main "competitors" with the Potomac location were the one on the Susquehanna (approved in 1790) and the site on the Delaware (near Trenton) approved in 1783-4. I believe there was also a group that advocated a capital in the Baltimore area. (Some may have hoped New York City or Philadelphia would be the final choice, but we are not sure these specific locations ever had widespread support.)

How they chose the Potomac.:

Of course, the first national capital --the meeting place at the time of the Declaration of Independence-- was Philadelphia. But it was NOT one of the locations seriously considered for a permanent capital in the 1780s and early 1790s when the matter was debated.

The Continental Congress was much divided over the issue of the location of a PERMANENT capital --the chief division being between the northern and southern states.

In 1783 they Congress thought the solution was to establish TWO capitals, a Northern one, on the Delaware River near Trenton (not far from Philadelphia but NOT in it), and a Southern one on the Potomac (exact location undetermined). But this was obviously too cumbersome, and the following year Congress decided on just the one Trenton-area capital, and to meet in New York City until building was completed. But Southern opponents never supported the funding, so New York remained de facto capital for several years.

When the Constitution was drafted, it assigned the choice of a permanent location to Congress (Article 1, sec. 8), which first took the matter up at its first session (1789).

(It may be that New Yorkers were encouraged to think New York might end up as the final capital -- in order to help gain the needed support of this state in ratifying the Constitution -- but it was much too far north to ever be accepted by the Southern representatives.)

The First Congress (under the Constitution) actually made two DIFFERENT decisions about this question

-- in 1789 a location on the Susquehanna River in Pennsylvania was decided on. But the matter was not finally settled before Congress adjourned

-- in May 1790, the matter was taken up again, from scratch (not where they left up). This time the Southern plan won the day. The decision to build on the Potomac, was established by the Residence Act passed July 16.

The story is often told of how the change took place, supposedly as a result of a compromise made at a dinner party involving Madison (proponent of the Southern view and an important leader of the Jeffersonians [later the 'Republican Party'] in the House) and Alexander Hamilton, a Northerner (of New York), Federalist and Washington's Secretary of the Treasury. Supposedly, Hamilton offered Northern support for the Potomac capital in exchange for help (or at least not BLOCKING) his financing plans in Congress (esp. the federal assumption of the war debts of all the states, along with the First National Bank).

In fact, it is not certain the decision took place quite that way..though it makes a nice story!

A key factor that should not be overlooked was George Washington's OWN preferences. HIS personal popularity in both sections added great weight to his desire that the capital be located on the Potomac, near his home at Mount Vernon. In fact, the Residence Act left it to the President to chose the specific location.

Note also that the Residence Act provided for Philadelphia as the temporary capital for the next 10 years, while arrangements were made for building the District of Columbia (named "Washington" in 1791, though its namesake avoided using that name). It is claimed that this piece helped secure passage, in part because some Northerners (esp. from Pennsylvania) believed the Potomac plan would ultimately fail and Pennsylvania would end up hosting the capital permanently.

Napoleon Bonaparte becomes dictator of France

Napoleon Bonaparte returned in Paris from his disastrous Egyptian campaign on October 1799. France's situation had been improved by a series of victories but Republic was bankrupt and the ineffective Directory was unpopular with the French population. He was approached by one of the Directors, Emmanuel Joseph Sieyès, for his support in a coup to overthrow the constitutional government. The leaders of the plot included his brother Lucien Bonaparte, the speaker of the Council of Five Hundred, Roger Ducos, another Director, Joseph Fouché, and Charles Maurice Talleyrand. The deputies had realised they faced an attempted coup. Faced with their remonstrations, Bonaparte led troops to seize control and disperse them, which left a rump legislature to name Bonaparte, Sièyes, and Ducos as provisional Consuls to administer the government.

 Napoleon had become the most popular General, and the Republican government formed after the French Revolution had become unpopular for its inactivity. Napoleon made use of this opportunity to effect a change in the constitution and to find a place for himself in the new arrangement. He made himself the First Consulate in a government of Three Consuls. Later he declared himself the Emperor and got the change ratified by the French people through a referendum. He never used the term dictator.

New York stock exchange organized, 1792

The origin of the NYSE can be traced to May 17, 1792, when the Buttonwood Agreement was signed by 24 stockbrokers outside of 68 Wall Street in New York under a buttonwood tree on Wall Street.

In March, 1792, twenty-four of New York City's leading merchants met secretly at Corre's Hotel to discuss ways to bring order to the securities business and to wrest it from their competitors, the auctioneers. Two months later, on May 17, 1792, these merchants signed a document named the Buttonwood Agreement, named after their traditional meeting place, a buttonwood tree. The agreement called for the signers to trade securities only among themselves, to set trading fees, and not to participate in other auctions of securities. These twenty-four men had founded what was to become the New York Stock Exchange. The Exchange would later be located at 11 Wall Street.

     

A century before, Dutch settlers had built a wall to protect themselves from Indians, priates, and other dangers. The path had become a bustling commercial thoroughfare because it joined the banks of the East River with those of the Hudson River on the west. The path was named Wall Street. Early merchants built their warehouses and shops on this path, along with a city hall and a church. New York was the U.S. national capitol from 1785 until 1790 and Federal Hall was built on Wall Street. George Washington was inaugurated on the steps of this building.

      The first stock exchange in America was actually founded in Philadelphia in 1790. The New York merchant group, realizing that their stock exchange was now in decline after the early tumult of revolutionary war bonds and stock in the Bank of the United States, sent an observer to Philadelphia in early 1817.

First census in America

We're turning the clock back further - to 1790, the year of the first U.S. census.

Constitutional Count Launched the year after George Washington became president, the inaugural census fulfilled a requirement set forth in the new U.S. Constitution - that "we the people" be counted every 10 years. Why? To let the nation divvy up federal taxation and representation. The Constitution says:

Representatives and direct taxes shall be apportioned among the several states which may be included within this union, according to their respective numbers.

Not surprisingly, the census form was considerably simpler in 1790 than it is today. It focused on just five data points: the number of free white males 16 and up (considered a measure of potential military and economic might), the number of free white males under 16, the number of free white females, the number of "other free persons," and the number of slaves.

Key Findings

The census found that fewer than 4 million people lived in the United States. The official tally was 3,893,635. Virginia was by far the most populous state (with 748,000 people), followed by Pennsylvania (with 435,000), North Carolina (with 395,000) and New York (with 340,000). That helps explain why four of America's first five presidents hailed from Virginia.

Nationwide, nearly 700,000 people - more than 1 in 6 Americans - were slaves. Nearly 300,000 of them lived in Virginia, with another 300,000 in Maryland, North Carolina, and South Carolina. Of all the slaves counted, more than 90 percent lived south of the Mason-Dixon Line, a line of stone markers placed between 1763 and 1767 to separate Pennsylvania from Maryland and Maryland from Delaware.

Virginia had more enslaved people than seven other states had people. That helps explain - though not excuse - the Constitution's "three-fifths" clause, under which representation was based on counts of "the whole number of free Persons" plus "three-fifths of all other Persons," excluding "Indians not taxed." Virginia and the other slave states got fewer representatives than they would have if slaves had counted the same as "free Persons," but more than they would have if slaves had counted as property.

As for that supposed measure of potential military and economic might, the number of free white men 16 or older came to just 807,000. But the nation was growing fast. The 1800 census counted 5.3 million Americans, a 35 percent increase over the 1790 count. The population increased by another 36 percent between 1800 and 1810