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Washington was located where it is for different reasons other than moving out of unruly urban centers.
by vondur 6y ago
Washington was located where it is for different reasons other than moving out of unruly urban centers.
- dsr_ 6y ago...but it was, nevertheless, moved away from New York City and Philadelphia (the prior centers of government) and not located in Richmond or Baltimore (both of which existed as cities in the general area).
- ahazred8ta 6y agoOh my sweet summer child... The https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pennsylvania_Mutiny_of_1783 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pennsylvania_Mutiny_of_1783 is specifically what convinced Congress that the capitol building needed to be moved to an isolated area not in an existing city.
- vondur 6y agoI was just reading a recent "George Washington's Final Battle" which details Washington's struggle to get the capital built where it is. The main reason for the location was to be somewhere halfway between the Northern and Southern states; any other more partisan location may have caused a breakup of the Nation. (at least that's what Washington believed)
- ahazred8ta 6y agoYou're confusing two different decisions: 1) to relocate the capital to a new federal district in a rural-ish area, and 2) to decide where that federal district was going to be located. You're talking about #2; I'm talking about #1. Washington's recommendation to pick a location in the south came several years after congress had already decided #1. If Washington had not pushed for it, DC would have been built in a different previously-undeveloped area, possibly in the north. Again, see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pennsylvania_Mutiny_of_1783 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pennsylvania_Mutiny_of_1783