History of Washington, D.C. Totally Explained

Everything about History Of Washington D C totally explained

The history of Washington, D.C. is tied intrinsically to its role as the capital of the United States. The site along the Potomac River was chosen for the capital city by George Washington, and approved by the United States Congress in the 1790 Residence Act. The city came under attack during the War of 1812 in an episode known as the Burning of Washington. Upon return to the capital, numerous public buildings including the White House and United States Capitol Building needed to be rebuilt. The 1901 McMillan Plan helped restore and beautify the downtown core area, including establishing the National Mall, along with numerous monuments and museums. Slavery was abolished throughout the District on April 16, 1862, though the city remained racially segregated until the 1950s. During the early 20th century, the U Street Corridor served as an important center for African American culture. After desegregation, racial tensions remained high in the city, and the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. in 1968 sparked major riots. Following the riots, large sections of the city remained blighted areas. The Washington Metro opened in 1976, and gentrification in the late 1990s and 2000s allowed many neighborhoods to revitalize.
Throughout much of its history, Washington D.C. residents lacked representation in the Federal government. The Twenty-third Amendment to the United States Constitution, ratified in 1961, gave the District representation in the electoral college. The 1973 District of Columbia Home Rule Act provided the local government more control of affairs, including direct election of the city council and mayor. Because it isn't a state, the District of Columbia still lacks voting rights in Congress.

Early settlement

Archaeological evidence indicates Native Americans settled in Washington, D.C. at least 4000 years ago, around the Anacostia River. Early European exploration of the region took place early in the 17th century, including explorations by Captain John Smith in 1608. At the time, Powhatans inhabited the Virginia side of the Potomac River, and Piscataway Indians (also known as Conoy) Algonquian people resided on the Maryland side. Native settlements within the present-day District of Columbia included Nacostines, at Anacostia, who were affiliated with the Conoy. Another village was located between Little Falls and Georgetown.
   On December 23, 1788, the Maryland General Assembly passed an act, allowing it to cede land for the federal district. The Virginia General Assembly followed suit on December 3, 1789. The signing of the Residence Act on July 6, 1790 mandated that a site, not exceeding "ten miles square" (100 square miles), be located on the "River Potomac, at some place between the mouths of the Eastern Branch and Connogocheque" for the permanent seat of government. The Residence Act authorized the President of the United States to select the actual location of the site.
   However, President George Washington wished to include the town of Alexandria, Virginia within a square federal district that would contain the full 100 square miles (259 km²) that the Residence Act had authorized. To accomplish this, the boundaries of the federal district would need to encompass an area on the Potomac that was downstream of the mouth of the Eastern Branch (now the Anacostia River) and was therefore not "between the mouths of the Eastern Branch and Connogocheque".
   The U.S. Congress amended the Residence Act in 1791 to permit Alexandria's inclusion in the federal district. However, some members of Congress had recognized that Washington and his family owned property in and near Alexandria, which was just seven miles upstream from Mount Vernon, Washington's home and plantation. The amendment therefore contained a provision that prohibited the construction of federal office buildings on the Virginia side of the Potomac River.
   The final site was just below the fall line of the Potomac—the farthest point upstream to which oceangoing boats could navigate. It included the ports of both Georgetown, Maryland and Alexandria, and was a key point for transferring goods, particularly tobacco, between oceangoing ships and land or riverine transports. However, the site was also accessible to foreign armed forces, as became apparent only two decades later, when British invaders set fire to the capital's federal buildings during the War of 1812.
   Washington, who had long promoted the location of the nation's capital along the Potomac, may also have chosen the site for its natural scenery and its location near the center of the new nation. He certainly believed that the Potomac had the potential to be a great navigable waterway, for he'd founded the Potowmack Company in 1785 to make navigability-increasing improvements (including several canals) to the river.
   Land for the district was given to the federal government by the states of Virginia and Maryland. The pre-existing towns of Georgetown and Alexandria were included in the new district, with the remainder of the territory subdivided into Washington City and the County of Washington on the Maryland side of the Potomac (named after George Washington) and Alexandria County on the Virginia side.
   The process of establishing the federal district faced further challenges, in form of strong objections from landowners such as David Burns who owned a large, 650 acre (263 hectares) tract of land in the heart of the district.

Plan of the City of Washington

Washington appointed Pierre Charles L'Enfant to devise a plan for the new city. L'Enfant designed the city's first layout, a grid centered on the United States Capitol, crossed by diagonal avenues later named after the states of the union. L'Enfant's plan was presented to George Washington on August 19, 1791. The intersections of these avenues with the north-south and east-west streets were carved into grand circles and plazas which would later honor notable Americans. L'Enfant laid out a wide "grand avenue", which he expected to travel on an east-west axis in the center of the area that the National Mall now occupies.
   L'Enfant also designed a narrower avenue (Pennsylvania Avenue) which would connect the "Federal House" (Capitol) with the "President palace" (White House). In time, Pennsylvania Avenue developed into the capital city's present "grand avenue".
   In September 1791, the three commissioners agreed to name the Federal District as "The Territory of Columbia," and the Federal city "The City of Washington."
   During 1791 and 1792, Major Andrew Ellicott, with assistants including his brother, Joseph Ellicott, Isaac Briggs, George Fenwick, and an African-American assistant, Benjamin Banneker, surveyed the borders of the Territory of Columbia with Virginia and Maryland. They placed sandstone boundary markers at or near every mile point. Many of these still remain.
   The cornerstone of the White House – the first new constructed building of the new capital – was laid on October 13, 1792. That was the day after the first celebrations of Columbus Day, marking the 300th anniversary of the explorer's first voyage to the New World. While surveying and construction were underway, both Congress and Presidents Washington and John Adams governed from other cities.
   L'Enfant designed the grid only as far as Boundary Street (later to be called Florida Avenue), at the base of the fall line. In 1792, President Washington dismissed L'Enfant from federal service. Popular legend says that L'Enfant was fired because, when a house had needed to be removed for one of his avenues, he'd lured the reluctant owner out of the house and then blew it up with explosives. In addition, L'Enfant had numerous conflicts with the three commissioners that Washington had appointed to supervise the design, survey and development of the federal district and capital city.
   Following L'Enfant's dismissal, Washington and the commissioners appointed surveyor Andrew Ellicott to complete the planning and design of the capital city. To L'Enfant's dismay, Ellicott soon revised the city's plan, straightening Massachusetts Avenue, eliminating several plazas and streets and giving names to the streets. Unlike L'Enfant, Ellicott was able to have his own plan engraved, published and distributed. As a result, Ellicott's plan became the basis for the capital city's future development.
   The city's grid pattern consists of numbered streets north-south and lettered streets running east-west. Curiously, however, there's no "J Street." Popular legend has it that this was due to L'Enfant's personal dislike of John Jay. The real reason was to prevent confusion that would result from the similarities of how the Roman letters "I" and "J" were written.
   In 1800, the seat of government was finally moved to the new city, and on February 27, 1801, the district was formally placed under the jurisdiction of Congress.

19th century

Economic development

The District of Columbia relied on Congress for support for capital improvements and economic development initiatives. However, Congress lacked loyalty to the city's residents and was reluctant to provide support.
The retroceded land was then known as Alexandria County, Virginia, and now includes a portion of the independent city of Alexandria and all of Arlington County, the successor to Alexandria County. A large portion of the retroceded land near the river was an estate of George Washington Parke Custis, who had supported the retrocession and helped develop the charter in the Virginia General Assembly for the County of Alexandria, Virginia. The estate (Arlington Plantation) would be passed on to his daughter (the wife of Robert E. Lee), and would eventually become Arlington National Cemetery.

Civil War era

Washington remained a small city of a few thousand residents, virtually deserted during the torrid summertime, until the outbreak of the U.S. Civil War in 1861. President Abraham Lincoln created the Army of the Potomac to defend the federal capital, and thousands of soldiers came to the area. The significant expansion of the federal government to administer the war—and its legacies, such as veterans' pensions—led to notable growth in the city's population. Slavery was abolished throughout the District on April 16, 1862 — eight months before Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation — with the passage of the Compensated Emancipation Act.
Throughout the war, the city was defended by a ring of military forts that mostly deterred the Confederate army from attacking. One notable exception was the Battle of Fort Stevens in July 1864 in which Union soldiers repelled troops under the command of Confederate General Jubal A. Early. This battle was the only time that a U.S. president came under enemy fire during wartime when Lincoln visited the fort to observe the fighting.
On April 14, 1865, just days after the end of the war, Lincoln was shot in Ford's Theater by John Wilkes Booth during the play Our American Cousin. The next morning, at 7:22 AM, President Lincoln died in the house across the street, the first American president to be murdered. Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton said, "Now he belongs to the ages."

Post-Civil War era

Just before the war, developers began creating suburbs inside the District but outside of the city of Washington, in the unsettled land of Washington County. This sectioning of the District made it increasingly hard to administer as a single entity. In 1871, Congress created a single legislature for the entire District, with representatives from Georgetown, Washington City, and Washington County. When this too had proved unruly, Congress passed the DC Organic Act of 1878, which merged Georgetown and Washington County into Washington City — making the city's boundaries identical with those of the District of Columbia.
The District was also given a territorial government in 1871. Its second governor, Alexander Robey Shepherd, however, gained an unfortunate reputation as an extravagant boss. His ambition was to make Washington a city of opulence and luxury, which he pursued by paving streets and sidewalks, installing street lights, and introducing electrical systems. He succeeded in many of these endeavors, but led the city to bankruptcy in the process. His excesses led Congress to abolish his office in favor of direct rule; Congressional governance of the District would continue for a century.

City Beautiful movement

In the early 1880s, the Washington Canal was filled in. Originally an expansion of Tiber Creek, the Canal connected the Capitol with the Potomac, running along the north side of the Mall where Constitution Avenue is today. However, as the nation transitioned over to railroads for its transport, the Canal had become nothing more than a stagnant sewer, and so it was removed. Some reminders of the Canal still exist. There are two lock buildings along the Mall, near 19th Street and Constitution. There is also a road named Canal Street that runs south from the Capitol building to the Anacostia River (although the northernmost section of the street was renamed Washington Avenue to commemorate the state of Washington).
The Washington Monument, after four decades of construction, finally opened in 1888 — the tallest building in the world at that time. Plans were laid to further develop the monumental aspects of the city, with work contributed by such noted figures as Frederick Law Olmsted and Daniel Burnham. However, development of the Lincoln Memorial and other structures on the National Mall didn't get underway until the early 20th century.
One of the most important Washington architects of this period was the German immigrant Adolf Cluss. From the 1860s to the 1890s, he constructed over 80 public and private buildings throughout the city, including the National Museum, the Agriculture Department, Sumner and Franklin schools.

20th century

President Herbert Hoover ordered the United States Army on July 28, 1932, to forcibly evict the "Bonus Army" of World War I veterans that gathered in Washington, D.C., to secure promised veterans' benefits early. U.S. troops dispersed the last of the "Bonus Army" the next day.
A shooting at the U.S. Capitol occurred in 1954 when four Puerto Rican nationalists fired into the floor of the House of Representatives. Five representatives were wounded; one severely.

Civil rights

Parks and recreation facilities in Washington, D.C. remained segregated until 1954, with desegregation of public schools soon thereafter. When the city's Board of Education began building the John Phillip Sousa Junior High, a group of parents from the Anacostia neighborhood petitioned to have the school admit both black and white students, but when it was constructed the Board declared that only whites would be allowed there. The parents sued in a case that was decided in the landmark Supreme Court case Bolling v. Sharpe. Partly due to the District's unique status under the Constitution, the court decided unanimously that all of D.C.'s public schools had to be integrated. In the wake of this and the landmark 1954 Supreme Court case Brown v. Board of Education, the Eisenhower administration decided to make D.C. schools the first to integrate as an example to the rest of the nation. In 1957, Washington became the first major city in the United states with a majority African-American population.
On August 28, 1963, Washington took center stage in the American Civil Rights Movement, with the March on Washington and Martin Luther King, Jr.'s famed "I Have a Dream" speech at the Lincoln Memorial. Following the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. on April 4, 1968, Washington was devastated by the riots that broke out in the U Street neighborhood and spread to other neighborhoods, including Columbia Heights. The civil unrest drove not only whites, but middle-class blacks out of the city core, and caused many businesses to leave the downtown and inner city areas. Marks of riots scarred some neighborhoods into the late 1990s.

Electoral college votes

The Twenty-third Amendment to the United States Constitution, ratified on March 29, 1961, gave the people of Washington, D.C. the right to choose electors for president and vice president of the United States. The amendment states that the District shall be treated as though it were a state for all purposes relevant to the election of the president and vice president; and, specifically, that it'll have as many electors to which it would be entitled if it were a state, except that it can't have more electors than the least populous state. However, the least number of electors any state can have is three, so the least number of representatives the District can have is three.
If the District were a state, it would currently be represented in Congress by two senators and one Member of Congress, for a total Congressional representation of 3. Thus, the District is entitled to 3 electoral votes, which is the least number of electoral votes any state can have. There have been other times in history, however — and may be again — when the District of Columbia would have been entitled to 4 electors if it were a state; but so long as it isn't a state, it can have no more electors than the number allocated to the least populous state. There are currently seven states that are only entitled to 3 electors, so that situation isn't likely to change in the foreseeable future.

Home rule

In 1973, Congress passed the District of Columbia Home Rule Act, ceding some of its power over the city to a new, directly elected city council and mayor. Voters chose Walter Washington to become the first elected mayor of Washington, D.C. and the first black mayor of a major American city.
   The first 4.6 miles (7.4 kilometers) of the Washington Metro subway system opened on March 27, 1976, following years of acrimonious battles with Congress over funding and highway construction.
   In 1978, Congress sent the District of Columbia Voting Rights Amendment to the states for ratification. This amendment would have granted the District representation in the House, Senate, and Electoral College as if it were a state. The proposed amendment had a seven-year limit for ratification, and only sixteen states ratified it before the time limit expired. Marion Barry became the city's second elected mayor after defeating Walter Washington in the 1978 Democratic Party primary. Mayor Barry was popular among low-income residents of the District for his commitment to providing summer youth employment opportunities. Initiated during his administration, the Summer Youth Employment program exists to this day.
   During his third term, Barry was arrested for drug use in an FBI sting on January 18, 1990. He was acquitted of felony charges but was convicted on one misdemeanor count of cocaine possession, for which he served a six-month jail term. On January 2, 1991, Sharon Pratt Kelly (elected as Sharon Pratt Dixon but married later that year) was sworn in as mayor, becoming the first black woman to lead a city of that size and importance in the United States.
   Marion Barry defeated Kelly in the 1994 primary and was once again elected mayor. He ended his fourth term politically weakened, however, as the city nearly became insolvent and lost much home rule authority to the Congressionally created D.C. Financial Control Board. The greatest shake-up during this period, however, didn't affect Barry's power directly but concerned the D.C. Public Schools. In the autumn of 1996, the superintendent of schools and all members of the elected D.C. Board of Education were permanently relieved of responsibility. A retired U.S. Army general was brought in to serve as interim CEO of the public schools. Barry didn't run for re-election again.
   The next mayor, Anthony Williams, a Yale University-educated lawyer, had been appointed the city's chief financial officer by the control board. He was elected mayor in 1998 and, despite alleged mismanagement and fraud in his campaign which led to the removal of his name from the ballot, Williams won reelection in 2002 as a write-in candidate. � See also: List of mayors of Washington, D.C.

Hanafi Muslim hostage situation

On March 9, 1977, twelve African-American gunmen identified as Hanafi Muslims seized three buildings in central Washington, seeking to stop the screening of the movie Mohammad, Messenger of God and also to have certain prisoners released to them. Two people were killed, others injured, and others taken hostage for 39 hours.

Air Florida crash

On January 13, 1982, Air Florida Flight 90 crashed into the 14th Street Bridge shortly after takeoff from Washington National Airport in nearby Arlington, Virginia, killing 78 and destroying a portion of the bridge. The rebuilt portion was named the Arland D. Williams Jr. Memorial Bridge in honor of a heroic victim of the disaster.

21st century

Terrorism and security

The Washington area was a main target of the September 11, 2001 attacks. One hijacked airplane was crashed into the Pentagon in Arlington County, Virginia, just across the Potomac River from Washington. The crash killed 64 aboard the plane and 125 people on the ground. Hijackers of United Airlines Flight 93, which crashed in Pennsylvania, supposedly intended to target either the White House or the U.S. Capitol.
   Since September 11 2001, a number of high-profile incidents and security scares have occurred in Washington. In October 2001, anthrax attacks, involving anthrax-contaminated mail sent to numerous members of Congress, infected 31 staff members, and killed two U.S. Postal Service employees who handled the contaminated mail at the Brentwood sorting facility. During three weeks of October 2002, fear spread among residents of the Washington area, with the Beltway Sniper attacks. Ten apparently random victims were killed, with three others wounded before John Allen Muhammad and Lee Boyd Malvo were arrested on October 24, 2002. In 2003 and 2004, a serial arsonist set over 40 fires, mainly in the District and inner-Maryland suburbs, with one fire killing an elderly woman. In November 2003, the toxin ricin was found in the mailroom of the White House, and in February 2004, in the mailroom of U.S. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist.
   Since the September 11, 2001 attacks, security has been increased in Washington. Screening devices for biological agents, metal detectors, and vehicle barriers are now much more commonplace at office buildings as well as government buildings. After the 2004 Madrid train bombings, local authorities have decided to test explosives detectors on the vulnerable Washington Metro subway system. False alarms due to suspicious chemical or powder substances or suspected explosives have led to fairly frequent evacuations of buildings, Metro stations, and local post offices.
   When U.S. forces in Pakistan raided a house suspected of being a terrorist hideout, they found information several years old about attacks on Washington, D.C., New York City, and Newark, New Jersey. It was directed to intelligence officials, and on August 1, 2004, the Secretary of Homeland Security put the city on Orange (High) Alert. A few days later, security checkpoints appeared in and around the Capitol Hill and Foggy Bottom neighborhoods, and fences were erected on monuments once freely accessible, such as the Capitol. Tours of the White House were limited to those arranged by members of Congress. Screening devices for biological agents, metal detectors, and vehicle barriers became much more commonplace at office buildings as well as government buildings and in transportation facilities. This ultra-tight security was referred to as "Fortress Washington"; many people objected to "Walling off Washington" based on information several years old. The vehicle inspections set up around the Capitol were removed in November 2004.

Voting orientation

Washington is a solid Democratic Party stronghold. Washington's current delegate to Congress, Eleanor Holmes Norton, and a majority of the city council are Democrats. In addition, every elected mayor in the modern era has been a Democrat. Since gaining three electoral votes in 1961, D.C. has never supported a Republican presidential candidate and its margins for Democrats are not only the largest of any state, but are also larger than any county. In 2004, John Kerry won the District's 3 electoral votes by a margin of 80 percentage points with 89.2% of the total vote.

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