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Philadelphia was home to the first center of government for the United States. It was there that the Continental Congress signed the Declaration of Independence, and George Washington served as the first president.
Discussions began in 1790 about finding a new home for the federal government. Northern representatives wanted the government to be near the financial centers of Philadelphia and New York. Southern states, on the other hand, wanted a place further south, and supported the idea of moving to an area on the Potomac River between Maryland and Virginia. Alexander Hamilton, the secretary of: the Treasury, was able to arrange a compromise: the Northern states would agree to the Potomac site, as long as the Southerners supported various Northerners policies.
Major Pierre L'Enfant, a French engineer, was appointed by George Washington to plan the city. L'Enfant was fired shortly after the project began and was replaced by the surveyor Andrew Ellicott, who resigned from the project before its completion. L'Enfant's design, however, remained the plan for the city.
George Washington laid the cornerstone of the Capitol building in September 1793, but it wasn't until 1800 that Washington, D.C., became the official home of the federal government. President John Adams and his wife Abigail were the first to live in the White House—then known as the presidential palace—followed by Thomas Jefferson.
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Moving the capital to Washington City
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