The idea for a capital city occurred to Americans when some angry revolutionary soldiers nonviolently marched into the temporary capital at Philadelphia in 1783 to present their grievances to the debt-ridden United States treasury. After that, the authors of democracy pushed for the building of a place where they could work "without fear of intimidation" by said commoners. George Washington, the great surveyor, picked out the site on the Potomac River to be navigable to Georgetown, an important and profitable tobacco market, although the actual choice on the Potomac was largely a political compromise between sites north and south.
Originally planned by French architect L'Enfant for a population a hundred times larger than what existed in 1791, Washington D.C. was designed on such a grandiose Baroque scale that it was ridiculed as "wilderness city," "capital of Miserable Huts," and "A Mud-hole Equall to the Great Serbonian Bog" because of its wide grand avenues leading to nowhere. L'Enfant could not foresee the population boom and traffic jams when he built his traffic circles, but he did allow room in the uniform design of the city for expanded forms of government. Little more than a southern village for the first half-century of its existence, Washington D.C. was characterized by its incredibly hot, and muggy summer days.
The importance of D.C. as capital solidified after the British troops invaded and burned the city during the War of 1812. During the Civil War protection of the district was insured by the immediate military occupation of Maryland after it seceded from the Union.
Prior to World War II, Washington D.C. did not offer any quality higher education institutions, collections of arts, or facilities of performing arts. Only the national museum, the Smithsonian, and the Library of Congress, which was established in 1800, provided the capital with a sense of beauty, history, and order. In 1971, President John F. Kennedy established in D.C. the Center for Performing Arts, adding to the city's cultural flavor.
The federal government is the country's biggest employer. Many of the people who work in the capital city are lobbyists, tax experts, patent attorneys, journalists, press correspondents, and former government employees. For many of the African American residents, however, the District has remained a symbol of difficulty in regard to social advancement for African Americans, quality of life, and public educational facilities. In the 1930's, during the worst of the depression, so many people lived in alleys that an Alley Dwelling Elimination Act was passed. Few African Americans were employed in the Civil Service or allowed into the AFL (American Federation of Labor). The New Negro Alliance was founded in 1933 to demand equal working opportunities for African Americans in their districts of residence. The Joint Committee on National Recovery did provide some help, but it was not until after the assassination of Martin Luther King and the ensuing riots in 1968, that the voice of the African American community was finally heeded.
Both the residents and working populations of D.C. are among the most transient in the nation. Most commuters pay their taxes and spend their income outside the district, leaving little capital for the social welfare programs which so desperately need it. Because it is the seat of the federal government, D.C.'s local government was so limited that residents could not even vote in presidential elections until 1961. Complicated and overlapping governmental structure of federal jurisdiction and some popular elections and standard mayoral jurisdiction continue to hinder the functioning of this unique municipality.
Washington D.C. is a place where Americans can voice their opinions. Some of the more famous political marches on the capital include: Coxey's Army of 300 unemployed workers in 1894 and the Bonus Marchers, comprised of 17,000 Army veterans who demanded government cash bonus certificates in 1932. In 1963, Martin Luther King, Jr. led approximately 200,000 Civil Rights demonstrators in a march which lead to the passing of additional Civil Rights Legislation in 1964, providing for the removal of discrimination in employment, public accommodations, restaurants, hotels, and theaters. Ralph David Abernathy's "Poor People's Campaign," is popularly remembered for its protestors who dressed in laborers' clothes and built Resurrection City SA, which remained in D.C. for over a month until Abernathy was jailed. On November 15, 1969, Washington D.C. was the site for the serious Anti-Vietnam War demonstration, attended by more than 250,000 people.
Washington D.C. is the site of numerous notable events. When reporters Woodward and Bernstein broke the Watergate Scandal in 1972 (and five of President Nixon's men were arrested on June 17 for breaking into the Democratic National Committee in the Watergate Hotel in D.C.), the nation was in an upheaval. Likewise, when Washington D.C. mayor Marion Barry was caught smoking crack in the 1980's, the capitol received a lot of bad press. President Reagan was shot in the chest in Washington D.C. while walking to his limousine in 1981. In 1989, more than 300,000 people marched in Washington to support a woman's pro-choice rally. Today, it is also the home of the famous AIDS quilts, commemorating the memory of all the people who have died of AIDS.
Visiting the District
African American culture is celebrated on Duke Ellington's birthday, April 24; Malcolm X Day, on May 16; Festival of American Folklife (June/July); USA Festival in August; D.C. Blues Festival, September 4; and African Cultural Festival, September 11.
Art, Science and Technology Institute Museum of the Third Dimension
The Capitol Building, first built in 1793.
Federal Bureau of Investigation Headquarters
Frederick Douglas National Historic Site
Freer Gallery of Art
Hirschorn Museum and Sculpture Garden
The Historical Society of Washington, D.C.
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
The Library of Congress includes a collection of over 60,000,000 items.
Lincoln Memorial
Museum of Modern Art of Latin America
National Air and Space Museum
National Aquarium
United States National Arboretum
National Building Museum
National Gallery of Art
National Museum of African Art
National Museum of American Art
National Museum of American History
National Portrait Gallery
National Postal Museum
National Zoo
United States Naval Observatory
Smithsonian Institution, the world's largest museum complex.
United States Supreme Court
Tech 2000-Gallery of Interactive Multimedia
Textile Museum
Vietnam Veterans Memorial
Washington Monument
The White House
Famous People
Martin Lawrence (b. D.C.) Comedian, actor, and host of "Def Comedy Jam."
Marjorie Rawlings (b. D.C. 1895-1953) Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Yearling (1938).
Fascinating Fact
In 1980 Washington, D.C. outranked four states in population.
Established in 1791; flag adopted in 1938. The personal arms of George Washington form the District Flag. It has no historical relationship to the Stars and Stripes, despite the similarity of design.
