A Visit to the New Federal City
September 2024 Imperfect Union
Hello friends! What a few weeks it has been. I am so grateful for your book orders, your support, your attendance at book events, your reviews, and your encouragement. It has really made this process so very special. Below, you can see lots of fun press, articles, podcasts, etc. There are still many book events to come, I hope I will see you there!
In less delightful news, my pre-order campaign went horribly awry. If you ordered the discounted, signed copies, you probably received an email that the order is delayed. Many of you reached out to me about the email. I want to express my sincerest apologies. I thought this option would be so much better and it has been a crushing disappointment. It has reflected so poorly on me, the press, and the company. I know it has also been so frustrating for you. It has to be so annoying to see books out in the wild and not have yours. I know so many of you want to read it and share it online - I truly wish you could have been doing so the last week. The company received the books last week and should be shipping them Monday. Rest assured, I will be doing things differently next time. I hope you will stay with me.
I will still be in Adams book mode for a few more months, so I hope you will forgive one more essay that is book related. I share this story in the book, but I wanted to flush it out a bit more for you.
On June 9, 1800, a carriage rolled down Washington Street in Alexandria, Virginia carrying a very important visitor. President John Adams had arrived to supervise the establishment of the executive departments in the new Washington City.
The federal government had first gathered in New York City in April 1789. The next year, it traveled southward to Philadelphia, where it spent the next decade. Finally, in 1800, the government made the final move to its new home in the city carved from farms and plantations on the banks of the Potomac River. The new Capitol building, placed on a ridge on the eastern end of Pennsylvania Avenue, loomed above the new city. The recently completed Senate chambers were constructed of stone but the permanent House chambers were still a future goal. A temporary wooden dwelling had been constructed for the peoples’ representatives to convene with a covered passage in between the two chambers.
Farther west along Pennsylvania Avenue, the Executive Mansion was still under construction. Black and white workers, both enslaved and free, labored around the clock firing bricks, carving stone, sawing lumber, and painting plastered walls. The President’s House and the Peoples’ House dwarfed the other buildings in the city, and visitors routinely got lost on the outskirts of town. When First Lady Abigail Adams traveled to Washington City for the first time, she described the route, “You find nothing but a Forest & woods on the Way.” But once she finally arrived, she confessed the Mansion was surrounded by a “beautifull situation” with a view of the Potomac River.
Georgetown and Alexandria were the cities of note in the region. They served as important ports for trade and hubs for travel and communication, connected by a regular ferry that shuttled horses, carriages, passengers, and goods across the Potomac River. Like most travelers to the area, Adams stopped in Alexandria to visit friends, pay his respects to local dignitaries, and attend social functions before crossing the river again into Washington City. Both Georgetown and Alexandria were technically part of the new federal district, but they also remained important towns in their own right.
Library of Congress
During his visit, the president dined with Attorney General Charles Lee at his large brick home on the corner of Washington and Queen Streets (now the Lloyd House, the current headquarters of Historic Alexandria). “Mr Lee lives very elegantly neatly and agreably there among his sisters and friends and among his fine Lotts of Clover and Timothy,” Adams described for his wife, Abigail. “I scarcely know a more eligible situation,” he praised.
Lloyd House, Alexandria, VA
The next day, Adams returned to his carriage and commenced the twelve-mile journey to Mount Vernon. Like so many visitors before and after him, Adams came to pay his respects, commune with the spirit of Washington, and observe Mount Vernon. He enjoyed the day with Martha Washington and her family, who were still in mourning for George, who had died seven months earlier.
The president stayed overnight at the estate and wrote to Abigail that “Mrs Washington and her whole Family very kindly enquired after your health and all your Children and Louisa; and send many friendly Greetings.”
The next morning, Adams rode back up the road that hugged the banks of the Potomac (today the George Washington Parkway). He returned to Alexandria, where local uniformed cavalry waited on the outskirts of town. They escorted him to Gadsby’s Tavern on the corner of Cameron and Royal Streets for a banquet in his honor. The local paper described the festivities, including sixteen toasts offered by the hosts to “The Constitution of the United States,” “The memory of our late incomparable Washington,” and “The President of the United States.” The Philadelphia Gazette reported that Adams “was received by the Citizens with a cordiality and respect which they have hitherto been accustomed to pay [George] Washington.”
At 5 PM, the banquet concluded, and Adams made his way into Washington City for the first time. He spent the next several nights at Tunnicliff’s Washington City Hotel (on the site of the current Supreme Court), where Secretary of War Samuel Dexter and Secretary of State John Marshall had also rented rooms. During the day, the president met with his cabinet to manage foreign policy and matters of state. At night, they attended more social events in his honor in Washington City and Georgetown.
After a short stay to confirm the progress of the new federal city, Adams returned to Quincy, Massachusetts for the remainder of the summer. That fall, he traveled south once again to assume his residency at the Executive Mansion. The workers had just barely met the November 1, 1800, deadline, and many of the rooms needed round-the-clock fires to help the paint dry. Despite the rough edges, Adams was smitten with the building and what it represented for the future.
