The District of Columbia's history began in 1790 when Congress directed selection of a new capital site, 100 square miles, along the Potomac River. When the site was determined, it included 30.75 square miles on the Virginia side of the river.
In 1846, however, Congress returned that area to Virginia, leaving the 68.25 sq mi ceded by Maryland in 1788. The seat of government was transferred from Philadelphia to Washington on Dec. 1, 1800, and President John Adams became the first resident in the White House.
The city was planned and partly laid out by Maj. Pierre Charles L'Enfant, a French engineer. This work was perfected and completed by Maj. Andrew Ellicott and Benjamin Banneker, a freeborn black man who was an astronomer and mathematician.
In 1814, during the War of 1812, a British force burned the capital including the White House.
The Alexandria of 1800 basked in the sunshine of economic prosperity as the premier port on the Potomac River. Its harbor bristled with activity as ships unloaded their cargoes of Antigua rum, Puerto Rico coffee and Lisbon wines, as well as an assortment of manufactured goods from Great Britain.
The population was said to be 4971 in 1800, but grew to 6543 by 1808 and to 7143 in 1810. Included within the boundaries of the District of Columbia in 1791, Alexandria did not legally become a component of the federal district until 1801. The Fairfax County Court, which had met on Market Square since 1752, relocated to the town of Providence, now Fairfax City, in April 1800.
By June 1800, the federal government began its move from Philadelphia to the planned Washington City where Congress convened its first session on November 17. Secretary of the Treasury Oliver Wolcott suggested in a letter that Alexandria would have been established as the seat of the government, if George Washington had not been confined to a choice on the east side of the Potomac. Washington, sensitive to charges of financial impropriety, had been reluctant to openly lobby for his hometown since he was the owner of adjacent real estate.
Although Alexandria's shipping interests had been harmed by the undeclared naval war with France, trade soon rebounded. The Alexandria Advertiser editorialized in 1802, that "Not more than two years since it was a rare thing to see a square rigged vessel in our harbour; we now have our wharves lined with vessels destined for foreign ports. Our merchants have generally received their fall goods, and we sincerely hope they will reap the reward of their labors. . . "
Between 1800 and 1809, the citizens of Alexandria provided lavish entertainments for each of the three sitting U.S. presidents—Adams, Jefferson and Madison. With the new capital so close, it was natural that the commander-in-chief would occasionally visit. This "tradition" has to continued to this day.
From 1801 to 1810, Alexandria shipped to foreign countries 613,895 barrels of flour and 233,139 bushels of wheat. The town's major markets were Portugal and Spain. The West Indies remained the best market for flour, taking nearly one- third of Alexandria's exports in addition to 35% of its corn. A large percentage of Alexandria's commerce also centered around its coastwise trade with New England. Tobacco, preserved meats, grain and forest products account for the majority of commodities exchanged. [Peterson, "The Alexandria Market Prior to the Civil War," William & Mary Quarterly (Vol. 11, Series 2)]
By 1810, Alexandria also ranked third in the nation in the production of refined sugar (see Place in Time below). Crude sugar was imported from the West Indies and New Orleans in exchange for cargoes of flour and tobacco.
Alexandria ended the first decade of the nineteenth century with a spectacular fire which ravaged the waterfront. "It commenced in a cooper's shop near the wharves adjoining Union Street on September 24, 1810 and consumed nearly every building from Prince to Duke Street."
The Edinburgh Advertiser
Edinburgh, Midlothian, United Kingdom
December 19, 1812
EDINBURGH
BLOCKADE
OF THE PORTS OF AMERICA
From the LONDON GAZETTE, Dec. 26
Foreign Office, Dec 26
His Royal Highness the Prince Regent, acting in the name and on the behalf of his Majesty, has been pleased to cause it to be signified, by Lord Viscount Castlereagh, his Majesty's Principal Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, to the Ministers of Friends Powers residing at this Court, that the necessary measures have been taken, by the command of his Royal Highness, for the blockade of the ports and harbors of the Bay of the Chesapeake and of the River Delaware, in the United States of America; and that from this time all the measures authorized by the Law of Nations will be adopted and executed, with respect to all vessels which may attempt to violate the said Blockade.
