l62 WRIGHT 



ten miles square) as may by cession of particular States and the 

 acceptance of Congress become the seat of the government of 

 the United States." 



In pursuance of this provision the State of Maryland, Decem- 

 ber 23, 1788, passed "An act to cede Congress a district of ten 

 miles square in this State for the seat of the government of the 

 United States," and the State of Virginia, December 3, 1789, 

 passed "An act for the cession of ten miles square, or any lesser 

 quantity of territory, within this State to the United States in 

 Congress assembled for the permanent seat of the general gov- 

 ernment." After much deliberation and the contentions grow- 

 ing out of measures relating to the assumption by Congress of 

 the war debts of States, these cessions were accepted, as required 

 by the Constitution and the permanent seat of government estab- 

 lished by the "Act for establishing the temporary and permanent 

 seat of the government of the United States," which was ap- 

 proved July 16, 1790, and the act to amend the same, approved 

 March 3, 1791. The district of ten miles square was accord- 

 ingly located and its lines and boundaries particularly estab- 

 lished by a proclamation of President Washington March 30, 

 1791, and by the 'Act concerning the District of Columbia,' 

 approved February 27, 1801, Congress assumed complete juris- 

 diction over the District, as contemplated by the framers of the 

 Constitution. Philadelphia was made the capital till 1800. 



It is not necessary on this occasion to rehearse the various 

 elements and discussions which led to these results ; they were 

 varied indeed, and while sectional arguments were freely used, 

 the chief desire among the members of the Congress was to 



to 1890, inclusive ; reports of the Comptroller of the Currency ; reports of the 

 Board of Public Works ; 'District Affairs, 1874 : Governor Shepherd's Answer;' 

 United States Statutes at Large ; reports of Commissioners of the District of 

 Columbia ; reports of the Assessor of the District of Columbia ; ' The City of 

 Washington,' by John Addison Porter; Crew's ' Centennial History of Wash- 

 ington'; ' The Negro in the District of Columbia,' by Edward Ingle ; ' Pictures 

 of the City of Washington in the Past,' by Samuel C. Busey, M.D., 'Statement 

 of Appropriations and Expenditures from the National Treasury in the District 

 of Columbia,' Ex. Doc. No. 84, Senate, Forty-fifth Congress, 2d session; infor- 

 mation by leading citizens, especially Hon. Henry A. Willard, Lewis Johnson 

 Davis, Esq., and B. H. Warner, Esq., and special of&cial data kindly furnished 

 by the Secretary of the Treasury and Hon. Matthew Trimble, Assessor of the 

 District of Columbia. 



