244 SPOFFORD 



lots at $80 each from the commissioners, and nearly as many 

 more from individuals, the whole purchase being nearly one 

 million dollars; that the bargain was made in 1793, on seven 

 years' time, one-seventh to be paid annually ; that they were 

 bound to erect one hundred and twenty brick houses of two 

 stories, within the seven years, but were not to sell any lots be- 

 fore 1796, without a like condition of building on them. This 

 was a stipulation designed, on the part of the commissioners, 

 to improve the city rapidly by settlement, but it proved ineffect- 

 ive. 



Thomas Law bought from Morris 445 lots, paying nearly $300 

 a lot. Many others bought, but mostly on speculation, for the 

 land fever ran high. The building of the capitol and the 

 President's palace, so-called, excited the hope of a great influx 

 of population. The public prints of Virginia, Baltimore, etc., 

 were filled with exaggerated praises of the new city. The Presi- 

 dent and the commissioners believed that the ground marked 

 out for the city would soon be filled up, and this led them to 

 enforce a regulation prohibiting houses of wood, or of less 

 than two stories in height. 



Samuel Blodget, wdio had bought a large quantity of lots, de- 

 vised an ingenious scheme of disposing of them by lottery. 

 The great prize was a handsome fifty -thousand-dollar tavern, yet 

 to be built (for the whole speculation was in the air) ; the next 

 prizes were three houses to be erected near the Capitol, valued 

 at twenty-five, fifteen, and ten thousand dollars, respectively. 

 The Duke de la Rochefoucauld-Liancourt adds that these lot- 

 teries gained a large profit to Mr. Blodget, who, he says, "was 

 the only person not deceived in the transaction." 



Messrs. Morris & Co. were not very successful in getting 

 their extensive lot purchases off their hands. People, after ad- 

 miring the plan of the Federal City in embryo for its beauty and 

 magnificence, began to perceive that it was rather extensive for 

 the actual circumstances of the United States ; and that the im- 

 mense extent of ground would not be so speedily covered with 

 handsome houses as was expected. Every lot holder intrigued to 

 get his neighborhood first improved ; hence rivalries and anta- 

 gonisms became the order of the day. Georgetown owners of 



