OPINION:
On Nov. 17 in 1800, Congress moved from its 10-year temporary home in Philadelphia to its permanent site in Washington.
It was an inauspicious beginning for the 6th Congress, which served from 1799 to 1801. For one reason, the weather was miserable, with a late autumn snowstorm making it impossible for members to arrive in time for the first meeting. A parade that had been planned by Washingtonians for the event had to be canceled. For another reason, the Capitol building was unfinished. Only the North Wing housing the Senate chamber was complete enough to be used, meaning that the House members, who numbered 106 then, had to be accommodated along with the 32 senators. In addition, the North Wing was even more crowded, owing to the presence of the Supreme Court, the District of Columbia judiciary and the Library of Congress.
The first Capitol building meeting wasn’t supposed to be held until month’s end, but President John Adams, who on Nov. 1 was the first occupant of the also-unfinished President’s House, as it was dubbed, thought he could gain the favor of Southern members for his re-election bid by bringing Congress together early. The ploy failed, though. Adams was a one-term president, losing the next election to Thomas Jefferson.
Unlike Philadelphia with its established infrastructure and housing, Washington was mostly a spot on a map. That was the opinion of first lady Abigail Adams, who had arrived in the new capital on Nov. 16 after a tortuous, getting-lost trip from Baltimore: “I arrived about one o’clock at this place known by the name of the city, and the name is all you can call so with houses scattered over a space of 10 miles, and trees & stumps in plenty .”
In his State of the Union speech to Congress, assembled in heatless quarters on Nov. 22, President Adams made the most of the dire situation: “I congratulate the people of the United States on the assembling of Congress at the permanent seat of their government; and I congratulate you, gentlemen, on the prospect of a residence not to be changed. Although there is cause to apprehend that accommodations are not now so complete as might be wished, yet there is great reason to believe that this inconvenience will cease with the present session.”
However, some members simply couldn’t stand the inhospitable nature of the city, with Congress witnessing high rates of either resignation or holding office for a single term. A House member from New Hampshire was typical of the disillusioned:
“If I wished to punish a culprit, I would send him to do penance in this place, [and] oblige him to walk around this city. [C]ity do I call it? This swamp — this lonesome, dreary swamp, secluded from every delightful or pleasing thing — except the name of the place, which to be sure I reverence.”
But it was largely hope, not immediate change, that sustained Adams and especially his wife. No matter that the President’s House was cold and damp, necessitating big fires in every room, Abigail didn’t even mind hanging her laundry in what she called the “audience room” (now the East Room). “This is a beautiful spot,” she wrote, “and the more I view it, the more I am delighted with it. This house is built for ages to come.” The president was equally moved by the drama of the new residence, expressing the hope that “none but honest and wise men [shall] ever rule under this roof.”
The eternal view of the Capitol was also sustained by other congressmen, who went about their business of selecting officials such as chaplains (the House on Nov. 17, the Senate on Nov. 27) and ensuring a smooth transition of the move from Philadelphia, including a grand total of 112 clerks to administer the laws. They also began to implement their $5,000 appropriation to start the Library of Congress. To be sure, the legislators saw, too, that their chambers were not left unused on Sundays, passing a bill on Dec. 4 approving use of the building for church services. No matter his strong belief in the separation of church and state, Jefferson regularly attended Sunday worship, and other presidents followed his example. Every Protestant denomination was represented, and, beginning in 1826, even Catholic priests. The practice continued until after the Civil War.
Thomas V. DiBacco is professor emeritus at American University.
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