How did Washington DC become our capital? There were many reasons, sharing a few of the many of them

Added: 2026-05-21

[00:00:00]Hi, this is Jack Stanley and this is two and a half minutes of history. You know, I was just asked a question about how did Washington D.C. become the capital of the United States?

[00:00:11]Well, it's a fascinating [clears throat] story and it all deals with compromise.

[00:00:16]You see, our first capital after the Constitution was basically accepted, um, was New York City.

[00:00:26]And New York City was our capital for a short while.

[00:00:30]One person really hated New York City and that was Thomas Jefferson.

[00:00:36]Now, there was a lot of things going on in the early beginnings of [snorts] this government. Alexander Hamilton wanted to create a bank. He also wanted the nation to assume the debts of the American Revolution.

[00:00:51]But, Thomas Jefferson didn't like New York, didn't like the idea of the capital being in New York, and he didn't like the idea of Hamilton's bank.

[00:01:02]And there was a meeting that took place and, uh, it was a meeting and was basically brokered by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and Thomas Jefferson. And what this was was called the Compromise of 1790.

[00:01:19]And what it did, it gave Hamilton the opportunity to have his bank, but also the capital would be moved to the south. In fact, parts of Virginia and parts of Maryland were used to create the District of Columbia.

[00:01:39]Now, the thing is that they left New York City in 1790 and had an interim government in Philadelphia.

[00:01:48]That would remain that way until 1800 and in 1800, uh, the United States government became Washington, D.C., which everyone called Washington City at the time, but it's the District of Columbia.

[00:02:05]And there the Congress moved into the Capitol, which was just the wing, and the White House was just a shell of what it would become.

[00:02:15]But the first president to go down there was John Adams.

[00:02:20]And soon followed by the Virginia dynasty. You had Jefferson, Madison, and Monroe, who for about a quarter of a century would basically rule the nation as president, and they were all from Virginia. They were all from the South.

[00:02:40]And the interesting thing is that this whole thing was set up as a deal for the bank and for Hamilton to have his bank, and for Jefferson to have his government in the South.

[00:02:54]Both parties were not exactly happy about everything, but that's the rest of the story.