Presidential Inauguration
James Monroe was the first president to take the oath of office outdoors after the government moved to Washington. Previous inaugurations were held indoors, which limited the number of people who could attend. The inauguration was originally going to be held indoors, but members of the Senate and the House of Representatives could not agree on details such as what chairs to use. As this newspaper article mentions, a temporary portico was erected for the ceremony. Because the ceremony was outdoors, many more people were able to attend the inauguration than in previous years.
<em>Washington City Weekly Gazette</em>
03/08/1817
<a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=38&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=1800-1829">1800-1829</a>
The Mall in 1800
In this passage, <a href="http://mallhistory.org/items/show/118">Margaret Bayard Smit</a>h describes the Mall as it was when she first arrived in Washington in 1800, a plain covered in trees, shrubs, and flowers. By the time she wrote this passage in 1837, the banks of the <a href="http://mallhistory.org/items/show/40">Tiber</a> had been transformed into the <a href="http://mallhistory.org/items/show/41">Washington Canal</a>, and the groves had been harvested for timber for the new city.
<a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=39&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=Margaret+Bayard+Smith">Margaret Bayard Smith</a>
<div class="csl-bib-body">
<div class="csl-entry">Smith, Margaret Bayard. <a><em>The First Forty Years of Washington Society</em></a>. Edited by Gaillard Hunt and J. Henley Smith. New York: C. Scribner’s Sons, 1906.</div>
</div>
1837
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Washington Canal Groundbreaking
On May 2, 1810, Washington officials and citizens flocked to the groundbreaking for the <a href="http://mallhistory.org/items/show/41">Washington Canal</a>, which would connect the <a href="http://mallhistory.org/items/show/424">Potomac River to the Eastern Branch, also called the Anacostia River</a>. Although the canal had been part of the original 1791 plan for the city, <a href="http://mallhistory.org/items/show/253">it had never been built</a>. In 1809, Congress chartered a new company specifically to complete the Canal. The <em>National Intelligencer</em>, one of the first newspapers in Washington, reported on the festivities for the groundbreaking of the canal, which people hoped would promote business in the city.
<em>National Intelligencer</em> (Washington, DC).
5/4/1810
<a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=38&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=1800-1829">1800-1829</a>
Treasury Department
The Treasury Department is one of the oldest government departments. It was among those established when the federal government moved to Washington in 1800. The first Treasury Department building was damaged by fire in 1801 and <a href="http://mallhistory.org/items/show/157">completely destroyed by the British in 1814, during the War of 1812</a>. A second building was destroyed by fire set by arsonists in 1833. In 1836, Congress authorized the construction of a new, fireproof building, which was finished by 1842. Additional wings to the south, north, and west were added in between 1855 and 1869, completing the building we see today.
<a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=39&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=Robert+Mills">Robert Mills</a>
<a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=39&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=Thomas+Ustick+Walter">Thomas Ustick Walter</a>
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division. <a href="http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/96524469/">View original</a>.
1800 (established)
1836 (current building construction begins)
1869 (current building construction complete)
<a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=38&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=1800-1829">1800-1829</a>
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President's Levee, or All Creation Going to the White House, Washington
<p class="p1">Andrew Jackson campaigned for President as a "man of the people." In keeping with this image, he opened the <a href="http://mallhistory.org/items/show/66">White House</a> to the public following his inauguration in March 1829. The public reception unfortunately turned into a rowdy mob, breaking windows and furniture within the executive residence until the food and drink was moved outside and the people followed.</p>
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division. <a href="http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/96521704/">View original</a>.
03/05/1829
<a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=38&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=1800-1829">1800-1829</a>
Removal of the Seat of Government
In August 1814, <a href="http://mallhistory.org/items/show/320">British troops invaded Washington</a> and <a href="http://mallhistory.org/items/show/157">set fire to many federal buildings</a>. Congress reconvened on September 19, meeting in cramped rooms at Blodgett's Hotel because <a href="http://mallhistory.org/items/show/59">the Capitol </a>had been heavily damaged. The House of Representatives soon began to debate whether the entire federal government should leave Washington, even temporarily. This document is the first of many pages from the Congressional record detailing the arguments for and against moving the national capital. After almost a month of debate, the House voted on the measure to relocate, defeating it by only 83 yea to 76 nay votes.
<a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=39&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=United+States+House+of+Representatives">United States House of Representatives</a>
<em>Annals of Congress</em>, 13th Cong., 3rd sess., 311. <a href="http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage?collId=llac&fileName=028/llac028.db&recNum=153">View original</a>.
10/26/1814
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US Capitol in 1814
British troops invaded Washington during the War of 1812. On August 24, 1814, British soldiers marched into the city and <a href="http://mallhistory.org/items/show/157">set fire to federal buildings</a>, including the <a href="http://mallhistory.org/items/show/59">U.S. Capitol</a>. At the time, the Capitol only consisted of two wings; the connecting Rotunda was not yet built. Fireproof building materials protected the exterior structure, but the interior was severely damaged. The wing for the House of Representatives was worst hit. The fire there was so intense that glass lamps melted. This engraving was made in the fall of 1814, when <a href="http://mallhistory.org/items/show/327">Congress debated whether to rebuild the Capitol or move back to Philadelphia</a>.
<a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=39&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=William+Strickland+%28engraver%29">William Strickland (engraver)</a>
<a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=39&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=George+Munger+%28artist%29">George Munger (artist)</a>
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division. <a href="http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2006692267/">View original</a>.
1814
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Tripoli Monument
The Tripoli Monument was commissioned by members of the US Navy's Mediterranean fleet in memory of 6 officers who died during the Barbary Wars of the early 1800s. Built in Italy in 1806, the monument came to the US on board the USS <em>Constitution and </em>was placed in the Washington Navy Yard. The monument was damanged during the burning of the Navy Yard in 1814. In 1831, it was restored and moved to the center of the Capitol reflecting pool in 1831, where is remained until 1860 when it was relocated to Annapolis, Maryland.
<a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=39&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=David+Porter">David Porter</a>
<a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=39&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=Micali+of+Leghorn">Micali of Leghorn</a>
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division. <a href="http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2003662984/">View original</a>.
1806 (constructed)
1860 (moved)
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Washington Canal Groundbreaking Ceremony
In May of 1810 President James Madison broke ground for the <a href="http://mallhistory.org/items/show/41">Washington Canal</a> amidst <a href="http://mallhistory.org/items/show/341">city officials and citizens crowded</a> at New Jersey Avenue SE. The Canal was part of the <a href="http://mallhistory.org/items/show/168">original city plan</a> from 1791, but work stalled until 1809 when Congress chartered a new company to <a href="http://mallhistory.org/items/show/266">complete the canal</a>. President Madison, the president of the company, and the city mayor each dug a small hole with a shovel at the groundbreaking. As a horse and plow began digging the canal in earnest, onlookers celebrated with enthusiasm and enjoyed free refreshments under a large tent.
<em>National Intelligencer</em> (Washington, DC)
5/2/1810
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Old Brick Capitol
First known as the Old Brick Capitol, this building served as a a temporary meeting place for Congress after <a href="http://mallhistory.org/items/show/157">the burning of the US Capitol during the War of 1812</a>. At the outbreak of the <a href="http://mallhistory.org/items/show/351">Civil War</a>, the building became a prison. Confederate soldiers and spies, insubordinate Union officers, and several conspirators in the assassination of President Lincoln were imprisoned here. In 1929, the building was demolished, and the current U.S. Supreme Court building was constructed on the site.
District of Columbia Public Library. <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/dcplcommons/4226571178/">View original</a>.
1814 (built)
1929 (demolished)
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