Social life in the early republic

Front matter

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PREFACE peared to them, or recall the quaint figures of Mrs. Alexander Hamilton and Mrs. Madison in old age, or the younger faces of Cora Livingston, Adele Cutts, Mrs. Gardiner G. Rowland, and Madame de Potestad.

Contents

Chapter Page

I — A Social Evolution 13

II — A Predestined Capital 42

II

IN Boston it is said that the winding streets which so perplex strangers were made to follow the cow-paths of more primitive days. Wandering through the widespread thoroughfares of Washington, losing one's self in a labyrinth of streets and avenues, to awaken in a circle, one might almost believe that these intricate streets and avenues had been laid out upon the circuitous windings of an old Indian trail. This theory, however, falls to the ground before the many documents which prove that the plan of the city of Washington, mysterious and unique as it is beautiful, is the result of a most carefully defined system of streets, avenues, and circles.

Even if we may not trace the footprints of the tribes of the forest in the winding streets of the capital, it is interesting to learn from those who have studied the life and habits of the earlier races upon this continent, that the broad plain and series of terraces which General Washington chose for the site of the federal city was once the favorite gathering-place of the powerful Algonquin federation. Near Capitol Hill, where the laws are now made for the guidance of our nation, was once a 42 central Indian village where sachems met in council and the smoke of signal-fires ascended towards the blue vault that now arches one of the most beautiful of modern capitals *

General Washington probably knew that "the ten-mile square" had once been the central seat of an Indian nation, says Martin ; and although this may have appeared to him an interesting coincidence, his choice of the site of the new city was guided by considerations more practical and less sentimental.

Jefferson and Madison were closely associated with Washington in the choice of a site for the capital, and numerous letters, still preserved in the Department of State, prove how eamestly and conscientiously they all considered this subject.

" In 1 800 we are to go to the Indian place with the long name, on the Potomac," wrote Oliver

* "The valley at the foot of the Capitol Hill, washed by the Tiber Creek, the Potomac, and the Eastern Branch, it is stated on the authority of some of the early settlers, was periodically visited by the Indians, who named it their fishing-ground, in contradistinction to their hunting-ground ; and that they assembled there in great numbers in the spring months to procure fish. Greenleaf's Point was the principal camp and the residence of the chiefs, where councils were held among the various tribes thus gathered together. The coincidence of the location of the National Legislature so near the site of the council-house of an Indian ration cannot fail to excite interest." — <' Gazetteer of Virginia and the District of Columbia," by Joseph Martin. 43

Wolcott, Secretary of the Treasury. Mr. Wolcott evidently referred to the mouth of the Conococheague, in Washington County, Maryland, as, according to the act of July 16, 1790, "the President was authorized to appoint commissioners to survey, under his own direction, a district of territory, not exceeding ten miles square, at some place on the River Potomac, between the mouths of the Eastern Branch and the Conococheague."

Despite the various disparaging remarks made upon the choice of the V-shaped plateau on the Potomac as the site of the new capital, other persons beside Washington had recognized its possibilities. It is a rather curious coincidence that Thomas Lee, grandson of the founder of the Virginia family, declared long before the Revolution that the Colonies would one day be independent, and that the seat of government would be located near the Falls of the Potomac. All the advantages and disadvantages of the river and its banks were well known to Washington, as he had been familiar with this region from his boyhood. Here he had fished and hunted, and in later years had made an extended exploring tour to the waters of the upper Potomac to ascertain whether it could be navigated above tide-water at Georgetown. Upon this excursion he was accompanied by several gentlemen, among them Governor Johnson, of Maryland. One night, when lodging at 44 the house of a planter whose accommodations were rather scanty. General Washington and two gentlemen of the party were given a room in which were only two beds. Washington, with his habitual courtesy, turned to Governor Johnson and his other companions, and said, with a smile, " Come, gentlemen, who will be my bed-fellow ?" Governor Johnson, in relating this incident, added, "Greatly as I should have felt honored by such distinction, yet the awe and reverence which I always felt in the presence of that admirable man prevented me from approaching him so nearly."

This same Thomas Johnson was one of the commissioners appointed by the President to attend to all practical details connected with the establishment of the seat of government. The other members of the board were Daniel Carroll — not Carroll of Duddington, as has been so often stated, but a cousin of the same name — and Dr. David Stuart, who was an old and trusted friend of the President. Dr. Stuart was connected with Washington's family by marriage, having become the second husband of pretty Eleanor Custis, the widow of John Parke Custis.

In his diary Washington recorded several meetings with the commissioners during his brief holiday trips to Mount Vernon. On March 28, 1791, he wrote that he found the interests of the landholders about Georgetown and those in Carrolls- 45 burgh so much at variance that they might prove injurious to the best interests of the pubHc. Again, however, a dinner and a discussion over a glass of Madeira seem to have been fruitful in good results. The President wrote more cheerfully of the prospects of an adjustment, and soon after sent a proclamation to the Secretary of State, Mr. Jefferson, for his official signature, in which were defined the boundary lines of the territory selected for the permanent seat of government of the United States.

Major Charles Pierre L'Enfant, a French engineer who had served with distinction in the Continental army during the Revolution and performed valuable service for the government in designing fortifications, was commissioned to lay out the new city, while Mr. EUicott, who, despite his Quaker parentage, had enlisted in the army and had later settled certain important boundary lines in Pennsylvania, was appointed to make a survey of " the ten-mile square."

The principal owners of this tract of land were Daniel Carroll of Duddington, Samuel Davidson, Notley Young, and David Burnes. Thomas Beale, Robert Peter, James Lingan, Benjamin Stoddert, and others also held land within the limits of the new city. Mr. Carroll owned a tract of about two thousand acres, a portion of which was chosen as the site of the Capitol. Some idea of the extent of this holding may be gathered from 46 the fact that the portion marked upon the old map as pasture-land extended from the navy-yard to the mall. The Carroll property failed to appreciate in value, as the city, whose eastern course L'Enfant had outlined and Robert Morris, Samuel Blodget, Thomas Law, and others speculated upon, went the way of all great cities, due west, after that beguiling " Star of Empire" of which Bishop Berkeley was wont to sing. The White House soon becoming the centre of the city, the broad acres of David Burnes, near by, increased in value. The canny Scotchman may have realized that his property would rise in value more rapidly than the eastern lots, and for this reason, or because of a certain native tenacity and obstinacy, he gave President Washington more trouble than any of the other landholders, and frequent visits were made by the President to the little cottage of " Davy" Burnes, which stood for so many years at the foot of Seventeenth Street. By the end of February, 1791, Burnes and all other proprietors had come to terms, and on September 18, 1793, the President took part as a Mason in the ceremonies of laying the corner-stone of the Capitol. Amid discharges of artillery, addresses, and prayers the comer-stone was laid, a plate with an offering of com, wine, and oil was placed upon it by the President, and an ox of generous proportions was barbecued and partaken of by the company.

By this time Major L'Enfant had had some contentions with the commissioners, and antagonized Mr. Carroll of Duddington by pulling down his house on New Jersey Avenue, which had been begun before the plans for the city were completed. This house stood in the centre of one of L'Enfant's radial avenues, and, thinking more of the beauty of the perfected city than of Mr. Carroll's rights, he, with military directness, ordered the house to be demolished. It should be said, however, in justice to the French engineer, that in writing his report he advised that Mr. Carroll should be " reimbursed" for his outlay, the foundations and first floor of the house having been completed.

The difficulty with Mr. Carroll was finally adjusted by having the new Duddington built upon an adjacent square between First and Second and D and E Streets. This house, so well known as the centre of much generous hospitality during the early years of the federal city, was the home of Mr. Daniel Carroll and his descendants until 1886, when it was destroyed. The Providence Hospital now stands near the site of Duddington Manor.

In consequence of his difficulty with Mr. Carroll, and, as Mr. William Thornton says, of certain differences of opinion " between the commissioners and the ingenuous Major L'Enfant," the work into which he had entered with so much enthusiasm was 48

I withdrawn from his hands and placed in those of Mr. ElHcott, who had acted as his assistant.

The question of the justice or injustice of Major L'Enfant's dismissal may never be decided. Whether the fault was his or the commissioners, — and from some expressions in letters of the day it appears that they were at times exasperating, and later gave Mr. Ellicott no small amount of trouble, — it is impossible at this distance of time to determine. It seems, however, safe to believe that the President, who had had much experience in dealing with men of all classes and conditions, and, like all great leaders, possessed the power to read character and put " the right man in the right place," acted with his usual faimess and good judgment in this instance. He summed up the situation in his own terse, forcible style when he said, " Major L'Enfant is as well qualified for the work as any man living, but the knowledge of the fact magnifies his self-esteem." This self-esteem, combined with a certain sensitiveness to criticism and dogged obstinacy, probably precipitated L'Enfant's quarrel with the commissioners. That Major L'Enfant cherished no bitter feeling against the President in consequence of his removal appears from his letters. His punishment, however, seems both summary and severe in view of the work that he had already accomplished for the government in the construction of Fort Mifflin on the Delaware, the renovation 4 49 of the old City Hall in New York for the use of Congress, and of still more importance, as Dr. James Dudley Morgan points out in his admirable biographical sketch of Charles Pierre L'Enfant, in consequence of his own service in the Continental army in the Corps of Engineers, where he was both wounded and taken prisoner.

Lonely, disappointed, and poor, for L'Enfant had indignantly refused the money offered as compensation for his labors, he was forced to stand aside and see the work that he had planned with high hope carried on by one of his former assistants.

The fact remains that the beautiful and unique plan upon which the capital was laid out — not, as has been said, " for thirteen States and three millions of people, but for a republic of fifty States and five hundred millions ; not for a single century, but for a thousand years" — is chiefly due to the genius of L'Enfant. That the value of this work was appreciated to some extent in his own lifetime appears from a testimonial, still extant, signed by James M. Lingan, Benjamin Stoddert, Uriah Forrest, Robert Porter, the Davidsons, and other influential citizens of Washington.

Major L'Enfant evidently possessed the imaginative, creative mind, the seer's vision that could behold a city rise upon this broad plain, while Andrew EUicott, a Quaker, supplied the practical mathematical ability that was needed to carry out and 50 improve in some respects the design of the brilUant, erratic, headstrong French engineer. Some of L'Enfant's dreams for beautifying the capital were not carried out at the time, probably for good and sufficient reasons. His national church, now much needed for memorial services, which was to stand where the Patent Office was built later, his lofty columns to commemorate the deeds of the army and navy of the republic, and his beautiful cascade from the muddy waters of the Tiber have never seen the light ; but the park, or series of parks and gardens, intended by him to connect the White House and the Capitol, are being laid out to-day on much the same lines as those planned by the beautyloving Frenchman.

The charm and originality of the plan upon which the federal city was laid out has led to many conjectures with regard to its source. Mr. Glenn Brown, who has given much time and thought to this subject in connection with later schemes for the beautifying of the capital, inclines to the belief that the radial avenues and many circles that add so much to the attractiveness of Washington were suggested to Major L'Enfant by an unused plan made by Sir Christopher Wren for the rebuilding of London after the great fire of 1666.

Major L'Enfant had secured through Mr. Jefferson, then Secretary of State, the plans of a number of European cities, " but," says Mr. Brown, " a review 51 of the arrangement of these cities shows few suggestions of which he actually made use. The Champs-Elysees, for the Mall, was the only probable one, for it must be remembered that the radiating streets of Paris were opened by the first and third Napoleons years after the map of L'Enfant was drawn. ... It is a curious fact that while there was no city with radial streets in Europe at that period, one existed in America at Annapolis. That town was based upon Sir Christopher Wren's plan of London."

General Washington and Major L'Enfant had made a careful study of the site of the new city and together selected the locations for the principal buildings. The French engineer's suggestion that the building where Congress was to hold its sessions — "Congress House," as he called it — should be placed some distance from the other govemment buildings and from the Executive Mansion appealed so strongly to the General's common sense that he remained firm upon this point, despite John Adams's eamest protest against such an arrangement. In conformity with the idea of separating the legislative and executive offices, the site chosen for the Capitol was the broad plateau upon which it now stands, while the White House and the other official buildings were placed a mile or more west of it. The wisdom of this decision of Washington has recommended itself to all subsequent legislators, 52 while the position of the Capitol is thus spoken of by the English critic, Frederic Harrison :

<♦! have no hesitation in saying that the site of the Capitol is the noblest in the world, if we exclude that of the Parthenon in its pristine glory. Neither Rome, nor Constantinople, nor Florence, nor Paris, nor Berlin, nor London possesses any central eminence with broad open spaces on all sides, crowned by a vast pile covering nearly four acres and rising to a height of nearly three hundred feet, which seems to dominate the whole city. Washington is the only capital city which has this colossal centre or crown. And Londoners can imagine the effect if their St. Paul's stood in an open park reaching from the Temple to Finsbury Circus, and the great creation of Wren were dazzling white marble, and soared into an atmosphere of sunny light."

The work withdrawn from L'Enfant's hands in 1 792 progressed rapidly in those of Andrew EUicott, who had made the first topographical survey of " the ten-mile square." Major L'Enfant's plan was, in its main features, carried out, certain modifications and changes being suggested by Ellicott's more practical mind, as we find the plan of 1 792, the first engraved map of the city of Washington, marked " L'Enfant's Plan with Ellicott's Additions."

Andrew Ellicott, despite his Quaker ancestry, had, like Charles Pierre L'Enfant, entered the army as a volunteer, and left the service with the rank of major. His mathematical ability was evidently inherited from his father, Joseph Ellicott, a mathematieian and astronomer who, like his contemporary David Rittenhouse, had constructed a clock that was the wonder of all scientific men of his time. Although the younger Ellicott has been spoken of as " a self-educated Pennsylvania Quaker," it appears from his journal upon the survey of the Southern boundary line that he enjoyed the advantage of having Robert Patterson, vice-president of the American Philosophical Society, for his preceptor. A man of acknowledged scientific ability, he was himself a member of the Philosophical Society and the associate of Dr. Franklin, Benjamin Rush, David Rittenhouse, and other learned men of his day. While making a visit to Philadelphia in 1 784, Mr, Ellicott wrote to his wife, " Spent the forenoon and dined at the University with the President and Rev. John Ewing, D.D. In the evening returned to my good friend, Mr. Rittenhouse, where I find real satisfaction, his philosophy and agreeable manner, his lady's good sense and uncommon good nature, added to the lively conversation and wise observations of the Daughters, would make even a monkey fond of their Society."

After spending the day in the company of the venerable Dr. Franklin, and expressing surprise that he ventured to shave himself at his advanced age, Mr. Ellicott left this " Nestor of America," as he called him, with one of his clever aphorisms tucked away in his own brain. " I think," said the good 54

Andrew EUicott Miniature by James Fi old doctor, " happiness does not consist so much in particular pieces of good fortune that perhaps accidentally fall to a man's lot, as to be able in his old age to do these little things which, was he unable to perform himself, would be done by others with a sparing hand."

In a letter written to his "dear Sally" from a surveyor's camp in Virginia, Mr. EUicott says that his companion. Major L'Enfant, will pay her a visit the following week, adding, " he is a most worthy French gentleman, and tho' not one of the most handsome men, he is from good breeding and native politeness, a first rate favorite among the ladies." From this and other expressions in Mr. EUicott's letter there appear to have been no rivalry or ill feeling between Major L'Enfant and himself at this time, even if men and women have later discussed with some asperity the respective claims to distinction of the two engineers who planned and laid out the capital. One faction says that all the honor is due to Major L'Enfant, another feels that a lion's share of the credit belongs to the Quaker engineer who superseded him. The truth probably lies between these two extremes. The qualifications of both of these men seemed to be needed for the important task before them. What the genius of L'Enfant inspired might have been lost to the world without the reasonable, accurate, well-balanced mind of EUicott ; one supplemented 55 the other, and the efforts of both engineers conspired to bring about a result upon which the nation maywell congratulate itself.

It is to be regretted that any feeling of rivalry as to posthumous fame exists between the friends and descendants of the two engineers who planned and laid out the city of Washington. American citizens, who are proud of their beautiful capital, maywell esteem the man who planned and the man who builded, both perhaps better than they knew, and it seems only fair that Charles Pierre L'Enfant and Andrew EUicott should be honored by memorial statues in the capital that is to them as enduring a monument as is St. Paul's to Sir Christopher Wren.

Mr. EUicott and Major L'Enfant were both men of distinct ability in their profession and both were honored by the friendship and appreciation of Washington. From Mr. EUicott's family letters he appears to have been a man of singularly gentle and confiding nature, while Major L'Enfant, despite his somewhat difHcult disposition, evidently possessed the power of attracting people to him and of retuming their affection. A warm friendship existed between him and Mr. William Dudley Digges, which the latter showed by offering the hospitality of his home to the French engineer. In a letter written to him from Green Hill in 1824 Mr. Digges says, " I have to inform you that it will give me pleasure if you would come up and take 56 your residence here. I have furnished George with what articles you may stand in need of at present ; you will also be able to visit the city house at your ease and as often as you may please in order to attend to your business before Congress. . . . You may rest assured, Dear Sir, that I have considered your situation and know that it has been an unpleasant one ; if a hearty welcome to Green Hill will make it more pleasant, I can assure you, you have it from all my family."

Major L'Enfant accepted Mr. Digges's hospitality, so freely extended to him, and spent the remainder of his days at Green Hill. Here he employed his leisure hours in laying out a flower-garden upon the same plan as the city of Washington. Amid the ruins of this deserted garden may still be traced the circles, triangles, and radial walks in which L'Enfant sadly renewed the dreams of his youth, and here lie his remains still unhonored by the nation which he served in war and in peace.

Ill

MR. THOMAS TWINING, when, in 1796, he rode across a tract of level country resembling an English heath and through a thick wood on his way to Mr. Law's house, found in the rude beginnings of a road some signs of an avenue, and with an imagination equal to his amiability recorded that he had no doubt he was "riding along one of the streets of the metropolitan city." Faith in things invisible was much needed in the early days of the capital, and for some years to come, when Pennsylvania Avenue was little better than a common country road. " On either side of this avenue," says Mr. Latrobe, " were two rows of Lombardy poplars, between which was a path often filled with stagnant water and with crossing-places at intersecting streets. Outside of the poplars was a narrow footway, on which carriages often intruded to deposit their occupants at the brick pavements on which the few houses scattered along the avenue abutted. In dry weather the avenue was all dust, in wet weather all mud ; and along it ' The Royal George,' an old-fashioned, long-bodied four-horse stage, either rattled with members of Congress from Georgetown in a halo 58 of dust, or pitched like a ship in a seaway among the holes and ruts of this national highway. The Capitol itself stood on the brink of a steep declivity clothed with old oaks and seamed with numerous gullies. Between it and the Navy Yard were a few buildings, scattered here and there over an arid common and following the amphitheatre of hills from the southeast around to the heights of Georgetown, — houses few and far between indicated the beginning of the present city.

" The Patent and Post-Offices, in one huge, unomamental, barn-like brick edifice, occupied the place of their marble successors, and at the other end of the avenue ' The White House' had become a conspicuous object, with the adjacent public offices. Still following the amphitheatre around, the eye caught a glimpse of Alexandria and rested upon the broad expanse of water where the Eastern Branch joined the Potomac, with Greenleaf 's Point between the two."

Although the machinery of the govemment and all the persons pertaining thereunto removed to the new city of Washington in the autumn of 1800, it was long before the capital was regarded as an important social centre. The wives and daughters of cabinet officials. Senators, and Representatives from Colonial cities, North and South, looked back with longing to the more elegant and established life of their own homes, some of them even speaking of their residence in the federal city as a species of banishment.

In view of the scattered government buildings and more scattered residences separated by miles of unimproved land, which added to the labors of legislation as well as to those of social life, it is not strange that the Abbe de Serra, who visited Washington several years later in the century, should have dubbed it " a city of magnificent distances," or that a French diplomat should have exclaimed with the characteristic effusion of his nation, " My God ! what have I done to reside in such a city *?"

To the denizens of Paris, and other capitals of the Old World, Washington presented many discomforts and incongruities. The wheels of the gilded coach of the magnificent Spanish minister rolled over or stuck in depths of yellow clay, while another diplomat thus graphically described the rigors of his journey to a house still standing on Thomas's Circle, which is now in the heart of Washington :■

" I went to see Mr. and Mrs. Charles Hill, who live at the extreme end of the city. My carriage sank up to the axletree in the snow and mud ; it was necessary to leave the carriage, which had to be dragged out and scraped to remove the mud and slush which stuck to it like glue."

Many fanciful tales with regard to the removal of the government have been repeated until they 60 have gained credence. One story is to the effect that the entire treasure of the United States, and all papers pertaining to the Treasury Department, were -brought to Washington in one two-horse wagon, may readily be disproved by the fact that all the government possessions, including books, papers, and moneys, were conveyed in vessels. Christopher Hines, in giving his recollections of this time, says that three vessels landed and discharged their cargoes at Lear's Wharf, and that their contents were carted away to the War and Treasury Offices, the only two government buildings erected at that time. Mr. Hines says that many of the boxes were marked with the name of Joseph Nourse, who was then Register of the Treasury, and that as wagons were scarce in Washington, one cart was employed to remove the contents of the ships. This fact may have given rise to the one-wagon story, as it is not stated how many trips the single cart made from the wharf to the government offices. Another statement that " a single packet-ship" brought all the government furniture and archives to Washington is disproved by Mr. Hines's recollections, in which he speaks of several vessels being used in the transfer. It also appears from the records of the Treasury Department that the expenses of the removal amounted to forty thousand dollars, which was a rather large sum for a moving that could be accommodated in one wagon or one ship.

John Cotton Smith, member of Congress from Connecticut, wrote that the Connecticut officials lodged with a Mr. Peacock, on Jersey Avenue, in company with Senators Chipman and Paine, of Vermont, " all in pairs," except Speaker Sedgwick, who was allowed a room to himself; adding, " to my excellent friend Davenport and myself was allowed a spacious and decently furnished apartment, with separate beds, on the lower floor."

Mr. Abraham Bradley, Assistant Postmaster- General, wrote that he had secured a large threestory house for his own residence and the office of Mr. Habersham, the Postmaster-General, within a few rods of Blodget's Hotel. This inn, named after Mr. Samuel Blodget, who had invested largely in Washington lots, was situated midway between the Capitol and the White House. It was also spoken of as the Great Hotel. Dr. Samuel Busey, who made careful researches into the early life in Washington, located the house engaged by Mr. Bradley for the Postmaster-General's office near the comer of Ninth and E Streets, Northwest. Blodget's Hotel occupied the site of a portion of the Post- Office Department. A house on Sixteenth Street, near what is now Scott Circle, was marked as that of Samuel Blodget in the early plans of Washington ; but there is no record of the Blodget family having lived in the new city. Mrs. Blodget, daughter of the Rev. William Smith, first provost 62 of the University of Pennsylvania, was a noted beauty, which reputation her portrait by Gilbert Stuart fully establishes. An independent, original woman Mrs. Blodget seems to have been, not hesitating to express her opinions freely about people and places, and very much amusing a recent acquaintance by announcing that her children " all resembled Mr. Blodget, having small eyes and a comical look." One of her daughters she classified as " a beauty, but a vixen," while another, she said, was " not pretty, but a sweet creature."