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Creating Washington, D.C..

Jefferson's Plan

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Federalist and Antifederalist Perspectives Washington and Jefferson's Conflicting Views

George Washington and Thomas Jefferson wielded most of the influence in designing the capital city. However, Washington, a federalist, held a view in favor of a strong central government while Jefferson, as an antifederalist, preferred a smaller central government. Their very different views on the power of the federal government leads to the question: how did they agree on the design of the city? Moreover, are their political preferences visible in the structure of the city that was built?

Washington's Balance Between Legitimacy and Royalty
George Washington was a supporter of L'Enfant's idea of a grand federal city. For instance, Washington wanted the city to become "the 'Metropolis of America,' the political and cultural center of the United States" (Harris 2000, 51). Compared to Jefferson's desire to keep the city small, like a town of sorts, Washington "hoped to tie [citizens'] loyalties to the nation, rather than to their home states" (Harris 2000, 51). While Washington encouraged development of the city as a way to establish legitimacy of the new government, he also recognized that a capital resembling Versailles or Buckingham Palace would stir up fears of monarchy among newly independent Americans. Recognizing this risk, Washington tried to create a city that would be grand enough to be respected domestically and among foreign nations while being modest at the same time. To do this, Washington rejected some of L'Enfant's proposals that were too similar to the European cities the architect had been accustomed to. In particular, when L'Enfant described the White House as a "President palace" which would be "sumpteous [sumptuous]," gathering a "croid [crowd] of daily visitor[s] both natives & foreigners," (Founders, August 19, 1791) Washington disliked the idea of a palace (Hawkins 2013, 53). Moreover, L'Enfant planned to locate the White House on a hill in order to create a "'forced perspective'" that would make the view from the White House seem like "the president's domain" was "even vaster than it actually was" (Hawkins 2013, 53). Instead of L'Enfant's location, Washington "personally relocated the official residence to a site from which the views upriver and down were naturally unimpeded" (Hawkins 2013, 54).

Symbolically, Washington decision against a "forced" location and opting for a "natural" location emphasizes the balancing act Washington successfully managed during his time in office. In other words, Washington managed to secure his authority without overstepping his power in the eyes of the public. He could not force his authority over common Americans, running the risk of being seen as a tyrant, but he also could not allow his Presidency to be seen as illegitimate. L'Enfant's location would have been a forceful display of Presidential power, whereas Washington's choice allowed for the White House to be stately enough to carry respect without resembling the despotism the nation had just rebelled against.

Jefferson's Town Plan
As construction was just beginning, the D.C. area was still largely undeveloped, both economically and as a community. While the lack of development frustrated those who imagined a large city, like Washington and L'Enfant, Jefferson was not bothered by the quietness of the early community. In fact, Jefferson preferred to call the city a "federal town," while L'Enfant criticized this federal town as "a mere contemptible hamlet" (Harris 2000, 50). In line with favoring a simple town, Jefferson's plan for the city reflects this preference. Where L'Enfant envisions a grand city with spacious and intricate walkways, Jefferson's original plan features a grid street pattern and buildings labeled simply as "President" and "Capitol." Additionally, Jefferson places the White House and the Capitol directly across from each other in a straight line. L'Enfant on the other hand considers the distance between the Capitol and the White House, placing the buildings diagonal from each other rather than straight across. Perhaps Jefferson's simplicity in placing the White House and the Capitol reflects his antifederalist view of government—with a small central government, competition between the Executive and Legislature should ideally be at a minimum. In other words, if Congress and the President are competing, Jefferson would believe that the government is too big and involving itself in too many extra affairs. Additionally, the White House and the Capitol facing each other may further complete Jefferson's plan for a "federal town" because placing them across from each other would result in a less monumental layout than L'Enfant's idea of placing the buildings diagonal from each other.

Further, when Jefferson became president, as the city was still in the early stages of construction, his philosophy that favored small government made it difficult for L'Enfant's grand plan to be fully achieved. In fact, Jefferson's policies that "reduced the federal establishment, its budget, and the public debt" helped to perpetuate the underdeveloped, "disconnected communities within the federal city rather than joining them, as L'Enfant wished, in urban coherence" (Harris 2000, 52).

The Federal City Prevailed
Today, Washington, D.C. certainly more closely follows Washington and L'Enfant's concept of a large city. However, Washington and L'Enfant believed that the city would be fueled by commerce on the "Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, mak[ing] the city one of the busiest commercial ports of the seaboard" (Peets 1933, 158). Rather than becoming a busy port city like Boston, Washington and L'Enfant would be surprised to see "the present dependence of [the city's] prosperity upon the public pay roll" (Peets 1933, 158). From 2017 and 2018 population data, the city boasts a population of 693,972 people (Census, 2017), with 283,511 federal workers living in the city (Cameron et al, 2018). While the city is not known as a busy port city, D.C. is busy with the daily lives of its many federal workers as well as private citizens. Washington, Jefferson, and L'Enfant could have never imagined the rapid growth of the city, nor could they have imagined the growth of the federal government along the way. With the many new governmental agencies and the expansion of government into many different sectors of public life since the republic's founding, more and more people work for the government. Ultimately, Washington D.C. has become the "the political [...] center of the United States" (Harris 2000, 51) that Washington and L'Enfant had predicted.