Washington DC is one of the most unique American cities due to the fact that it was designated as the nation’s capital by the Constitution of the United States when it was founded on July 16, 1790. There has been a long history of political maneuvering, sectional conflicts, issues of race, national identity, compromises, and power struggles that have surrounded the city from the very beginning. Washington’s site along the Potomac and Anacostia Rivers was selected by a compromise between Alexander Hamilton and northern states, who wanted the federal government to assume Revolutionary War debts, and Thomas Jefferson and southern states, who preferred a location that favored slave-holding agricultural interests. 

To prepare for the arrival of the new government in 1800, the first president and the namesake of the city, George Washington chose the site and appointed three commissioners. In his native France, Pierre Charles L’Enfant designed the city as a bold new capital with sweeping boulevards and ceremonial spaces. Benjamin Banneker, an African American mathematical prodigy who was self-taught, contributed the astronomical computations for the surveying and design of the city. The transformation of Washington into a grand city, though, was not realized until a century later, when the McMillan Commission revised its blueprint to create the National Mall and iconic monuments that define Washington for present-day visitors.