District of Columbia Zip Codes | ZipCode.org Home > District of Columbia District of Columbia Zip Codes Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the Residence Act approved the creation of a capital district located along the Potomac River on the country's East Coast. As permitted by the U.S. Constitution, the District is under the exclusive jurisdiction of the United States Congress and is therefore not a part of any U.S. state. The states of Maryland and Virginia each donated land to form the federal district, which included the preexisting settlements of Georgetown and Alexandria; however, Congress returned the Virginia portion in 1846. Named in honor of George Washington, the City of Washington was founded in 1791 to serve as the new national capital. Congress created a single municipal government for the whole District of Columbia after the American Civil War. Washington, D.C., had an estimated population of 617,996 in 2011, the 25th most populous place in the United States.

Commuters from the surrounding Maryland and Virginia suburbs raise the city's population to over one million during the workweek. The Washington Metropolitan Area, of which the District is a part, has a population of nearly 5.6 million, the seventh-largest metropolitan area in the country. The centers of all three branches of the federal government of the United States are in the District, including the Congress, President, and Supreme Court. Washington is home to many national monuments and museums, which are primarily situated on or around the National Mall. The city hosts 176 foreign embassies as well as the headquarters of many international organizations, trade unions, non-profit organizations, lobbying groups, and professional associations. This article uses material from the Wikipedia article "District of Columbia" , which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0 . Ending Slavery in the District of Columbia | emancipation -A +A Ending Slavery in the District of Columbia This booklet describes events related to the abolition of slavery in Washington, DC, which occurred on April 16, 1862, nearly nine months before the more famous “Emancipation Proclamation” was issued.

The District of Columbia, which became the nation’s capital in 1791, was by 1862 a city of contrasts: a thriving center for slavery and the slave trade, and a hub of anti-slavery activity among abolitionists of all colors. Members of Congress represented states in which slavery was the backbone of the economy, and those in which slavery was illegal. One result of the intense struggle over slavery was the DC Compensated Emancipation Act of 1862, passed by the Congress and signed by President Abraham Lincoln. The act ended slavery in Washington, DC, freed 3,100 individuals, reimbursed those who had legally owned them and offered the newly freed women and men money to emigrate. It is this legislation, and the courage and struggle of those who fought to make it a reality, that we commemorate every April 16, DC Emancipation Day. Though the Compensated Emancipation Act was an important legal and symbolic victory, it was part of a larger struggle over the meaning and practice of freedom and citizenship. These two words continue to be central to what it means to be a participating member of society.

We invite you to think about what these concepts have meant in the past and what they mean to you today. A New National Capital The area we know as the District of Columbia was selected as the site for the capital of the United States in 1791. It was created by land ceded to the federal government by Virginia and Maryland, two slave-holding states of the Chesapeake region. The District of Columbia, which included Washington City, Georgetown, Washington County and Alexandria (until 1846), became a center for slavery and the slave trade. Slavery was a legal, economic and social institution. In legal terms, it meant that certain individuals had the right to purchase and “own” other human beings as property. These individuals were then able to profit from the labor of the people they “owned” who were forced to work without getting paid. Slavery, however, was not simply an institution that benefited propertied individuals; it was an economic system that allowed the United States, particularly the southern states, to develop as it did. Slavery also hinged on the modern and pseudo-scientific concept of race, which is based on skin color.

By constructing a belief in biological differences based on color, people who were called “white” justified the oppression of people who were called “black.” Early African-American Population In 1800, African Americans were 25 percent of the District’s population of 14,093, sharing the new capital with Native American and white people. The majority of these African-American people were enslaved. The image most of us have of slavery is large plantations or farms in the rural South where large numbers of women, men and children labored. In the District, as in cities across the South, black people labored and lived in a range of settings, often singly or in small numbers. As the nation’s capital was developing, there was a great need for skilled and unskilled laborers. African Americans helped to construct the U.S. Capitol building, the White House and other public and private projects. While the vast majority of those enslaved did not earn money or wages, there were some who were permitted by their owners to earn money, and eventually purchased their freedom. And because there were no laws in Washington, DC requiring the newly freed to leave the District upon gaining their legal freedom, the free black population continued to grow.

Other enslaved people gained their legal freedom, or manumission, when their owners provided for it in their wills. Once their owners died, they were legally free. Limits on Freedom The growing free African American population in the capital worried pro-slavery white people, including the mayor, Robert Brent, and the Board of Aldermen, the precursor to the Council of the District of Columbia. Through the introduction of laws known as “Black Codes,” they sought to solidify slavery as an institution and to strengthen the concept of racial segregation in the city. They also restricted the meaning and practice of legal freedom for free black people. The mayor and aldermen legislated the first set of Black Codes in 1808. These codes made it unlawful for “Negroes” or “loose, idle, disorderly persons” to be on the streets after 10 p.m. Free black people who violated this curfew could be fined five dollars (equal to $65 in 2007). Enslaved African Americans had to rely on their owners to pay the fine. The punishment for nonpayment of fines was whipping. The mayor and aldermen enacted a harsher set of Black Codes in 1812.

Free black people could be fined $20 if they violated the curfew, and jailed for six months if the fine went unpaid. Enslaved people received the same fine but the punishment for nonpayment was 40 lashes. In addition, free African Americans had to register with the local government and carry their certificates of freedom at all times. In 1821, Mayor Samuel Smallwood and the Board of Aldermen imposed even greater restrictions on free black people in the District. The new set of Black Codes required them to appear before the mayor with documents signed by three white people vouching for their good character, proving their free status. They also had to pay a “peace bond” of $20 to a “respected” white man as a commitment to good behavior. This code illustrates the precarious nature of freedom for non-enslaved African Americans, by attempting to control the movement of people of color. Free African Americans contested the codes. William Costin, for example,refused to pay the peace bond. In court, Costin argued that the Constitution “knows no distinction of color.

That all who are not slaves are equally free...equally citizens of the United States." The judge ruled that while the codes were legal they could not be imposed upon free black people who had been residents before the code was enacted. It was a limited, though important, victory. Costin also called into question the logic of the concept of race; his ancestors were Cherokee, European and African. For Costin, any of those could define him. Turning Points During Slavery The US Congress, established in 1789 and consisting solely of white men until 1870, was a focal point for intense debate about the abolition of slavery. Beginning in the late 1820s, abolitionists organized a coordinated campaign to petition Congress to end slavery and the slave trade in the nation’s capital. The effort to send abolitionist petitions to Congress gained strength in the mid-1830s when thousands of petitions flooded the House of Representatives. In response, southern Congressmen instituted the “Gag Rule” in 1836, banning the introduction of petitions or bills pertaining to slavery.

In all parts of the country where slavery was permitted, communities of free black people were a cause of concern to pro-slavery white people, as demonstrated by several highly publicized incidents. Denmark Vesey’s Plans for Charleston, SC In 1822, Denmark Vesey, a free black minister, planned an insurrection in reaction to the city of Charleston, South Carolina’s suppression of the African Church, a major community institution for African Americans. The conspiracy was revealed two months before the incident was to take place, resulting in the trial and subsequent hanging of Vesey and three dozen co-conspirators. City leaders publicized their accounts of the planned revolt to discourage future attempts. The Nat Turner Rebellion of 1831 In 1831, Nat Turner, an enslaved African American, led a major rebellion in Southampton, Virginia. Turner’s rebellion started the night he murdered the family that owned him, before moving on to attack other nearby white families. As he went, he was joined by more and more enslaved people, and by the time they approached the closest town, Turner and his cohort had killed more than fifty white men, women and children. The implications of this rebellion reverberated throughout the country.

White District residents became even more fearful of African Americans questioning slavery and desiring freedom; some responded by attacking and arresting black people throughout the District. The Snow Riot of 1835 In August 1835, local white-owned newspapers reported that the District had its own “Nat Turner.” They alleged that Arthur Bowen, an 18-year old enslaved African American, attempted to murder Anna Maria Thornton, the wealthy white widow of William Thornton, the Architect of the Capitol. Mrs. Thornton legally owned Bowen, and he and his mother lived in her home in the 1300 block of F Street NW. When Arthur Bowen was arrested and jailed, a white mob of mostly Irish mechanics gathered at the city jail, then located at Judiciary Square, and threatened to hang Bowen. The mechanics’ anger was also directed at white abolitionists who worked to get Congress to end the slave trade in the District. Dr. Reuben Crandall, a botanist and doctor with an office in Georgetown and brother of Prudence Crandall, a vocal Connecticut abolitionist, was the primary target. Assumed guilty by association, police searched Dr. Crandall’s office and found antislavery publications.

He was arrested and jailed on charges of incitement to rebellion. The mob outside the jail sought hanging as a punishment for both Bowen and Crandall and hoped to inflict the punishment themselves. Prevented by the police from gaining access to Bowen and Crandall, they redirected their anger toward Mr. Beverly Snow’s popular Epicurean Eating House, located nearby at the corner of Sixth Street and Pennsylvania Avenue NW. They ransacked the restaurant, destroying furniture and breaking liquor bottles, forcing Snow to flee the District. After looting Snow’s restaurant, they continued their rampage by vandalizing other black-owned businesses and institutions, including Rev. John F. Cook, Sr.’s church and school at the corner of 14th and H streets, NW. Fearing that the mob would come after him, Rev. Cook fled to Pennsylvania. The impact of the Snow Riot lasted far beyond the few days of violence. As one of a number of clashes in the 1830s and 1840s, it was emblematic of the continued centrality of slavery in the nation’s capital.

The Pearl Incident of 1848 On the evening of April 15, 1848, at least 75 enslaved adults and children from Washington, Georgetown and Alexandria sought freedom on the Pearl, a 64 foot cargo schooner waiting for them in the Potomac River at a wharf in Southwest DC. The escape was facilitated by two white men: Daniel Drayton, who chartered the ship for $100, and Edward Sayres, the captain of the Pearl. After dark on that Saturday night, the freedom seekers made their way to the wharf in small family groups. The Pearl set off to sail by night down the Potomac River to Alexandria, Virginia, and subsequently to the Chesapeake Bay where the captain planned to turn and head toward Pennsylvania, but bad weather slowed the voyage. The next morning, when the 41 white families that owned the fugitives discovered the escape, a posse was formed to capture them. Having learned about the escape route from an informer, the posse of 30 white men traveled by steamboat and overtook the Pearl at Point Lookout, about 100 miles southeast of the capital, and returned all aboard to Washington.

As the news of the escape attempt spread, pro-slavery rioters attacked known abolitionist businesses for three days. Drayton and Sayres were held in the city jail, from which a mob attempted to remove them for hanging. Most of the escapees were jailed before being sold to slave dealers in New Orleans and Georgia. A few secured their freedom and became abolitionists. Though unsuccessful, historians believe that it was the nation’s largest single escape attempt. The Pearl incident also increased national attention to the existence of slavery and the slave trade in the nation’s capital. Retrocession of Alexandria In 1846, Congress voted to permit the portion of the District of Columbia that was south of the Potomac River to “retrocede” or return to Virginia, resulting in the oddly-shaped outline of the nation’s capital we have now. Though the impetus for retrocession was not clearly related to the institution of slavery, the return of this land to Virginia’s jurisdiction had immediate and dire consequences to African Americans living there: the loss of access to education. Unlike DC, Virginia had laws against educating black people, so all schools for African Americans were closed for almost fifteen years until the Union Army occupied Alexandria during the Civil War, and reopened them.

The Compromise of 1850 As conflicts between pro- and anti-slavery factions continued, and the country continued to grow, Congress decided to step in to address the regional disputes over slavery. The “Compromise of 1850” sought to appease both sides by ending or preventing the introduction of slavery and the slave trade in new states while allowing slavery and the slave trade to continue in states where already legal. The effect of the compromise in the District of Columbia was the introduction of a slave-trade act that prevented the importation of enslaved people into the District for resale or transportation elsewhere, but continued to allow the sale of enslaved District residents to slave holders. This was done by a slave-owning Congressman from Kentucky, in an effort to appear to make concessions to abolitionists. The public auctions of enslaved women, men and children continued, as did slave prisons and the sight of groups of handcuffed, or coffled, black people walking through the city on their way to or from being sold. The Abolition Movement in the District of Columbia By 1830, there were more free African Americans than enslaved people in Washington, DC.

This growing population, together with those enslaved, organized churches, private schools, benevolent societies and businesses. Building these community institutions gave black District residents a sense of ownership and control over parts of their lives, and provided opportunities for organized resistance to slavery. By 1850, free African Americans outnumbered those enslaved by almost two to one. According to the US Census, there were 8,461 free and 4,694 enslaved African Americans. The District’s role as a center of abolitionism gained momentum with the repeal of the Gag Rule in 1844, and the passage of the Compromise of 1850. Beginning in the early 1850s,anti-slavery Congressmen pushed for Congress to use its constitutional power to "exercise exclusive legislation" to end slavery in the District. It would take another decade for that to happen. Washington, DC also served as an important stop on what was popularly called the "underground Railroad," a network of black and white abolitionists who worked "underground" or clandestinely, at great risk, to assist enslaved people seeking freedom in northern states and Canada.

The National Era Newspaper Anti-slavery newspapers were another important aspect of the abolition movement that required commitment and fearlessness for those involved. The National Era newspaper, for example, was a target of a pro-slavery mob following the Pearl incident. The paper was founded in Washington, DC by the American and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society. Gamaliel Bailey, a well-known white anti-slavery journalist, took over as the principal editor in 1847. Much of Bailey’s focus was on the abolition of the slave trade in the District. In 1851-1852, Bailey serialized Harriet Beecher Stowe’s popular novel, Uncle Tom’s Cabin, making it the first time the story was widely available to the reading public. The Civil War The Civil War, also known as the “War Between the States,” was essentially a struggle over keeping the United States of America united, and the issue that divided the states was the institution of slavery. With the 1860 election of Abraham Lincoln as President, the slaveholding South became increasingly nervous that their livelihood and way of life were threatened.

By February 1861, all “deep South” states had seceded from the Union and formed the Confederate States of America. None of the “border states” with slavery (Maryland, Missouri, Kentucky and Delaware) seceded. After the first clash at Fort Sumter, South Carolina, in April 1861, most of the upper south states, including Virginia, left the Union and joined the Confederacy. The Civil War had begun. African-American Refugees Arrive Drawn by the relatively large black population in Washington, DC, and the headquarters of Union forces, African-American refugees began entering the District in 1861 from Maryland, Virginia and other southern states. Although the District was mostly pro-Union, it was still a dangerous place for enslaved blacks seeking freedom. Many “slave catchers” and “slave hunters” combed the city looking for fugitives to return South. By 1864, when fugitive slave laws were repealed and slavery was abolished in Maryland, Washington, DC was safe for refugees. By the end of the Civil War, more than 25,000 African Americans had moved to DC.

Refugee camps were created to accommodate the new residents, often near the sites of forts that are preserved throughout the District. There were camps at Duff Green’s Row on First Street between East Capitol and A Streets SE, at Camp Barker at 12th Street and Vermont Avenue, NW, and at Freedmen’s Village just across the river in Arlington. Most of the refugees in the camps were women, children, the infirmed and the elderly. Most young men had either fled further north or had enlisted as soldiers, sailors or laborers in the war effort. African‐American Soldiers and Sailors On April 23, 1861, a few days after Ft. Sumter was attacked, Jacob Dodson wrote a letter to the U.S. Secretary of War informing him that “I have some three hundred reliable colored free citizens of this City, who desire to enter the services for the defense of the City.” The reply was “this Department has no intention at present to call into the service of Government any colored soldiers.” It would be two years into the war before the U.S. Army’s policy changed. The US Navy was more receptive to employing African Americans. Black sailors began serving in September 1861.

The Navy’s role was to blockade southern ports, control major rivers, and repel Confederate privateers and cruisers that attempted to prey on Union merchant ships. Approximately 480 black men born in the District served in the Navy during the Civil War. The Army’s First Regiment, US Colored Troops, was organized and trained in spring and summer of 1863 in Washington, DC. They trained at Analostan Island (now Roosevelt Island). There were also District men who served in regiments raised elsewhere in the Union. James T. Wormley, who owned the hotel at the corner of 15th and H Streets NW, served in the Massachusetts 5th Cavalry. Of the more than 209,000 black men who served as Civil War soldiers; 3,265 were from Washington, DC. Their names appear on the African American Civil War Memorial at Vermont Avenue and U Street NW. Black women served as nurses and other ways in the war effort. Elizabeth Keckley, the formerly enslaved memoirist, organized the Contraband Relief Association to help women and children; Sojourner Truth worked at Freedmen’s Village in Arlington.

The issue of African Americans serving in the US military turned out to be a key issue in ending slavery and eventually, ending the war. 1862: A Pivotal Year Toward Ending Slavery The DC Compensated Emancipation Act During the Civil War, Charles Sumner, the senior senator from Massachusetts, and a vocal abolitionist, asked President Lincoln: “Do you know who is at this moment the largest slaveholder in the United States?” Sumner informed Lincoln that he was the largest slaveholder because the President “holds all the slaves of the District of Columbia.” Sumner was referring to the fact that the federal government was empowered in the US Constitution to “exercise exclusive legislation” over the federal district. Though this interpretation of the federal government’s constitutional power continues to be a source of conflict, abolitionists used it as a way to end slavery in the national capital. In December 1861, Henry Wilson, the junior Massachusetts senator, introduced a bill in Congress to end slavery in Washington, DC. spite considerable opposition from slaveholding Congressmen, aldermen and residents, the bill passed.

The Senate approved the bill on April 3, 1862 and the House of Representatives on April 12, 1862. President Lincoln signed the legislation on April 16, 1862. Titled “An Act for the release for the release of certain persons held to service or labor in the District of Columbia," it freed the 3,100 women, men and children who were still enslaved in 1862. The act also allowed for slaveowners to be compensated up to $300 for each individual they had legally owned. In addition, newly-freed African Americans could receive up to $100 if they chose to emigrate to another country. Implementation A three-member Emancipation Commission was established to determine who could legally claim compensation and disburse funds. The claimants had to show papers proving that they had legally owned the formerly enslaved people, and were required to pledge loyalty to the Union. Though the majority of claimants were white, there were African Americans who received compensation for family members whose titles they had purchased in order to keep them from being sold.

At the end of the compensation process, the federal government had spent close to $1 million dollars to compensate individuals for their “property.” Emancipation by Legislation and Proclamation On July 12, 1862, Congress passed an addendum to the April 16 act, permitting formerly enslaved people whose former owners had not filed claims for compensation to do so. Additionally, the DC Supplemental Emancipation Act permitted African Americans to testify to the veracity of others' claims. Because the admissibility of testimony given by African Americans had been challenged in the past, this was a new and heartening development to those who argued for equality of treatment under law. Five days later, July 17, 1862, Congress passed the Second Confiscation and Militia Act, which freed enslaved people throughout the country whose owners were serving in the Confederate Army. Slavery was abolished in the US territories on July 19, 1862, again in an efort to cut off support to the Confederate states.

Ten days after signing the DC Supplemental Emancipation Act, President Lincoln told his cabinet of his intention to threaten the Confederate states with freeing the enslaved people in their states if they did not re -join the Union. This plan was not implemented until September 22, 1862, when President Lincoln signed the Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation, which announced his deadline of January 1, 1863. The Emancipation Proclamation Nine moonths after signing the DC Emancipation Act, and one hundred days after issuing the Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation, President Lincoln issued the final Emancipation Proclamation, on January 1, 1863. The Emancipation Proclamation was primarily of symbolic importance. No enslaved people were immediately freed by the proclamation because it excluded slave-holding border states—Maryland, Delaware, Missouri and Kentucky—out of fear of sending them into rebellion. Enslaved people living in states controlled by the Confederacy could only be freed if and when the Union Army arrived and liberated them in person. Yet the Emancipation Proclamation clarified that slavery would end in states that did not return to the Union.

Six months after the last Confederate general surrendered his troops to the Union Army, the 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, passed by Congress in December 1865, finally outlawed slavery throughout the entire United States, including those areas earlier excluded by the Emancipation Proclamation. After Emancipation Emancipation Celebrations and Parades A frican Americans responded immediately and enthusiastically to the DC Emancipation Act and the Emancipation Proclamation. The first Emancipation Parade took place on April 19, 1866, the fourth anniversary of the DC Emancipation Act. It was a huge, joyous event, which brought out close to half of the city’s African American population. Thousands participated in the parade that began at Franklin Square, wound its way throughout the city, and returned to Franklin Square for speeches. Many thousands more lined the main thoroughfares of the District, including Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, to watch the parade. The Washington Bee newspaper claimed that the Emancipation Parade was the “grandest event in the history of the colored race.” On May 12, 1866, a wood engraving sketched by F.

Dielman, a white artist, was published in Harper’s Weekly, a popular white-owned magazine. It is the only known representation of the first Emancipation Parade. DC Emancipation parades continued from 1866 to 1901. Church celebrations, which had begun in 1862, continued after 1901. The tradition of Emancipation commemorations was revived in 1991, in large part due to the initiative and research of Loretta Carter Hanes, a District native. Mrs. Hanes, an avid student of Washington, DC history, and founder of Reading Is Fundamental in the District of Columbia, began an annual wreath-laying ceremony in Lincoln Park (on East Capitol Street between 11th and 13th Streets) at the statue of Lincoln, installed in 1876, that was paid for entirely by donations from formerly enslaved people. The parades, organized to celebrate the abolition of slavery, were also used to make public demands for full citizenship. African Americans recognized that legal freedom— through the DC Emancipation Act, Emancipation Proclamation and the 13th Amend-ment—did not automatically confer full citizenship.

As a result, African Americans began a larger struggle over the meaning and practice of freedom and citizenship in the United States. The overwhelming joy engendered by DC emancipation was expressed by poet James Madison Bell in his poem: “EMANCIPATION IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA” Unfurl your banners to the breeze! Let Freedom’s tocsin sound amain, Until the islands of the seas Re-echo with the glad refrain! Columbia’s free! Columbia’s free! Her teeming streets, her vine-clad groves, Are sacred now to Liberty, And God, who every right approves. Bibliography Abolition in the District of Columbia. American Memory, Library of Congress, http:// memory.loc.gov/ammem/today/apr16.html. Accessed March 3, 2009. Brawley, Benjamin, ed., Early American Negro Writers New York: Dover Publications, Inc., 1970, 288‐289. Carbone, Elisa. Stealing Freedom New York: Random House Children’s Book, 1998. Civil War Soldiers and Sailors System, National Park Service, cwss.

Accessed March 3, 2009. DC Emancipation and Supplemental Acts of 1862. featured_documents/dc_emancipation_act/. Accessed February 28, 2009. Denmark Vesey: The Vesey Conspiracy. part3/3p2976.html Accessed February 28, 2009. Clark‐Lewis, Elizabeth, ed. First Freed: Washington, D.C., in the Emancipation Era Washington, DC: Howard University Press, 2002. Corrigan, Mary Beth. “Imaginary Cruelties?: A History of the Slave Trade in Washington, D.C.,” Washington History Fall/Winter 2001‐2002, 13/2, pp. 4‐27. Freeman, Elsie, Wynell Burroughs Schamel, and Jean West. "The Fight for Equal Rights: A Recruiting Poster for Black Soldiers in the Civil War." Social Education 56, 2 (February 1992): 118‐120.

[Revised and updated in 1999 by Budge Weidman.] Gamaliel Bailey. In Encyclopædia Britannica Online: EBchecked/topic/49252/Gamaliel‐Bailey. Accessed March 4, 2009. Gibbs, C.R., Black, Copper & Bright: The District of Columbia’s Black War Regiment Silver Spring: Three Dimensional Publishing, 2002. McLaughlin Green, Constance. The Secret City: A History of Race Relations in the Nation’s Capital, Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1965. Harrold, Stanley. Subversives: Antislavery Community In Washington, D.C., 1828‐1865 Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 2003. John H. Holman Papers, Western Historical Manuscript Collection, Columbia‐University of Missouri. Lesko, Kathleen M., Babb, Valerie, and Gibbs, Carroll R..

Black Georgetown Remembered: A History of Its Community From the Founding of The Town of George in 1751 to the Present Day, Washington, D.C.: Georgetown University Press, 1999. McPherson, James. The Negro’s Civil War: How American Negroes Felt and Acted During the War, New York: Random House, 1965. McPherson, James. Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era. New York, Oxford Univ. Press. 1988. McQuirter, Marya Annette. African American Heritage Trail, Washington, DC Washington, DC: Historic Preservation Office and Cultural Tourism DC, 2003. Pacheco, Josephine F. The Pearl A Failed Slave Escape on the Potomac, Chapel Hill and London: The University of North Carolina Press, 2005. Paynter, John H. Fugitives of the Pearl, Washington, DC: Associated Publishers, Inc., 1930. Researching Slavery and Freedom in the National Archives. midatlantic/public/slavery‐research.pdf . Accessed February 28, 2009. Richards, Mark David.

“The Debates Over Retrocession, 1801‐2004,” Washington History Spring/Summer 2004, pp.54‐82. Ricks, Mary Kay. Escape on the Pearl: The Heroic Bid for Freedom on the Underground Railroad. New York: Harper Collins, 2007. Russell, Hilary. “Final Research Report: The Operation of the Underground Railroad in Washington, D.C., 1800‐1860,” Washington, DC: Historical Society of Washington, DC and the National Park Service, July 2001. Whyte, James H. The Uncivil War: Washington During the Reconstruction, 1865‐1878. New York: Twayne Publishers, 1958. Woods Brown, Letitia. Free Negroes in the District of Columbia 1790‐1846, New York: Oxford University Press, 1972. Boundary Stones of Washington, D.C. Oct. 22, 2016: Fourth annual boundary stone ride (see cue sheet ).

May 31, 2016: New photos, including SE4 and SE8 replicas. For the first time since the 1970s, all locations have visible markers. Sep. 23, 2015: The Boundary Stones (band) release self-titled debut LP . Early History The Residence Act of July 16, 1790, as amended March 3, 1791, authorized President George Washington to select a 100-square-mile site for the national capital on the Potomac River between Alexandria, Virginia, and Williamsport, Maryland. President Washington selected the southernmost location within these limits so that the capital would include all of present-day Old Town Alexandria, then one of the busiest ports in the country. Acting on instructions from Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson, Major Andrew Ellicott began his initial observations for a rough survey of the the ten-mile square on Friday, February 11, 1791. Ellicott, a prominent professional surveyor, hired Benjamin Banneker, an astronomer and surveyor from Maryland, to make the astronomical observations and calculations necessary to establish the south corner of the square at Jones Point in Alexandria.

According to legend, "Banneker fixed the position of the first stone by lying on his back to find the exact starting point for the survey ... and plotting six stars as they crossed his spot at a particular time of night." From there, Ellicott's team embarked on a forty-mile journey, surveying ten-mile lines first along the southwest line, then along The northwest line, next along the northeast line, and finally along the southeast line. The team completed this rough survey in April 1791. On April 15, 1791, the Alexandria Masonic Lodge placed a small stone at the south corner at Jones Point in ceremonies attended by Ellicott, federal district commissioners Daniel Carroll and David Stuart, and other dignitaries. George Washington did not attend the ceremony, although he did visit the site the prior month. Newpapers around the country announced the story of the beginning of the new federal city.

(In 1794, the ceremonial stone at Jones Point was replaced by a large stone , still in place today, with the inscription "The beginning of the Territory of Columbia" on one side.) Ellicott's team, minus Banneker, who left after the placement of the south stone, then began the formal survey by clearing twenty feet of land on both sides of each boundary line and placing other stones, made of Aquia Creek sandstone, at one-mile intervals. On each stone, the side facing the District of Columbia displayed the inscription "Jurisdiction of the United States" and a mile number. The opposite side said either "Virginia" or "Maryland," as appropriate. The third and fourth sides displayed the year in which the stone was placed (1791 for the 14 Virginia stones and 1792 for the 26 Maryland stones) and the magnetic compass variance at that place. Stones along the northwest Maryland boundary also displayed the number of miles they fell from NW4, the first stone placed in Maryland. Stones placed at intervals of more than a mile included that extra distance measured in poles. The boundary stones are the oldest federal monuments.

Although several stones have been moved or severely damaged, thirty-six stones from the 1790s are in or near their original locations, including all fourteen in the land that was returned to Virginia in the 1846-1847 retrocession. Three other locations have substitute stones ( SW2 , SE4 , and SE8 ), and one location ( NE1 ) is marked only by a plaque. This site describes the locations of the stones as of 2016, updating the information provided by the Daughters of the American Revolution (1976) and the National Register of Historic Places (1996). Map of Locations Click the map markers below for photos and information about each stone. The D.C. Geographic Information System's 2011 survey provided precise GPS data for all but two stones that were respositioned after the survey and therefore have only approximate coordinates. Locations marked with "X" lack stones from the 1790s. A printable list of the locations appears at the bottom of the page. Save the map in Google Maps .

Growing Public Interest After Ellicott's team, the next to survey the stones was Marcus Baker, who visited each stone's location during the summer of 1894. Baker reported his survey to the Columbia Historical Society . Following Baker, Fred E. Woodward photographed thirty-nine of the boundary stones--all but SW2 , which had been lost even before Baker's survey--starting in 1905. In his reports to the Columbia Historical Society (published in 1907 , 1908 , and 1915 ) and in public presentations, Woodward described the extent to which the stones had deteriorated and proposed that they be protected for the enjoyment of future generations. Ernest A. Shuster, Jr., followed in Woodwards's footsteps soon after with his own impressive photo collection and article . In 1915, the Washington, D.C., chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR), citing Woodward's work, voluntarily assumed the responsibility of protecting the stones by erecting a tall iron fence around each one. For decades afterward, DAR members visited the stones periodically to perform routine maintenance.

Despite DAR's care and attention, however, many of the stones fell on hard times during the mid-1900s. Several were repositioned, removed, lost, or buried during construction projects. Subsequent Restoration Efforts In 1978, Kevin Wood of Boy Scout Troop 98 led a service project that visited most of the stones to clean up the sites and repaint the fences. As Mr. Wood explained in 2012, "It was a fun project which we did over three or four days, All the Virginia ones one day, All Anacostia another. And I am pretty sure we did the top half of the city over two days. The green paint came from the DC parks department; my dad called them and set it up. An older parks employee came by the house one day with the paint and he and I drove around the city, to show me where the stones were. He seemed to be pretty enthusiastic about it, he showed me Southeast 9 and the one in Kenilworth Gardens. I am pretty sure he even took me across the bridge to the one at the southern tip of DC, but not the VA ones. So we sort of had permission to do the ones in DC.

In VA we hadn't contacted anybody. If the stone was in a public place or a park, VA fences got a coat of green DC paint too. In some cases the stones, in VA, DC and MD were on lawns and cared for and we didn't do anything. We always rang the doorbells and talked to the people and asked if they wanted us to paint the fences. I think they always or almost always said no. Usually they had them painted black. Sometimes we clipped the weeds ad the hedges on private property, I think we did this for one on Eastern Avenue inside of a chan link fence surrounded by hedges. The only stone we didn't actually get to see was one in a backyard in VA, the first or second on the northern stretch. The woman of the house was very firm about not allowing us to see it." In 1990 and 1991, a resurveying team led by David Doyle to celebrate the District's bicentennial located two missing stones. In September 1995, the Northern Virginia Boundary Stones Committee (NOVABOSTCO), under the leadership of chairman Ric Terman, issued a 77-page report on the status of the fourteen stones in Virginia.

NOVABOSTCO's successor, the Nation's Capital Boundary Stones Committee (NACABOSTCO), co-chaired by Terman and Stephen Powers, has worked since 2000 to ensure the preservation and appreciation of all of the stones, partnering with DAR , the American Society of Civil Engineers - National Capital Section (ASCE-NCS), the District of Columbia Association of Land Surveyers, and other government agencies, historical societies, and professional associations. From 2010 through 2012, ASCE-NCS led biannual restoration projects that picked up where Troop 98 left off. In 2014 and 2015, DAR renewed its efforts to preserve the stones. In 2015 and 2016, the District Department of Transportation and National Park Service worked together to protect the east and north corner stones and place replica stones for SE4 and SE8 . Absolutely Required Reading History of the U.S. Capitol Building | Architect of the Capitol | United States Capitol History of the U.S. Capitol Building Recommended for you Hall of Columns The history of the United States Capitol Building begins in 1793. Since then, the U.S.

Capitol has been built, burnt, rebuilt, extended and restored. The Capitol that we see today is the result of several major periods of construction; it stands as a monument to the ingenuity, determination and skill of the American people. View a timeline of milestones in the history of the Capitol Building on the Architect's Virtual Capitol . In accordance with the "Residence Act" passed by Congress in 1790, President George Washington in 1791 selected the area that is now the District of Columbia from land ceded by Maryland. He also selected three commissioners to survey the site and oversee the design and construction of the capital city and its government buildings. The commissioners, in turn, hired the French engineer Pierre Charles L'Enfant to plan the new city of Washington. He located the Capitol at the elevated east end of the Mall, on the brow of what was then called Jenkins' Hill. The site was, in L'Enfant's words, "a pedestal waiting for a monument." L'Enfant was expected to design the U.S. Capitol Building and to supervise its construction.

However, he refused to produce any drawings for the building, claiming that he carried the design "in his head"; this fact and his refusal to consider himself subject to the commissioners' authority led to his dismissal in 1792. In March of that year the commissioners announced a competition, suggested by Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson, that would award $500 and a city lot to whoever produced "the most approved plan" for the U.S. Capitol Building by mid-July. None of the 17 plans submitted, however, were wholly satisfactory. In October, a letter arrived from Dr. William Thornton , a Scottish-trained physician living in Tortola, British West Indies, requesting an opportunity to present a plan even though the competition had closed. The commissioners granted this request. Thornton's plan depicted a building composed of three sections. The central section, which was topped by a low dome, was to be flanked on the north and south by two rectangular wings (one for the Senate and one for the House of Representatives).

President Washington commended the plan for its "grandeur, simplicity and convenience," and on April 5, 1793, it was accepted by the commissioners; Washington gave his formal approval on July 25. 1793 – 1829 President Washington laid the cornerstone of the U.S. Capitol in the building's southeast corner on September 18, 1793, with Masonic ceremonies. Work progressed under the direction of three architects in succession. Stephen H. Hallet (an entrant in the earlier competition) and George Hadfield were eventually dismissed by the Commissioners because of inappropriate design changes that they tried to impose; James Hoban, the architect of the White House, saw the first phase of the project through to completion. Construction was a laborious and time-consuming process: the sandstone used for the building had to be ferried on boats from the quarries at Aquia, Virginia; workers had to be induced to leave their homes to come to the relative wilderness of Capitol Hill; and funding was inadequate. By August 1796 the commissioners were forced to focus the entire work effort on the building's north wing so that it at least could be ready for government occupancy as scheduled.

Even so, some third-floor rooms were still unfinished when the Congress, the Supreme Court, the Library of Congress, and the courts of the District of Columbia occupied the U.S. Capitol in late 1800. In 1803, Congress allocated funds to resume construction. A year earlier, the office of the commissioners had been abolished and replaced by a Superintendent of the City of Washington. To oversee the renewed construction effort, Benjamin Henry Latrobe was appointed architect. The first professional architect and engineer to work in America, Latrobe modified Thornton's plan for the south wing to include space for offices and committee rooms; he also introduced alterations to simplify the construction work. Latrobe began work in 1804 by removing a squat, oval, temporary building known as " the Oven ," which had been erected in 1801 as a meeting place for the House of Representatives. By 1807 construction on the south wing was sufficiently advanced that the House was able to occupy its new legislative chamber, and the wing was completed in 1811. In 1808, as work on the south wing progressed, Latrobe began the rebuilding of the north wing, which had fallen into disrepair.

Rather than simply repair the wing, he redesigned the interior of the building to increase its usefulness and durability; among his changes was the addition of a chamber for the Supreme Court. By 1811 he had completed the eastern half of this wing, but funding was being increasingly diverted to preparations for a second war with Great Britain. By 1813, Latrobe had no further work in Washington and so he departed, leaving the north and south wings of the U.S. Capitol connected only by a temporary wooden passageway. The War of 1812 left the Capitol, in Latrobe's later words, "a most magnificent ruin": on August 24, 1814, British troops set fire to the building , and only a sudden rainstorm prevented its complete destruction. Immediately after the fire, Congress met for one session in Blodget's Hotel, which was at Seventh and E Streets, N.W. From 1815 to 1819, Congress occupied a building erected for it on First Street, N.E., on part of the site now occupied by the Supreme Court Building. This building later came to be known as the Old Brick Capitol.

Latrobe returned to Washington in 1815, when he was rehired to restore the U.S. Capitol Building. In addition to making repairs, he took advantage of this opportunity to make further changes in the building's interior design (for example, an enlargement of the Senate Chamber) and introduce new materials (for example, marble discovered along the upper Potomac). However, he came under increasing pressure because of construction delays (most of which were beyond his control) and cost overruns. He resigned his post in November 1817. On January 8, 1818, Charles Bulfinch , a prominent Boston architect, was appointed Latrobe's successor. Continuing the restoration of the north and south wings, he was able to make the chambers for the Supreme Court, the House, and the Senate ready for use by 1819. Bulfinch also redesigned and supervised the construction of the Capitol Building's central section. The copper-covered wooden dome that topped this section was made higher than Bulfinch considered appropriate to the building's size (at the direction of President James Monroe and Secretary of State John Quincy Adams).

After completing the last part of the building in 1826, Bulfinch spent the next few years on the Capitol's decoration and landscaping. In 1829, his work was done and his position with the government was terminated. In the 20 years following Bulfinch's tenure, the Capitol was entrusted to the care of the Commissioner of Public Buildings. 1830 – 1868 The Capitol was by this point already an impressive structure. At ground level, its length was 351 feet 7-1/2 inches and its width was 282 feet 10-1/2 inches. Up to the year 1827--records from later years being incomplete--the project cost was $2,432,851.34. Improvements to the building continued in the years to come (running water in 1832, gas lighting in the 1840s), but by 1850 its size could no longer accommodate the increasing numbers of senators and representatives from newly admitted states. The Senate therefore voted to hold another competition, offering a prize of $500 for the best plan to extend the Capitol.

Several suitable plans were submitted, some proposing an eastward extension of the building and others proposing the addition of large north and south wings. However, Congress was unable to decide between these two approaches, and the prize money was divided among five architects. Thus, the tasks of selecting a plan and appointing an architect fell to President Millard Fillmore. Fillmore's choice was Thomas U. Walter , a Philadelphia architect who had entered the competition. On July 4, 1851, in a ceremony whose principal oration was delivered by Secretary of State Daniel Webster, the President laid the cornerstone for the northeast corner of the House wing in accordance with Walter's plans. Over the next 14 years, Walter supervised the construction of the extensions, ensuring their compatibility with the architectural style of the existing building. However, because the Aquia Creek sandstone used earlier had already deteriorated noticeably, he chose to use marble for the exterior. For the veneer, Walter selected marble quarried at Lee, Massachusetts, and for the columns he used marble from Cockeysville, Maryland. Walter faced several significant challenges during the course of construction. Chief among these was the steady imposition by the government of additional tasks without additional pay.

Aside from his work on the U.S. Capitol extensions and dome, Walter designed the wings of the Patent Office building, extensions to the Treasury and Post Office buildings, and the Marine barracks in Pensacola and Brooklyn. When the Library of Congress in the Capitol's west central section was gutted by a fire in 1851, Walter was commissioned to restore it. He also encountered obstacles in his work on the Capitol extensions. His location of the legislative chambers was changed in 1853 at the direction of President Franklin Pierce, based on the suggestions of the newly appointed supervising engineer, Captain Montgomery C. Meigs . In general, however, the project progressed rapidly: the House of Representatives was able to meet in its new chamber on December 16, 1857, and the Senate first met in its present chamber on January 4, 1859. The old House chamber was later designated National Statuary Hall . In 1861, most construction was suspended because of the Civil War, and the Capitol was used briefly as a military barracks, hospital and bakery. In 1862, work on the entire building was resumed.

[ Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress ] Union soldiers stand at attention in front of the Capitol, where they drilled, ate and camped at the start of the war. Workers constructed 20 ovens in the Capitol basement to bake bread for the thousands of troops in the city. As the new wings were constructed, more than doubling the length of the Capitol, it became apparent that the dome erected by Bulfinch no longer suited the building's proportions. In 1855 Congress voted for its replacement based on Walter's design for a new, fireproof cast-iron dome . The old dome was removed in 1856, and 5,000,000 pounds of new masonry was placed on the existing Rotunda walls. Iron used in the dome construction had an aggregate weight of 8,909,200 pounds and was lifted into place by steam-powered derricks. In 1859 Thomas Crawford's plaster model for the Statue of Freedom , designed for the top of the dome, arrived from the sculptor's studio in Rome.

With a height of 19 feet 6 inches, the statue was almost 3 feet taller than specified, and Walter was compelled to make revisions to his design for the dome. When cast in bronze by Clark Mills at his foundry on the outskirts of Washington, it weighed 14,985 pounds. The statue was lifted into place atop the dome in 1863, its final section being installed on December 2 to the accompaniment of gun salutes from the forts around the city. The work on the dome and the extensions was completed under the direction of Edward Clark , who had served as Walter's assistant and was appointed Architect of the Capitol in 1865 after Walter's resignation. In 1866, the Italian-born artist Constantino Brumidi finished the canopy fresco, a monumental painting entitled The Apotheosis of Washington . The Capitol extensions were completed in 1868. 1869 – 1902 Clark continued to hold the post of Architect of the Capitol until his death in 1902. During his tenure, the U.S. Capitol underwent considerable modernization. Steam heat was gradually installed in the Old Capitol.

In 1873 the first elevator was installed, and in the 1880s electric lighting began to replace gas lights. Between 1884 and 1891, the marble terraces on the north, west and south sides of the Capitol were constructed. As part of the grounds plan devised by landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted , these terraces not only added over 100 rooms to the Capitol Building but also provided a broader, more substantial visual base for the building. On November 6, 1898, a gas explosion and fire in the original north wing dramatically illustrated the need for fireproofing. The roofs over the Statuary Hall wing and the original north wing were reconstructed and fireproofed, the work being completed in 1902 by Clark's successor, Elliott Woods . In 1901 the space in the west central front vacated by the Library of Congress was converted to committee rooms. 1903 – 1970 During the remainder of Woods's service, which ended with his death in 1923, no major structural work was required on the Capitol Building.

The activities performed in the building were limited chiefly to cleaning and refurbishing the interior. David Lynn , the Architect of the Capitol from 1923 until his retirement in 1954, continued these tasks. Between July 1949 and January 1951, the corroded roofs and skylights of both wings and the connecting corridors were replaced with new roofs of concrete and steel, covered with copper. The cast-iron and glass ceilings of the House and Senate chambers were replaced with ceilings of stainless steel and plaster, with a laylight of carved glass and bronze in the middle of each. The House and Senate chambers were completely remodeled, improvements such as modern air conditioning and lighting were added, and acoustical problems were solved. During this renovation program, the House and Senate vacated their chambers on several occasions so that the work could progress. The next significant modification made to the Capitol was the East Front extension. This project was carried out under the supervision of Architect of the Capitol J. George Stewart , who served from 1954 until his death in 1970.

Begun in 1958, it involved the construction of a new East Front 32 feet 6 inches east of the old front, faithfully reproducing the sandstone structure in marble. The old sandstone walls were not destroyed; rather, they were left in place to become a part of the interior wall and are now buttressed by the addition. The marble columns of the connecting corridors were also moved and reused. Other elements of this project included repairing the dome, constructing a subway terminal under the Senate steps, reconstructing those steps, cleaning both wings, birdproofing the building, providing furniture and furnishings for the 90 new rooms created by the extension, and improving the lighting throughout the building. The project was completed in 1962. 1970 – Present Following the 1971 appointment of George M. White, FAIA , as Architect of the Capitol, the building was both modernized and restored.

Electronic voting equipment was installed in the House chamber in 1973; facilities were added to allow television coverage of the House and Senate debates in 1979 and 1986, respectively; and improved climate control, electronic surveillance systems, and new computer and communications facilities have been added to bring the Capitol up to date. The Old Senate Chamber , National Statuary Hall , and the Old Supreme Court Chamber , on the other hand, were restored to their mid-19th-century appearance for the nation's 1976 Bicentennial celebration. In 1983, work began on the strengthening, renovation and preservation of the West Front of the U.S. Capitol. Structural problems had developed over the years because of defects in the original foundations, deterioration of the sandstone facing material, alterations to the basic building fabric (a fourth-floor addition and channeling of the walls to install interior utilities), and damage from the fires of 1814 and 1851 and the 1898 gas explosion. To strengthen the structure, over 1,000 stainless steel tie rods were set into the building's masonry.

More than 30 layers of paint were removed, and damaged stonework was repaired or replicated. Ultimately, 40 percent of the sandstone blocks were replaced with limestone. The walls were treated with a special consolidant and then painted to match the marble wings. The entire project was completed in 1987, well ahead of schedule and under budget. A related project, completed in January 1993, effected the repair of the Olmsted terraces, which had been subject to damage from settling, and converted the terrace courtyards into several thousand square feet of meeting space. As the U.S. Capitol Building entered its third century, restoration and modernization work continued under the guidance of Alan M. Hantman, FAIA , who was appointed Architect of the Capitol in 1997 following George M. White's 1995 retirement, and Stephen T Ayers, FAIA, LEED AP , who was appointed Architect of the Capitol in 2010 after serving as Acting Architect of the Capitol since Mr. Hantman's retirement in 2007.

Major projects included conservation of the Rotunda canopy and frieze and the Statue of Freedom, creation of murals in three first-floor House corridors, and replacement of worn Minton tiles in the Senate corridors. Permanent television broadcasting facilities were installed in the Senate Chamber , and the subway system linking the U.S. Capitol with the Dirksen and Hart Senate Office Buildings was replaced with a new system. Repair and restoration of the House monumental stairs was completed in 1996. A program of barrier removal begun in the 1970s continues in compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act. Opened in 2008, the U.S. Capitol Visitor Center is the newest addition to the historic Capitol Building. At nearly 580,000 square feet, the Visitor Center is the largest project in the Capitol's more than two-century history and is approximately three-quarters the size of the Capitol itself. The entire facility is located underground on the east side of the Capitol so as not to detract from the appearance of the Capitol Building and Grounds designed by Frederick Law Olmsted in 1874.

The Capitol Visitor Center contains exhibits, orientation displays, theaters and other facilities to make the visitor's experience in the Capitol more informative and meaningful.

Question: Which state donated the land occupied by the US capital city, Washington, District of Columbia?
Answer: Maryland