Presidents' Day at the White House
Just how does the president celebrate Presidents’ Day? Throughout the more than 200-year history of the White House, presidents themselves ha...
Debate on the Removal of the Seat of Government
How Long? 2 minutes
The 13th Congress returned for its third session on September 19, 1814, four weeks after the burning of Washington and met at the three-story Blodgett's Hotel (home of the Patent and Post Offices) at 8th and E Streets. Congress's full plate of issues—especially the nation's precarious financial situation—included the question of whether or not to move the capital from Washington. To some, the burning of the President's House, Capitol, Navy Yard and public buildings was the opportunity to escape the banks of the Potomac for cooler climes and more sophisticated surroundings in Philadelphia or New York.
Philadelphia's stint as the nation's capital had ended in 1800, but its city officials were eager to have the government back and guaranteed appropriate lodgings and spaces. The names of other possible new locations were bandied about: Baltimore, New York, Lancaster, Pennsylvania; Cincinnati, even Baton Rouge.
Washington supporters centered their argument against relocation on patriotism—to abandon the capital would admit defeat and provide the British with a propaganda coup. A wave of patriotism followed the news of victories at Baltimore and Lake Champlain and would influence the House vote that defeated the effort to move the Capital, 83 to 74.
With the cloud of a relocation lifted, the work of Washington's restoration could begin in earnest.
3-D rendering of Blodgett's Hotel. (Fire destroyed the building in 1836.)
You Might Also Like
-
-
Hoover Easter Egg Rolls
The annual White House Easter egg roll was a well-established tradition when President Herbert Hoover took office, and the Hoovers...
-
Commodore Stephen Decatur: An Early American Naval War Hero
In President Theodore Roosevelt’s description of the capture of the HMS Macedonian by the USS United States in his 1882 bo...
-
The Presidential Sweet Tooth
As the holidays approach, thoughts inevitably turn to sugar plums, gingerbread, and all of the other delectable treats that season...
-
The President, the Press, and Proximity
The James S. Brady Press Briefing Room has been the on-grounds quarters for the White House correspondents and news photographers...
-
Monuments to the American Revolution in Lafayette Park
In 1853, Clark Mills’ statue of President Andrew Jackson on horseback is in the center of Lafayette Park. The park’s four...
-
Civil War Veterans Visit the White House
In May 1865, at the close of hostilities, a Grand Review throughout Washington, D.C., exhibited parading Union troops from the...
-
Unbuilt White Houses of the 19th Century
Throughout the latter half of the nineteenth century, several major proposals were made to alleviate crowding at the White House...
-
The American Protective League and White House Security During World War One
The United States remained neutral during the early years of World War I, from the outbreak of hostilities in August, 1914,...
-
Picketing the White House
In the second half of the nineteenth century Americans headed west to seek greater opportunities for themselves and their families....
-
April 6, 1917
At eight o’clock on the morning of April 2, 1917, President Woodrow Wilson and his wife Edith “threw responsibilities to the wind...
-
Foreword; White House History Number 33
Further pursuing our interest in the neighborhood context of the White House, as well as the presidential complex itself, this...