From George Washington to the Commissioners for the District of Columbia, 17 February 1797
To the Commissioners for the District of Columbia
Philadelphia 17th Feb. 1797.
Gentlemen
In looking over the press copy of the letter I wrote you by the Post of Wednesday last, which was penned in great haste, to be in time for the Mail;1 I perceive some ambiguity in the expression of my sentiment respecting the building designated for the President of the U. States; and therefore these lines are given in explanation.
It was not, nor is it my intention, that the work on that house should cease; for that might prove injurious to the parts that are already executed, and to the materials which are prepared for the completion of the Walls and covering the same.2 The idea I meant to convey was, that these should go on, but with as moderate means as would accomplish the object, and guard the edifice from damage by weather; employing the remaining force on the Capitol; resting the matter upon a little time, and the prospect of your funds, to determine, unequivocally, whether both buildings can be completed by the year 1800: and until this is ascertained, to proceed on the Capitol in the manner, & for the purposes I have mentioned to you before.3
It has been advised, that an Act of Congress should be obtained for incorporating the Commissioners of the City of Washington, and their Successors, for the particular purpose of enabling them to take & hold in fee simple, for the use of the United States, the lands within the City, set apart and appropriated by the President to their use.
It is supposed possible that some inconvenience may arise at a future day if the conveyance be made to any persons & their heirs in their individual capacity, by reason of their absence, infancy, or other unforeseen causes which will not occur in case the Commissioners are incorporated and the conveyance is made to them. A bill for this purpose is now before Congress and expected to pass. So soon as a decision is had upon it a direction will be sent for a conveyance of those appropriated lands to be made to the Commissioners if incorporated; if not then to the same persons in their individual capacity.4
At the sametime, perhaps sooner—I will give you my sentimts on the Memorial of Mr Davidson, & other matters.5 In the meantime, with esteem & regard I remain Gentlemen Your very Hble Servt
Go: Washington
ALS, DLC: U.S. Commissioners of the City of Washington records; ALS (letterpress copy), DLC:GW; LB, DLC:GW. The commissioners received this letter on 21 Feb., and replied to GW that same day (see also the commissioners’ book of proceedings under 21 Feb., in DNA: RG 42, Records of the Commissioners for the District of Columbia, Proceedings, 1791–1802).
1. GW refers to his letter to the commissioners of Wednesday, 15 February.
2. The first two stories of the President’s House in Washington, D.C., had been completed by late 1796. In the fall of that same year, architect James Hoban requested bricks to enclose the house, while stonework was used to form the pediments, window sills, and other decoration. Work on the mansion’s roof, currently underway, was scheduled to continue into the spring and summer of 1797 (see Commissioners for the District of Columbia to GW, 13 April 1796, and n.3 to that document; see also the commissioners to GW, 6 Feb. 1797; and , 233, 376, 396, 423, 431).
3. For GW’s earlier appeals for the timely completion of the U.S. Capitol, see his letter to the commissioners of 29 Jan.; see also GW to Gustavus Scott, 25 May 1796.
The stone- and brickwork of the first story of the U.S. Capitol was reportedly near completion in the fall of 1796, and laborers resumed work on the walls in March 1797. The walls of the Capitol’s north wing were virtually finished by winter 1798, but construction on that building continued well into the nineteenth century. The President’s House was mostly completed by November 1800, though plastering work on the walls persisted in subsequent years (see , 1:376–77, 449–56; see also , 464; and Alexander White to James Madison, 26 Sept. 1796, in , 16:401–3).
4. On 13 Feb., the U.S. House of Representatives passed a resolution to appoint a committee “to enquire into the expediency of incorporating the commissioners of the city of Washington … and to report, by bill, or otherwise.” A “bill to incorporate the commissioners of Washington,” read before the House on 25 Feb., was ordered to be submitted to a committee of the whole house on 27 Feb. (, 9:193, 243–44). The bill received no further debate and never became a law (see GW to the Commissioners for the District of Columbia, 3 March). For the executive order conveying public reservations to the commissioners, see the commissioners to GW, 31 Jan., n.1.
5. GW wrote the commissioners on 20 Feb. about Samuel Davidson’s memorial. For the memorial, see the commissioners to GW, 3 Feb., and n.1 to that document.