Home › The Capitol at Washington › The Capitol at Washington: Congress

The Capitol at Washington: Congress

Burlington, New Jersey, also entered the lists, while in June, 1783, Virginia offered the town of Williamsburg to Congress and proposed to "present the palace, the capitol, and all the public buildings and 300 acres of land adjoining the said city, together with a sum of money not exceeding 100,000 pounds, this state currency to be expended in erecting thirteen hotels for the use of the delegates in Congress."

In October, 1784, Congress decided to place the capital near Trenton, New Jersey. Later it was decided to have a second capital on the Potomac, Congress to alternate between the two locations.

Neither Congress nor the country was satisfied with this solution of the difficulty. After years of discussion, in September, 1789, one house of Congress fixed on the Falls of the Susquehanna in Pennsylvania as the permanent site. The Senate amended their proposal by suggesting Germantown, Pennsylvania. This action was reconsidered and a long dispute followed. Finally, in 1790, the site on the Potomac was selected, and Congress was ready to provide for the building of "a palace in the woods."

President Washington and Vice-President Adams disagreed as to the location of the Capitol building. John Adams wished to see it the centre of a quadrangle of other public buildings, but Washington urged that Congress should meet in a building at a distance from the President's house and all other public buildings, that the lawmakers might not be annoyed by the executive officers.