History of Washington, D.C.

flourishing trade would help support the capital, but the idea was short-lived. The Chesapeake & Ohio Canal was built in 1831 to move goods from the western territories all the way to Georgetown, where they could then be loaded onto ships. However, the canal was unable to compete with the new and more efficient Baltimore & Ohio railroad. Alexandria suffered disproportionately, since the government's plans favored the port at Georgetown and all government buildings were, by law, built in the City of Washington. The economic stagnation, combined with fears that the federal government would ban Alexandria's thriving slave trade (and it eventually did), caused Congress to return all the District's land originally donated by Virginia. The 1846 "retrocession", as it is now known, spoiled the city's fine diamond shape, leaving only the land originally donated by Maryland under federal control.

Washington's compromise location on the border of North and South proved precarious during the Civil War. Caught between Confederate Virginia on one side of the Potomac, and southern sympathizers in surrounding Maryland, President Lincoln established a network of forts surrounding the capital. As the center of war operations for the Union, government workers, soldiers, and runaway slaves flooded into the city. Despite the city's growth, Washington still had dirt roads and lacked basic sanitation. After the war, some members of Congress suggested moving the capital further west, but President Ulysses S. Grant refused to consider such a proposal.

In 1871, Congress created a new territorial government for the whole District of Columbia charged with modernizing the capital. Sewers and gas lines were installed, streets were paved, and the town was transformed into a modern metropolis. However, the high cost of the initiative (and alleged cronyism) ultimately bankrupted the District