In a review of this book, Dr. Kate Larson remarked, "Who knew that the decision to build our nation's capital on the banks of the Potomac between Maryland and Virginia would be fraught with such political intrigue, backroom deal making, financial shenanigans, and profound drama!" What examples of "political intrigue, backroom deal making, financial shenanigans, and drama" are described in this chapter? Were you surprised by the tactics used in deciding where to locate the captial?
Politics involves making policies that affect the people which are being governed. However, dictionaries often fail to mention that to attain political success a lot of "back room deal making, financial shenanigans, and drama" as Dr. Kate Larson says, is performed. On the Potomac side of the argument, James Madison and Thomas Jefferson from Virginia argued that placing the capitol on the Potomac would bring great commerce to the region and was a key gateway to the West. Richard Bland Lee's comments once again are reiterated to show that the politicians involved in the location of the capitol acted in crude ways. He says that if Congress dared to keep the Capitol in Pennsylvania the southern states' faith in the unity of the Union would dissolve. While this occurred Alexander Hamilton, Secretary of Treasury, had proposed a plan to help stimulate America's floundered economy. His plan involved three key concepts. One was for the National Government to pay back all of their debts and those of all the states in the Union. This move was met with a lot of criticism by members of both parties in Congress. He also proposed to have all bonds given out to be paid in full, interest included. This was also controversial because Congressmen did not want to pay the nation's debt. He also wanted to have the Capitol situated in the North. Alexander Hamilton figured that if he could round up his fellow northern politicians, they could make these policies real (the northern states wanted their debts paid off) and the Capitol would be in the North, where Hamilton wanted.
Greed. This was what got the Capitol to Washington. Northern politicians, who clearly had the power in their hands, agreed on the policies set forth by Alexander Hamilton. However, they disagreed on the location of the capitol, each wanting it in their own state. Hamilton had decided not to speak to Southern politicians because they clearly disagreed with Hamilton's proposals. Most southern states had not taken out many loans and some states like Virginia and North Carolina had already paid off their loans. They were upset that they had already paid their loans and the northern states were going to have their loans paid off. They threatened succession if the policies were passed. With the Northern states in constant disagreement and the South disapproving with the policies, Alexander Hamilton was stuck in policy gridlock. However, his sanity was saved in the form of an unexpected dinner party. Hamilton had been walking near the site of George Washington's Presidential Home when he ran into Thomas Jefferson. Jefferson invited Hamilton to have dinner at his home and invited James Madison also. At the dinner, the men discussed the current problems facing the nation. It seemed that both North and South were upset and both threatened succession if policies they disagreed with were passed. The three men then realized that the power to sway the nation was in their hands. Hamilton was very influential in the North and could sway the votes of northern politicians. On the other side, Jefferson and Madison could sway southern politicians to agree with them. Thus, the "back room deal making" began. The three men came up with a compromise that would appease both North and South. Jefferson and Madison agreed to sway the South's votes in favor of having the Federal Government pay off the debts of all states. As compensation for this, Hamilton agreed to sway the North's votes in favor of Madison's and Jefferson's proposed location for the Capitol, on the Potomac. That is how, through greed, drama, and back room deal the capitol came to rest in Washington D.C.
Yep. It doesn't get more "backroom" than a happenchance dinner at T.J.'s house.
In the reading, there are many instances in which there has been sabotage and corruption during the construction of our government. The founders had different beliefs and, therefore, wanted to have the capital placed in an area that favored there beliefs. An example of when there was "financial shenanigans" was when Morris tried everything he could to stop the capital from being place on the Susquehanna River, including "[promising] $100,000 from the State of Pennsylvania to establish the capital at Germantown." This shows how the settlers used backroom deal making to decide the placement of the capital because they wanted so hard to sabotage other settlers' plans of placement that they would pay money out of their own pocket to a state so that they could vote in a way that would be favorable to them, which sounds somewhat like early lobbying. Another way that there was under the table methods is described on page 26, which is when the Northern States decided to switch their votes up and vote for the Delaware instead of the Susquehanna. Once again Morris agreed to pay $100,000 to avoid it from being put on the Susquehanna.
I am not surprised with the tactics used to defend or oppose the placement of the capital. This reminds of lobbying because the settlers when to the other states and provided them with information and, sometimes, money so that they could make sure that their beliefs were in line with the states. They could assume that they chose a person with the same ideology because the state that has received from a politician and they would not want to lose that amount of support. This is similar to what happens today in American society and policy making. A congressman is lobbied by an interest group and sometimes a lobbyist provides money to a campaign. The congressman will feel that they owe it to that person or group of people because they don't wanna lose the support or money that will benefit their campaign or success in the policy making society
I think you and Ashley both hit it on the head here: politics is inherently selfish! Everyone's looking out for their own interests and the interests of their constituents. Yet we also see that sometimes it is in your best interest to compromise (as Hamilton, Madison, and Jefferson so aptly demonstrated in this deal).
Very few political actions are based on the well-being of all. The placing of the capital was heavily argued, as either side wanted the capital within its borders for their own selfish reasons.
However, more pressing concerns were at hand. There were many, many post-Revolutionary War problems, the most prevalent obviously being the gargantuan amount of debt the new country owed. With so many loans to pay back and most of the American money being spent on speculation in the west and bonds/securities, American money on its own was virtually useless. There was only one man to come up with a feasible solution.
Alexander Hamilton, Washington's Secretary of the Treasury, calculated that the country owed a total of 4 million debt to other nations, and that the interest per year alone would push 4 million. Something had to be done. Hamilton proposed a terrifying solution: to take all independent state debts, federal debts, and debts from the bonds they used to pay the free soldiers, and pay it all back as a national debt. How was this to be done? By loaning from other countries. Opposers stated that taking out loans to pay off others would never get them out of the hole they had gotten themselves into, but Hamilton responded that in order to both have a reliable source of borrowed finances in the future and to appear trustworthy enough to take out these loans, whether from individual citizens or other nations, that they must repay all debts. Eventually, a compromise was made. All federal debts and bond/security debts were taken on as national debt, but the states were on their own.
Hamilton was still not satisfied, and the issue of the location of the capital had yet to be solved. Pro "assumption" advocates like Robert Morris or William Maclay were Hamilton's targets. Still no matter how hard he pressed, the North, despite being the more powerful half of the country, could not stop fighting amongst themselves. Even so, with Virginia controlling 1/4 of the seats, a gridlock was quickly forming. Meanwhile, there were smarter players waiting in the wings.
Still without any luck on swaying any voters to pro-assumption, Hamilton happens to run into Thomas Jefferson. The two, along with James Madison, have a dinner party at Jefferson's home, where they come to an agreement that assumption, in the long term, would be best in order to keep up appearances to the rest of the world. All three men, together would have a powerful voice in all of Congress; Hamilton in the North, Jefferson and Madison in the South. But of course, you can't get something for nothing.
The reasoning behind the placing of the nation's capital was a. equal trade: Jefferson and Madison would sway a handful of votes to pro-assumption, and in return, Hamilton would sway a handful of votes to place the capital on the Potomac. I am not the least bit surprised at this feat. At America's earliest years, only war seemed to unite us. Either party had it's own reasoning behind the deal, and each got what they desired most at the cost of what they most loathed. The "blood" shed in the halls of Congress was finally able to cease.
I was very suprised at the actions taken to control the outcome of where the capital would be located. Senator Robert Morris was a down right thug the ways he tried to manipulate the outcome of the votes on the capital. He promised Pennsylvania $100,000 if their representatives voted for the capital to placed in Germantown. "He promised the New York senators if they voted for Germantown, he and his allies would agree to block removal of the goverment from New York city before 1793, even if the new capitol was ready sooner. Morris was doing major "backroom lobbying" to have the capital where he wanted it and almost succeded If it weren't for James Madison. After Morris forced his opinion of Germantown through the Senate it went to the House of representatives. Morris didn't know that James Madison had a genius plan of his own that would sway things in his direction. Madison basically "pointed out that the bill failed to specify what jurisdiction would govern the Federal District until Congress took over. This was a very clever move bringing up the part of the bill that was over looked and most likely not even thought of. The tatics used by these congressmen not only suprised me but opened my eyes to the corruption of a young goverment which was America.
You are right to point out the genius of Madison's plan here. He basically killed the bill by adding an amendment to it. We all know that when two different versions of a bill are passed by the House and the Senate, a conference committee meets to work out the differences and they have to re-vote, causing a delay in the passage of the bill. Because Madison proposed this amendment so close to the closing of the congressional session, the bill had no shot at being passed. It's just a wonder that none of his opponents realized what he was doing!
In deciding whether the capital of the United States should be located became another conflict between the north and the south. The northern states wanted the capital to be located in the north, supporting it to be in Susquehanna. When the southerners proposed to have the capital located in the Potomac opposition was quickly made. Theodore Sedgwick of Massachusetts argued that the Potomac could only be demographically in the center if slaves were counted. Therefore without slaves the Potomac was not demographically in the center. Another argument made was that the Potomac River was too shallow for navigation, which was said by Fisher Ames from Massachusetts. Such oppositions bothered James Madison who said that the south would have never joined the Union if it had known that. Those in favor of the Potomac were Virginians Thomas Jefferson and James Madison who had the support form George Washington. They believed that its location “would attract immigrants and commerce to both Virginia and Maryland.” Another location for the capital was proposed by Robert Morris. Robert Morris wanted the capital to be either in the Delaware or Germantown. He proposal to have the capital in Delaware because he had bought land around the area knowing it would benefit him. In order to have the capital in Germantown Morris said he give 100,000 dollars from the state of Pennsylvania to have the capital there. Before establishing the capital at the Potomac banks a lot of opposition form the north and the south was made causing drama, political intrigue, backroom dealing making, and financial shenanigans.
It's true. Most of the "drama" in the new nation revolved around slavery and the differing interests between North and South.
The decision in determining whether o not the capital should reside in the north and south became a bit of a challenge between Alexander Hamilton(secretary of treasurer), Morns, Mclay, Jeffeson, and Madison. At the end of the 1780's, the U.S. was just recovering from the revolutionay war where they won against Britain during the period of creating the U.S. Constitution. The only reason the Government decided to create the Constituiton of the United States was because the Articles of Confederation wasn't working out so well due to the fact that the Articles created a government that became well deeply in debt. The debt of the United States was so bad that it got to the point where the U.S. had to borrow loans from other countries just to pay off another loan. The U.S. Government had no type of plan or structure to determine whether if they were going to get all the money to pay off the 70 million dollars they owe.
Due to the fact that the United States owed so much money that " speculation" began where the US had to buy pieces of land for an amount (mostly in the west) and then have to sell it again for either a more higher price. This is when the idea of Alexander Hamilton agued that in oder for the US to get pay off the 70 million dollars in debt than the US would have to need around 4.5 million dollars coming in. The debts mostly consisted of Northern States(huge debts) and Southern States(less debts) who created a debt cycle that if soon wasn't paid then the US would have no one to borrow from and show how irresponsible and unstable country they are. So Congress decided to pay off federal debts and bonds only while the states (mostly Northern) had to find a way to pay off their own debts somehow. The problem with this bill was that the Nothern states were not going to pay off their debts which made Hamilton angry because like I said before is that this action shows how unstable and unfit the country is.
Next, came the issue to decide where the capital of the US should be, which caused even more controversy. Hamilton determined that the rate the US was going wasn't good for anyone so he decided to try to get Morns and McClay (northerner representatives) to try and compromise on an agreement that the capital should reside in the north. But Morns was pro-assumption and McLay was anti- assumption where they were so stubborn that neither one of them compromised with one another and if they would've Washington, DC would then and now resided in the North. So Hamilton bumped into Jefferson one day and he invited him to his house to talk. Hamilton explained the issues and Jeffeson and Madison agreed with Hamilton that the government wouldn't pay for the debts of the northern states and other states and that the capital would reside on the Potomac. Not very long after, it was granted that (Washington,DC) ou US capital would reside between Maryland and Virginia(Potomac).
Well, to piggyback on what everyone else said about Alexander Hamilton, i understood that how Hamilton planned to rid the country of its debt was a genius move. He knew that as a new nation with no reputation that we needed to pay off our debts to be considered a reliable money source in the world market. And even though Congress didn't want to do this either, he also knew that we had to pay the interest on the war bonds so that those people would invest in America another time. The federal government, with all the loans taken on by the all the states, was in debt up to approximately 79 million dollars. Virginia and North Carolina thought it was unfair for the South to have to pay off the debts of the North because they had already paid off most of their debts. Even though main Virginians, Jefferson and Madison didn't want to pay off the debts the north owed, they knew this was an opportunity to get the capital in the south. So with that in mind they said they would get the south to agree to pay off the national debt in exchange for having the capital in the south.
Unfortunately, i wasn't surprised at all by the tactics used by Jefferson and Madison.
Dr. Kate Larson's reaction to tactics used by founders to make decisions on where to place the capitol were far from surprising after reading Bordewich's text which reveals examples of "political intrigue, backroom deal making, financial shenanigans, and drama. For instance, the process in which contending southerners fought to preserve slavery. Delegates decided that each slave would count as 3/5 of a person when apportioning the size of a states representation in the House. Consequently, slave states would have 1/3 more seats in Congress than the free population which were required to recognize all laws protecting slavery. Before the invention of a representative Congress slavery was "politcally irrelevant" since it gave a state with a high population just as much representation as a state without slaves. Conflict began as delegates argued on where to locate the capitol. The North? Or would it dominate the government and bring an end to slavery? The South? Slaves would continually augment the population and increase its power and representation in Congress. The bitterness, fear, and disdain between Northerners and Southerners caused uneccesary drama when founders were expected to make a concrete and monumental decision.
In my eyes politicians job is to lobby and pass laws for the better of the nation as a whole but also for their particular state. A great example of this is Alexander Hamilton, the Secretary of Treasury. Although politicians lobby to influence each other's vote, sometimes lobbying isn't enough. This call for plan b, the "back room dealing making". Alexander Hamilton lobbied to the north, that they should vote on his plan to have the federal government pay the individual states debt as one whole, in order to preserve the reputation of the young nation. He also lobbied to have the capital in Pennsylvania, however because of greed, the northeners were not able to vote all in favor. Since this did not work Alexander Hamilton had dinner with the South, meaning Thomas Jefferson and James Madison. Alexander Hamilton knew that in order to keep the reputation of the nation good he had to compromise and work something out. Thomas Jefferson from Virginia wanted the capital to be in the Potomac area because of greed and what he thought gave "the advantages of a favorable bias in the Executive office". Alexander Hamilton was aware of this so the unofficial compromise at the dinner was to have the capital in the South, were Thomas Jefferson wanted it and have the federal government pay for the states debt as a whole.
Not only was Alexander Hamilton doing behind the scene lobbying but so were many other greedy congress men. One person in specific was, Robert Morris who wanted the capital to be in Germantown or on the Delaware River. Morris use of influencing decisions was through money. According to the text "Morris primary goal was to sabotage the plan to put the capital on the Susquehanna". In order to get what he wanted he promised $100,000 from the state of Pennsylvania in order to have the capital in Germantown. This shows how personal interest and the need to be in power influenced a lot of votes in congress.