Anti-federalists had aimed at changes in the framework 1 7 8 9 and were not at all satisfied.

Under the stress and strain of war, congress had The National been compelled to hold its sessions at eight different Capital places. In December, 1784, it adopted a resolution providing for for the appointing of commissioners to lay out a district near the lower falls of the Delaware River for "a federal town, a federal house for congress and for the executive officers thereof, and houses for the president and secretaries of foreign affairs, war, the marine, S

and the treasury." A motion to substitute Georgetown on the Poto

66

mac" as the site

A

C T

PASSED AT A

CONGRESS

OF THE

of the federal town UNITED STATES

was lost, all the
states except Vir-
ginia voting in the
negative. For
some reason, the
resolution was not
carried into effect.
In May, 1787, an-
other effort was
made to take
up a
congressional res-
olution for the
erection of govern-
ment buildings but
it did not succeed. I
The matter was
fully discussed in
the constitutional

convention

and

the following was

included in the enumeration of the powers of congress: "To exercise exclusive Legislation in all cases whatsoever,

I 7 8 9 over such District (not exceeding ten Miles square) as may, by Cession of particular States, and the Acceptance of Congress, become the Seat of the Government of the United States." Almost as soon as congress was organized under the constitution, it received memorials urging the claims of New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Alexandria, Georgetown, Harrisburg, Trenton, and other

Article 1,
Section 8

September 3, 1789

September 26

the panel and rational Maner in which we have ben ble fabiith Coafa
tutions el Government fai aur Surety and Hypact, and particularly the national
one now lately intrated, for the civil and rehginus Liberty with which we are biof
ed, and tik. Means we have of requiring and diffufiu ; useful Knowledge;——and in general,
for all the gre 1 and various Favours which he hath been pleased to confer upon us.
AND ALSO, That we may then unite in mot humbly offeing our Prayers and Sup
plications to the great Load and Reker of Nature, and beforch him to pardon our
national and other Tranfgrellions to enable us ail, whether in publiek or jirivate Sta-
tions, to perform var feveral and relative Duties properly d punctually; to render
our national Government a Blefion to all the People, by conflatly being a Gorum.
ment of wife, soft and conffitutional Laws, difcreetly and 1254 tillly executed and obey.
ed-to protect and guide all Sovereigns and Nanom, felpecially foch as have theen
*Kindness unto us, and to bless them with good Government. Pree and Concord --
to promote the Knowledge and Prachoc of the Religion and Valik, and the Incrie
of Science among them and us—and generally to grant unta all Mankind fuch a
•Dre
of temporal Profperity as he alone know to be beft. A by the fud Procla
mation Reference thereunta being had may appear.

I have therefore thought it, by and with the Advice and Content of the honourable the
Prvy Council, to recommend the faid twenty-fixth Day of November sext, to be fet
apart and oblerved as a Day of publick Thanksgiving and Pri Sex parte to the fast
Proclamation, whereof all the Inhabitants of this State are requir. I to take Notice and go-
ver thonfülves, accordingle-And, I do hereby, rummenil it to the Minier of the
Golpel of every Denomination in this State to perform Divine Serve and to the
People committed to their Charge to attend pathok. Worthing th: Day, and 15-
Alaia thereon from all fervile Labour and Recreations incond tent with th Solesnut)
uf the Feftis al.

tinue in force in the district to be ceded by Pennsylvania until congress should otherwise order. The amendment made it necessary to send the bill back to the senate for its concurrence, the session was near its end, many members were clamoring for action upon many important matters, and the federal city bill was left in the hopper. When the second session of congress came, the membership and

temper of both houses had changed considerably, com- 1 7 8 9 plications sprang up, and the capital was lost to Pennsylvania as will be explained in the next chapter.

The organization of the new government-the laborious Adjournment task of the first session of the first congress-being well under way, congress requested the president to recommend a "day of public thanksgiving and prayer in acknowledgment of the many signal favors of Almighty God and especially his affording the people an opportunity peaceably to establish a constitution of government for their safety and happiness" and, on the twenty-ninth of September, adjourned. By this time, the new government was so strong that North Carolina called a second convention and ratified the constitution by a vote of one hundred November 21, and ninety-three to seventy-five.

1789

Mother of Washington

On the twenty-fifth of August, Mary, the mother of The Death Washington, died at Fredericksburg, Virginia, in the of Mary, the eighty-third year of her age. She had been a widow forty-six years. She was buried on the twentyeighth, but the president did not hear of her death until the first of September. In a letter to his sister, Mrs. Betty Lewis, he said: "Awful and affecting as the death of a parent is, there is consolation in knowing, that heaven has spared ours to an age beyond which few attain, and favored her with the full enjoyment of her mental faculties, and as much bodily strength as usually falls to the lot of four score. Under these considerations, and a hope that she is translated to a happier place, it is the duty of her relatives to yield due submission to the decrees of the Creator. When I was last at Fredericksburg, I took a final leave of my mother, never expecting to see her more." In speaking of his mother's will, he gave good

Mrs. Betty Lewis
(Sister of George Washington)

September 13

I 7 8 9 business advice as to the settlement of the estate, accepted certain specific legacies "as mementos of parental affection" and thus as of value much beyond their intrinsic worth, and added that "there is a fellow belonging to that estate now at my house, who never stayed elsewhere, for which reason, and because he has a family I should be glad to keep him. He must I should conceive be far short in value of the fifth of the other negroes which will be to be divided, but I shall be content to take him as my proportion of them-and, if from a misconception either of the number or the value of these negroes it should be found that he is of greater value than falls to my lot I shall readily allow the difference, in order that the fellow may be gratified, as he never would consent to go from me." All over the country, the mourning was general, press and pulpit made note of the event, and members of congress wore mourning for thirty days. In

a note of thanks to congress for the passing of a resolution to build a monument in memory of his mother, the president wrote: "I attribute all my success in life to the moral, intellectual and physical education which I received from my mother." But the new government had more pressing duties than the building of monuments and, when Lafayette visited the United States in 1825, nothing but a little headstone marked the grave of Mary Washington. In 1831, the citizens of Fredericksburg had secured about two thousand dollars for the building of a monument over the grave when Silas E. Burrows of New York asked "to be allowed the honor of individually erecting the monument."