Bowling examines the conflict between vaguely defined agrarian and capitalist interests in Revolutionary America through the debate over a national capital. Tracing the issue from its beginnings in 1774 to the selection of Washington, D.C. in 1790, he argues that the final decision represented a major compromise between a slavery-based agrarian South and the commercial capitalism of the Eastern seaboard. In the process, the author describes the pivotal roles of Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and George Washington, three slaveholding southerners who endorsed a mer cantilist ethos. Though offering a less expansive account than Bob Arnebeck in Through a Fiery Trial: Building Washing ton, 1790-1800 ( LJ 1/91), Bowling provides a well-researched book that better explores the conflicting interests which underlay the bitter debate over the federal capital. Recommended for scholars and laypersons.
- David Szatmary, Univ. of Washington, Seattle
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Product Description
Leaders of the American Revolution envisioned the United States as the next great world empire. George Washington and his allies, Thomas Jefferson and James Madison, believed that the capital of that empire should be a commercial as well as political emporium. They spearheaded the effort to place it on the Potomac and make Virginia a preeminent commercial state. "The Creation of Washington, D.C." covers the political struggle between the North and the South over the location of the American capital city and explains the origin of Congress's exclusive jurisdiction over the city.
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