Group items tagged

"Civil War Washingotn, DC." A private blog April 2, 2102 posting gives historical overview of Washington City Canal, once envisioned as a key artery linking the capital with the West via the Potomac and C&O Canal. Backs up narrative with primary sources, e.g. maps, photos, newspapers. Great Library of Congress photos are consolidated here, including overview of Canal w clear view of waterworks and of cattle grazing on its banks.

"Civil War Washingotn, DC." A private blog April 2, 2102 posting gives historical overview of Washington City Canal, once envisioned as a key artery linking the capital with the West via the Potomac and C&O Canal. Backs up narrative with primary sources, e.g. maps, photos, newspapers. Great Library of Congress photos are consolidated here, including overview of Canal w clear view of waterworks and of cattle grazing on its banks.

Since the creation of the District of Columbia, antislavery reformers had decried the presence of slavery as a contradiction of the nation's founding principles of freedom, equality, and justice. The nation's capital was a natural target for the early antislavery movement. Constitutionally, Congress controlled the District of Columbia through "exclusive jurisdiction" and could eliminate the slave trade and slavery itself within its borders at any time. When the federal government moved to Washington in 1800, Congress agreed to enforce Maryland's laws in the city, including both slavery and a "black code" that restricted the freedom of all African Americans, slave and free. As a southern city, Washington was a congenial place for slavery to take root. In 1800, thirty percent of the District of Columbia's residents were African Americans, fewer than one-fifth of them free. From its very beginning, visitors and government officials from the North and abroad condemned the capital for its open slave markets, economic reliance on slavery, exploitation of African Americans, and racial discrimination. Immediately after moving into the White House, for example, Abigail Adams wrote contemptuously that "The effects of slavery are visible everywhere." The institution continued to grow steadily until 1830, when the number of slaves in Washington reached its peak, representing twelve percent of the city's population. At the same time, Washington began supplanting Baltimore as a regional center of the slave trade. After 1830, slavery began to decline in Washington as the slave trade drained laborers from the faltering tobacco plantations of the Chesapeake region. Between 1830 and 1860, the slave population fell from its peak of twelve percent to just three percent of the District of Columbia's residents, about 3,300.

Southwest Washington, D.C., is a defined neighborhood even without a proper name; the quadrant has a clear border southwest of the U.S. Capitol Building, nestled along the oldest waterfront in the city. Its physical delineations have defined it as a community for more than 250 years, beginning in the mid-1700s with emerging farms. By the mid-1800s, a thriving urban, residential, and commercial neighborhood was supported by the waterfront where Washingtonians bought seafood and produce right off the boats. In the 1920s and 1930s, an aging housing stock and an overcrowded city led to an increase of African Americans and Jewish immigrants who became self-sufficient within their own communities. However, political pressures and radical urban planning concepts in the 1950s led to the large-scale razing of most of SW, creating a new community with what was then innovative apartment and cooperative living constructed with such unusual building materials as aluminum.

"Within sight of the White House : section of Washington, D.C., known as "Hooker's Division," which contains 50 saloons and 109 bawdy-houses--list of 61 places where liquor is sold with government [sic] but without city licenses." Newspaper clipping. - Available also through the Library of Congress Web site as a raster image. - Includes text, directory of unlicensed premises, and index to points of interest. - LC copy mounted on cloth backing.

Google e-book of biography of Andrew Ellicott that includes @20 pages about his work in planning and surveying the District of Columbia (Washington City) written in 1908 by his descendent Catharain Van Cortlandt Mathews.

The Scurlock Studio would make a fascinating research topic for HIST390-003--perhaps the studio itself, perhaps a close reading of one or two of Scurlock's photographs. Who is in them? What do they tell us about the city at the time they were taken?

Literary Magazine and British Review - Google Books. Geographer Jedediah Morse describes the landscape of the area of the District of Columbia. His narrative fleshes out a map (plate) which doesn't seem to appear in the Google Book. Note: Cross-reference Library of Congress for early Morse maps. (Morse authored numerous maps of territories throughout the country)

The Historical Society of Washington, D.C. is an excellent resource for modern views on the past of this city. Focusing on public programs, exhibitions, and advertising events and libraries, the Historical Society is a great resource to step into the foray of learning D.C. History.

Written by George Cochrane Hazelton, The National Capitol is an excellent resource for learning about the Architecture, Art and History of Washington, D.C. This book, not only containing a recounting of early labor efforts in the city, provides correspondence and the plans for early D.C.