This is an article discussing the events of Washington DC. From its founding all the way to the civil war.

To begin with Philadelphia had acted as the capital of the united states. However in 1783 a large riot happened. The mob mostly consisted of old soldiers wanting there pay. Congress asked for the current Governor of Pennsylvania to call up a militia to protect congress. However the Governor refused. This in turn forced congress out of Philadelphia.

A heated debate came up between the northern states and the southern states both wanted the capital in their respective areas. The northern states had greater cities but on a whole were poorer then the southern states. So eventually a compromise was made. Alexander Hamilton proposed that the southern states would take on a large portion of the northern states debt and in return the capital would be located in the south however the city itself would not technically belong to any one state.

Both Maryland and Virginia volunteered to sacrifice land for the capital. However the final decision of where it would be located was given to the president. President Washington wished to include an already built town called Alexandria, Virginia to be included in the capital. The reasons for this is that George Washington owned a lot of Alexandria, Virginia and it was very close to his personal plantation.

Though there were further problems with people already owning the land eventually it was settled. The capital would be located just below the fall line of the Potamac, which was the farthest point inland that could be reached by boats. Washington appointed 3 commissioners to oversee the planning and construction of the city. They were also the ones that named it "the city of Washington in the territory of Columbia".

However the city was burned by the British during the war of 1812. They burned mostly the important buildings such as the White House the navy yard and treasury building. Staff from the White House were able to save many important paintings such as a full length painting of George Washington.

After that for a long time the capital was incredibly small consisting of only a few thousand residents. However during the civil war president Lincoln created an army to defend the capital. The thousands of troops that came there was the thing that spurred the growth of the capital again. So in other words one of the worst wars ever to happen in the USA was the war that allowed the capital to once again flourish.