Washington D.C. wasn’t always the capital of the United States. In order for a city to be considered the capital, it has to be the meeting place for the U.S. Congress. The first city was Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. That began with the First Continental Congress in 1774, and lasted until the first meeting under the Articles of Confederation in 1783. Under the Articles of Confederation, Congress met in Princeton, New Jersey, in 1783, Annapolis, Maryland, until 1784, and New York City until 1789. The modern United States was formed after the Articles of Confederation dissolved and the United States Constitution was written and ratified. The first capital in this new government was New York City until 1790. It then moved back to Philadelphia until 1800. Finally, in 1800, Washington D.C. was made the capital of the United States and it has remained the capital ever since.
Here are some facts about Washington D.C.:
• It is the capital of the United States
• It is not part of any state or a city, it is a Federal District
• It is located between Virginia and Maryland
• The city was designed by the French engineer Pierre Charles L’Efant, Andrew Ellicott and Benjamin Banneker, a freeborn black man
• It is 68 square miles large along the Potomac that was once part of Maryland and Virginia
• The official tree is the scarlet oak
• George Washington never lived in the White House
• Thomas Jefferson was the first president inaugurated inWashington
• The White House was set on fire by British troops on August 24, 1814
• The Washington National Cathedral took 83 years to build
• The heads of all three branches of government, executive, legislative and judicial are located in D.C.
• D.C. stands for District of Columbia
• It is named after Christopher Columbus
• The motto is “ Justitia Omnibus” this is “ justice for all” in Latin
• The U.S. Capitol building is the center of the city
• In 1878 the original phone number for the White House was 1
• The only President buried in D.C. is Woodrow Wilson
• The Library of Congress is the second largest library in the world
• D.C.’s first baseball team was the Washington Senators
• There are 2,000 animals and 400 different species at the National Zoo
