Canal is planned to follow Potomac River upstream and then eventually over the Allegheny Mountains to the Ohio River Valley, opening up the Potomac as an artery to the West.
Federal government's first attempt at canal building, in competition with the states.
The fulfillment of Washington's dream for an improved route to the West
Original corporation chartered for improved Potomac navigation becomes the genesis for a new compact between the states, and a new Federal Government.
Triumph of Federalism during Administration of James Monroe, a Democrat-Republican and one-time foe of Federalist ideas
1826 Engineers submit the plans for the federally chartered C & O Canal "Free from taxation, the canal company was required to have 100 miles in use in five years, and to complete the canal in 12 years. The canal was engineered to have a 2 mph water current, supplying the canal and assisting mules pulling boats downstream. The eastern section was the only part to be completed."
1825 Erie Canal opens (Oct 26)
1825 As one of the last acts of his presidency, Democratic-Republican President James Monroe signs the bill chartering the construction of the C&O Canal as a federal government project. (Mar.)
1819 Erie Canal's first 15 mi. opens for use, from Rome to Utica.
1817 Groundbreaking on the Erie Canal at Rome, New York.(Jul. 4)
1816 James Monroe, Democrat-Republican, elected President in the Electoral College over Federalist Rufus King 183-34.
1811 N.Y. Canal Commissioners make survey of western New York and submit report to New York legilsature in favor of a a direct route from the Mohawk River to Lake Erie.
1810 New York legislature creates the Canal Commission. "The Commissioners immediately requested financial aid from the Federal Government. The politicians Jeffersonian Republican Party, later known as the Democratic Party, had doubt that there was any legal basis in the Constitution for any Federal Government involvement in such development projects. Thomas Jefferson himself disparaged the project as sheer madness. The Constitution was explicit in that only those powers delineated were exercised by the Federal Government, all other powers were the province of the state government. Only by absurdly broad interpretation of the empowerment clauses in the Constitution has the Federal Government been able to assume the powers it has today. The Hamiltonian Federalist and later Whig Party had no qualms about the Federal Government assuming an activists role in economic development. With Jeffersonian politicians in power the request of the Canal Commission of New York for the funding of a canal system was turned down. Also the requests for financial aid from states adjacent to New York were dismissed. These had even less chance of a positive response than the request to the Federal Government." (source).
1802 The Potamac Company completes the locks at Great Falls, Maryland
1799 George Washington dies at Mount Vernon (Dec. 14)
1794 Battle of Fallen Timbers ends the nine-year-long Northwest Indian War. Americans regain control of U.S. territory in the Ohio Country, driving out the British eleven years after the Treaty of Paris. Anthony Wayne becomes American hero in victory of the Western Confederacy of Native Americans allied with the British (in present-day Toledo, Ohio). "The battle, which was a decisive victory for the United States, ended major hostilities in the region until ...1811."
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| Major-General Anthony Wayne (Pastel by James Sharples, Sr ca. 1795) |
1792 The L'Enfant Plan for Washington, D.C., as revised by Andrew Ellicott in 1792
1791 District of Colubmia surveyed by Ellicot and Banneker
1791 Benjamin Stoddert and other Potomac landowners agree to a land transfer deal to the federal government at a dinner at Forrest's home in Georgetown (March 28)
1790 Congress creates the District of Columbia (Jul 16).
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| Map of the District of Columbia in 1835 |
1789 New U.S. Constitution takes effect. 1s U.S. Congress meets at Federal Hall in New York (Mar 4). First ballot of Electoral College elects George Washington first President of the U.S. (Apr. 6). Washington inaugurated as first President of the United States, and executive of the new Federal Government (Apr. 30).
1788 U.S. Constitution considered ratified by its adoption by New Hampshire, the ninth state (June 21)
1788 Federalist no. 43, James Madison (Jan. 23). "The essay...eferences a desire that the national government be given exclusive jurisdiction over a new national capitol and provides the rationale for what later became the District Clause of Article I of the U.S. Constitution." (WP)
1787 Federalist no. 1, Alexander Hamilton published (Oct. 27) urging adoption of the Constitution by New York.
1787 Conference in Philadelphia convenes with delegates from all thirteen states. Deliberations result in the adoption of the United States Constitution, which is then sent to the states as a replacement for the Articles of Confederation. "There the deliberations resulted in the framing of the Constitution, whereby the thirteen original States were united primarily on a commercial basis — the commerce of the times being chiefly by water." (report of the Inland Waterways Commission, 1908).
1786 Annapolis, Maryland meeting of the The Potomac Company with representatives from Maryland, Virginia, and other states to consider the issue of navigation and commerce rights. The growth in scope of the issue resulting the decision to convene a conference of all the states in Philadelphia the following year.
1785 Alexandria, Virginia meeting of the Potomac Company with ccommissioners from Maryland and Virginia. They adjourn to Mount Vernon and consider the extension of the original project over improving the Potomac to include other issues regarding rights of navigation and commerce, and also to include other states in the discussion.
1785 Potomac Company chartered with George Washington as it first President.
1755 Col. George Washington takes part in the Braddock Expedition with the British Army (attempt to attack the French at Fort Duquesne at the forks of the Ohio River.
1790 First newspaper established in Georgetown
1751 the legislature of the Province of Maryland authorizes the purchase of 60 acres of land from Gordon and George Beall at the price of £280. A survey of the town was completed in February 1752.
1745 George Gordon constructed a tobacco inspection house along the Potomac at present-day Georgetown.
1632 English fur trader Henry Fleet documents a Native American village of the Nacotchtank people called Tohoga at the fall-line on the Potomac River, on the site of present-day Georgetown, D.C. He establishes trade with them.
1632 "Charles I of England grants the original charter for Maryland, a proprietary colony of about twelve million acres (49,000 km²), to Cecil Calvert, 2nd Baron Baltimore. Some historians view this grant as a form of compensation for Calvert's father's having been stripped of his title of Secretary of State upon announcing his Roman Catholicism in 1625. The charter offered no guidelines on religion, although it was assumed that Catholics would not be molested in the new colony. The charter had originally been granted to Calvert's father, George Calvert, 1st Baron Baltimore, but the 1st Baron Baltimore died before it could be executed, so it was granted to his son instead Whatever the reason for granting the colony specifically to Baltimore, however, the King had practical reasons to create a colony north of the Potomac in 1632. The colony of New Netherland begun by England's great imperial rival in this era, the United Provinces specifically claimed the Delaware River valley and was vague about its border with Virginia. Charles rejected all the Dutch claims on the Atlantic seaboard, but was anxious to bolster English claims by formally occupying the territory. The new colony was named after the devoutly Catholic Henrietta Maria, the Queen Consort."
1590 First map to label the Chesapeake Bay
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| Revised map of John White's original by Theodore DeBry. In this 1590 version, the Chesapeake Bay appears named for the first time. (source) |
1570 Spanish Jesuits established the short-lived Ajacan Mission on one of the Chesapeake tributaries in present-day Virginia.
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