The vision, controversy and political rivalries that shaped America’s capital are examined in this fascinating history of Washington, D.C.

When America’s first congress declared that a national capital was to be built along the Potomac, President Washington was given complete control over its design and construction. Eager to establish a federal city worthy of a powerful and rapidly expanding empire, Washington recruited commissioners, surveyors, architects, and craftsmen. But there were many—including Thomas Jefferson—who opposed Washington’s vision for a grand American metropolis. In the fiercely partisan environment of the early republic, the construction, development, and oversight of the District of Colombia became a symbolic pawn in the contest between rival political groups. 

George Washington’s Washington traces the president’s original plan for the capital over the course of decades, through its formation, abandonment, and eventual revival in the Jacksonian era. It is not simply a history of the city during Washington’s life but a history of his vision for the national capital and of the local and national conflicts surrounding this vision’s acceptance and implementation.