The Federal District\u00a0\u00a0for the Nation\u2019s Capital was created by the Constitution.\u00a0\u00a0But exactly where it was to be located, was originally part of a \u201cgrand political bargain\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0This deal was memorialized on Broadway in\u00a0Hamilton, the Musical.\u00a0\u00a0<\/em>Alexander Hamilton wanted to pass his large financial plan to stabilize the new Nation\u2019s money and credit.\u00a0\u00a0But to the \u201canti-Federalists\u201d, led by Thomas Jefferson and James Madison, Hamilton\u2019s plan smacked of Federal government expansion of power.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Hamilton\u2019s plan was \u201cdead\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0Madison was Speaker of the House and Anti-Federalists controlled the legislature.\u00a0\u00a0Without the Speaker and Secretary of State Jefferson\u2019s support, no plan would get through.\u00a0\u00a0Hamilton needed to make a deal with \u201cthe South\u201d to get what he needed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n You might remember the moment in\u00a0Hamilton the Musical,\u00a0<\/em>when Aaron Burr laments that he wasn\u2019t, \u201cIn the room where it happened<\/em>.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0Hamilton, Madison and Jefferson pounded out a deal.\u00a0\u00a0Hamilton got his financial plan.\u00a0\u00a0But in return, the Constitution\u2019s Federal District for the Nation\u2019s capital would be located somewhere else, not in the biggest city of the new nation where they currently met, New York.\u00a0\u00a0The political center of the United States would move South, while the financial center remained in the \u201cBig Apple\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n Why would Maryland and Virginia give away a ten by ten mile square of land along the Potomac River?\u00a0\u00a0It placed the capital squarely in the South, in an era when Northern and Southern culture already diverged.\u00a0\u00a0It wasn\u2019t just enslavement, even the accents of the two regions were completely different.\u00a0\u00a0And the new capital was only a few days ride from almost anywhere in the South, versus the long journey required from New York, or Boston.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And besides, a lot of the \u201cplot\u201d for the District of Columbia was low land anyway, almost uninhabitable in the summer months due to swarms of mosquitos.\u00a0\u00a0The new Federal District of Columbia was, in part, a swamp.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The center of that swamp was just beside the Potomac, across from Arlington, Virginia, and just south of where Rock Creek emptied into the River.\u00a0\u00a0Today, we call that area the \u201cNational Mall\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0In the 1800\u2019s it was the pasture for local flocks of sheep or herds of cattle.\u00a0\u00a0During the Civil War it became a national encampment for Union soldiers, who suffered from mosquito borne diseases like malaria because of the location.\u00a0But there were efforts to drain the swamp, and the area was used to build national memorials like the Washington Monument (1884) and the Lincoln Memorial (1922).<\/p>\n\n\n\n As part of the Lincoln Memorial project, a reflecting pool was built.\u00a0\u00a0It was designed to reflect the entire height of the Washington Monument\u00a0\u00a0from one end, and the shiny new Lincoln Memorial from the other.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The idea was wonderful, but the 6.75 million gallons of water to fill it weighed in at 27,000 tons.\u00a0\u00a0That load pressed into the old swamp, causing continual cracks and structural breaks in the pool \u201ccontainer\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0And, like any swampy land, algae growth was a constant problem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In 2010, the Obama administration began a $34 million project to rebuild the pool.\u00a0\u00a0Over the next two years they drove deep pilings into the old swamp, to keep the pool from \u201csinking\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0In addition, new circulation pipes and pumps were installed that pulled fresh water from the nearby Potomac River.\u00a0\u00a0In two years the pool was back in shape, better than ever before.\u00a0\u00a0But, like any giant swimming pool, there were still leaks, and algae growth was a constant problem.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n In a metaphor for our current government, the Trump Administration decided to \u201cclean up\u201d the pool.\u00a0\u00a0They did a \u201cquick and dirty\u201d job, spending $14 million to drain the pool, line the pool with a sealant, then paint it \u201cAmerican Flag Blue\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0But it took only weeks for the original algae to return, and soon the sealant was flaking to the surface in chunks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And like many of America\u2019s problems in the Trump era, their immediate response was to claim some form of sabotage.\u00a0\u00a0Rumors were spread that \u201cAntifa cut the liner\u201d, and dumped chemicals into the pool to encourage algae growth.\u00a0\u00a0But the reality of the Reflecting Pool is that it\u2019s a body of water built on swamp land, and ultimately the swamp will have its say.<\/p>\n\n\n\n What\u2019s the answer to the Reflecting Pool problem?\u00a0\u00a0It\u2019s going to be swampy, not a \u201ccrystal clear swimming pool\u201d of 6.75 million gallons.\u00a0\u00a0But even if that water\u2019s murky (after all, look at the Potomac River it comes from) it still can reflect two of America\u2019s greatest monuments.\u00a0\u00a0And the more they try to \u201cclean it\u201d, the more the origins of the problem bring it right back to \u201cnormal\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n Washington is a city created in compromise.\u00a0\u00a0The Reflecting Pool is a pond built on a swamp.\u00a0\u00a0America is a series of deals, when all sides have to search for some middle solution.\u00a0\u00a0Neither extreme has all of the answers.\u00a0\u00a0But today, we are so divided, we can\u2019t even figure out the obvious.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n If you pump dirty river water into a pool, it\u2019s going to be a pool of dirty river water.\u00a0\u00a0And, sometimes, that needs to be enough.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Our Nation\u2019s Capital<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
The Pool<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
The Metaphor<\/h2>\n\n\n\n