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Attention has been paid to the passing of those leading avenues over the most favorable ground for prospect and convenience. But, above all, L'Enfant was persistent in his request that, on no account, the grandeur of his conception be in any way curtailed: it was to remain commensurate with the greatness of the United States of future times. The plan
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[122] He foresaw much opposition to some of his ideas, but besought the President to stand by him, and especially to prevent any dwarfing of his views:
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I remain assured you will conceive it essential to pursue with dignity the operation of an undertaking of a magnitude so worthy of the concern of a grand empire ... over whose progress the eyes of every other nation, envying the opportunity denied them, will stand judge.
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In the same record of his views, however, and much more to his credit, Washington's secretary of state is seen foreseeing the sky-scraper and its dangers:
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In Paris it is forbidden to build a house beyond a given height, and it is admitted to be a good restriction. It keeps down the price of grounds, keeps the houses low and convenient, and the streets light and airy. Fires are much more manageable when houses are low,
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Sir, although I do not conceive that you will derive any material advantage from an examination of the inclosed papers, yet, as they have been drawn under different circumstances and by different persons, they may be compared with your own ideas of a proper plan for the federal city.... The rough sketch by Mr. Jefferson was done under an idea that no offer worthy of consideration would come from the landholders in the vicinity of Carrollsburgh, from the backwardness which appeared in them, and therefore was accommodated to the grounds about Georgetown.
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The work of Major L'Enfant, which is greatly admired, will show, Washington said,
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[127] Jefferson, who had the good taste not to stick to his own former suggestions, was sending, a little later, copies of the plan to Gouverneur Morris, then minister to France, for him to exhibit in various cities as a thing for the United States to be proud of:
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I sent you by the way of London a dozen plans of the city of Washington in the Federal territory, hoping you would have them displayed to public view where they would be most seen by those descriptions of men worthy and likely to be attracted to it. Paris, Lyons, Rouen, and the seaport towns of Havre, Nantes, Bordeaux, and Marseille would be proper places to send them to.
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We have agreed that the federal district shall be called 'the Territory of Columbia,' and the federal city 'the City of Washington.' The title of the map will therefore be 'A map of the City of Washington in the District of Columbia.'
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The terms entered into by me, Washington wrote to Jefferson,
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The President was confident that everybody would acquiesce and show good-will,
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How far, he boldly wrote to Hamilton,
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I have contributed to overset that plotting business, it would not do for me to tell; besides, I am not wholly satisfied whether I would be thanked for by the people among whom you live. [130] The three Commissioners had notions of their own, but could never bring L'Enfant to take into account either their persons or their ideas; he would acknowledge no chief except Washington, who, gently at first, firmly afterward, sternly later, and vainly throughout, tried to make the major understand that he was one of the Commissioners' subordinates. A great reciprocal irritation, which even the President's painstaking diplomacy could not assuage, began between them from the first. Out of fear of speculators, L'Enfant wanted the sale of the lots to be delayed, while the Commissioners desired to make a beginning as soon as possible. The officer kept, accordingly, his plan to himself, and refused to have it shown to would-be purchasers. How, then, Washington exclaimed, could they be
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he persisted in refusing to show his plan to any individual or association. He had declared beforehand, in one of his reports to the President, what were his views and how things should be delayed until the plan could be engraved, distributed all over the country, and made known to all people at the same time:
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A sale made previous the general plan of the distribution of the city is made public, and before the circumstance of that sale taking place has had time to be known through the whole continent, will not call a sufficient concurrence, and must be confined to a few individuals speculating ... and the consequence of a low sale in this first instance may prove injurious to the subsequent ones by serving as precedents. He was afraid of the
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of the forming of a
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organized
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As a similar case, he wrote to him,
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severely remonstrated now with the major.
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In future I must strictly enjoin you to touch no man's property without his consent, or the previous order of the Commissioners, adding in kindlier tones:
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Having the beauty and regularity of your plan only in view, you pursue it as if every person or thing were obliged to yield to it.
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so as to quietly discuss the federal city, the hour for the meal differing rather widely from ours:
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Mr. Jefferson presents his compliments to Major L'Enfant, and is sorry to have been absent when he was so kind as to call on him, as he wishes to have some conversation with him on the subject of the federal city. He asks the favor of him to come and take a private dinner with him to-morrow at half after three, which may afford time and opportunity for the purpose.--Saturday January 7, 1792. [134] Nothing resulted. Another landowner, Notley Young, had been found in December building a house which had,
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Washington wrote the Commissioners,
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It having been found impracticable to employ Major L'Enfant in that degree of subordination which was lawful and proper, he has been notified that his services were at an end.
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his departure, wishing for his return, praising his work,
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Major L'Enfant, it is said, wrote Washington, who still retained a friendly feeling for him,
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[136] The moving spirit was Hamilton, under whose influence had been founded the
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Society for the Establishing Useful Manufactures.