The U.S. federal government moved from Philadelphia to Washington, D.C., in 1800, a capital milestone tied to America250.
The move followed the Residence Act of 1790, which authorized a permanent capital on the Potomac River. President George Washington selected the site, and planners began developing a federal city named for him. The district was called Columbia, a poetic name for the United States.
In November 1800, Congress held its first session in the unfinished Capitol Building, and President John Adams moved into the newly completed White House. Washington, who had died in 1799, never governed from the city named after him. The capital’s move was part of a political compromise connected to federal assumption of state war debts.
Philadelphia had served as the national capital from 1790 to 1800, while New York City had been the first U.S. capital under the Constitution. Washington, D.C., became the permanent federal seat, although construction and civic development continued for many years.