Which U.S. president signed the 1790 law selecting a Potomac River site for the national capital?

George Washington signed the 1790 Residence Act selecting a Potomac River site for the national capital.

President Washington signed the law on July 16, 1790. Its official title was An Act for establishing the temporary and permanent seat of the Government of the United States. The statute authorized a permanent capital along the Potomac River and set December 1800 as the target for the government’s move.

Philadelphia served as the temporary capital while the new federal district was developed. New York City had been the seat of the federal government before the Residence Act. Washington personally helped inspect possible locations near Georgetown and the Anacostia River.

The law formed part of the Compromise of 1790, involving James Madison, Thomas Jefferson, and Alexander Hamilton. Northern support for the Potomac location was connected to agreement over federal assumption of state Revolutionary War debts.