<P> The first colonial landowners in the present - day District of Columbia were George Thompson and Thomas Gerrard, who were granted the Blue Plains tract in 1662, along with Saint Elizabeth, and other tracts in Anacostia, Capitol Hill, and other areas down to the Potomac River in the following years . Thompson sold his Capitol Hill properties in 1670, including Duddington Manor, to Thomas Notley; The Duddington property was handed down over the generations to Daniel Carroll, of Duddington . As European settlers arrived, they clashed with the Native Americans over grazing rights . In 1697, Maryland authorities built a fort within what is now the District of Columbia . In that same year, the Conoy relocated to the west, near what is now The Plains, Virginia, and in 1699 they moved again, to Conoy Island near Point of Rocks, Maryland . </P> <P> Georgetown was established in 1751 when the Maryland legislature purchased sixty acres of land for the town from George Gordon and George Beall at the price of £ 280, while Alexandria, Virginia was founded in 1749 . Situated on the fall line, Georgetown was the farthest point upstream to which oceangoing boats could navigate the Potomac River . The strong flow of the Potomac kept a navigable channel clear year - round; and, the daily tidal lift of the Chesapeake Bay, raised the Potomac's elevation in its lower reach; such that fully laden ocean - going ships could navigate easily, all the way to the Bay . Gordon had constructed a tobacco inspection house along the Potomac in approximately 1745 . Warehouses, wharves, and other buildings were added, and the settlement rapidly grew . The Old Stone House, located in Georgetown, was built in 1765 and is the oldest standing building in the District . It did not take long before Georgetown grew into a thriving port, facilitating trade and shipments of tobacco and other goods from colonial Maryland . With the economic and population growth of Georgetown came also the founding of Georgetown University in 1789, at its founding drawing students from as far away as the West Indies . </P> <P> The United States capital was originally located in Philadelphia, beginning with the First and Second Continental Congress, followed by the Congress of the Confederation upon gaining independence . In June 1783, a mob of angry soldiers converged upon Independence Hall to demand payment for their service during the American Revolutionary War . Congress requested that John Dickinson, the governor of Pennsylvania, call up the militia to defend Congress from attacks by the protesters . In what became known as the Pennsylvania Mutiny of 1783, Dickinson sympathized with the protesters and refused to remove them from Philadelphia . As a result, Congress was forced to flee to Princeton, New Jersey, on June 21, 1783 . Dickinson's failure to protect the institutions of the national government was discussed at the Philadelphia Convention in 1787 . The delegates therefore agreed in Article One, Section 8, of the United States Constitution to give the Congress the power: </P> <P> To exercise exclusive Legislation in all Cases whatsoever, over such District (not exceeding ten Miles square) as may, by Cession of Particular States, and the Acceptance of Congress, become the Seat of the Government of the United States, and to exercise like Authority over all Places purchased by the Consent of the Legislature of the State in which the Same shall be, for the Erection of Forts, Magazines, Arsenals, dock - Yards and other needful Buildings; </P>

Where did the us locate the first national government