<P> In his Federalist No. 43, published January 23, 1788, James Madison argued that the new federal government would need authority over a national capital to provide for its own maintenance and safety . Five years earlier, a band of unpaid soldiers besieged Congress while its members were meeting in Philadelphia . Known as the Pennsylvania Mutiny of 1783, the event emphasized the need for the national government not to rely on any state for its own security . </P> <P> Article One, Section Eight, of the Constitution permits the establishment of a "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". However, the Constitution does not specify a location for the capital . In what is now known as the Compromise of 1790, Madison, Alexander Hamilton, and Thomas Jefferson came to an agreement that the federal government would pay each state's remaining Revolutionary War debts in exchange for establishing the new national capital in the southern United States . </P> <P> On July 9, 1790, Congress passed the Residence Act, which approved the creation of a national capital on the Potomac River . The exact location was to be selected by President George Washington, who signed the bill into law on July 16 . Formed from land donated by the states of Maryland and Virginia, the initial shape of the federal district was a square measuring 10 miles (16 km) on each side, totaling 100 square miles (259 km). </P> <P> Two pre-existing settlements were included in the territory: the port of Georgetown, Maryland, founded in 1751, and the city of Alexandria, Virginia, founded in 1749 . During 1791--92, Andrew Ellicott and several assistants, including a free African American astronomer named Benjamin Banneker, surveyed the borders of the federal district and placed boundary stones at every mile point . Many of the stones are still standing . </P>

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