George Washington's Washington: Visions for the National Capital in the Early American Republic by Adam Costanzo, and: The Men of Mobtown: Policing Baltimore in the Age of Slavery and Emancipation by Adam Malka

Abstract

Reviewed by: George Washington's Washington: Visions for the National Capital in the Early American Republic by Adam Costanzo, and: The Men of Mobtown: Policing Baltimore in the Age of Slavery and Emancipation by Adam Malka Andrew Diemer (bio) Keywords George Washington, Washington DC, Baltimore, District of Columbia, Peter Charles L'Enfant, policing, emancipation George Washington's Washington: Visions for the National Capital in the Early American Republic. By Adam Costanzo. (Athens: University of Georgia Press, 2018. Pp. 264. Cloth, $74.95; Paper, $29.95.) The Men of Mobtown: Policing Baltimore in the Age of Slavery and Emancipation. By Adam Malka. (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2018. Pp. 352. Cloth, $39.95.) Despite a number of important and influential works published in the last few years, the border south cities of Baltimore and Washington have received far less scholarly attention than their northern counterparts. In these two compelling books, George Washington's Washington and The Men of Mobtown, Adam Costanzo and Adam Malka help to remedy this deficiency. These are two very different books that nevertheless both [End Page 140] explore complex struggles for power on the streets of burgeoning border cities in the early republic. Costanzo's study of Washington begins, appropriately, with General Washington himself, surveying the land that he had chosen as the location for the new permanent capital of the United States. This decision is fitting as Costanzo uses national politics as a framework for the book. As he notes, the federal government had exclusive jurisdiction over the District of Columbia, making it "a laboratory for the ideological experiments of politicians and federal officials" (4). At the same time, these ideological visions were complicated by the sometimes competing visions of residents of the District who also exerted a significant influence over the development of the city. Washington envisioned the city that would come to bear his name as a metropolis that would "convey the authority of a powerful and dynamic American empire" (12). He enlisted a French-born engineer and architect, Peter Charles L'Enfant (only later to be known as Pierre), to translate that vision into reality. The wide avenues of the city continue to pay tribute to L'Enfant's commitment to the symbolic power of the capital, but he and Washington were convinced that the nation's capital also needed to thrive as a place of commerce, making sure that the wide avenues and stately public buildings were accompanied by canals to promote the city's economic development. As Costanzo shows, sometimes these national visions complemented local ambitions; at other times they conflicted. L'Enfant's inability to compromise with local leaders led to his departure from the project. Washington's grand ambitions were also thwarted by a chronic lack of funds. This lack of funds was exacerbated by the ascension to power of Jefferson and the Democratic-Republicans. Deeply skeptical of the Federalist vision of a grand national capital, Jefferson sought to limit the growth of the city, especially the sort of commercial growth that Washington and L'Enfant had envisioned. Here the president found himself at odds with residents and local leaders who remained committed to the Washingtonian vision of a commercial city. Some of these local leaders took matters into their own hands, promoting improvements of their own, but without the aid of the federal government they were constrained in what they could accomplish. This is not to say that Jefferson had no interest in the development and symbolic importance of the capital. As Costanzo shows, as president Jefferson remained involved in the construction of major building projects, including the capitol; he [End Page 141] remained committed to the power of neo-classical architecture in expressing the spirit of the new American republic. Those Washingtonians who continued to support Washington's vision of a grand national capital soon faced two challenges. The first came in the form of the British invasion of the city during the War of 1812, which led to a serious debate about moving the capital once again. After Washington boosters beat back this threat, they then had to face a Jackson administration, which seemed ideologically committed to Jefferson's vision of a more modest...