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CAPITAL OF THE NEW AMERICA The foundation of the federal capital of the United States, to be built on a confluence of the Anacostia and the Potomac between the existing settlements of Georgetown, Hamburg and Carrollsburg, was ratified in July of 1790 with the Residence Act, the result of brilliant diplomatic negotiations conducted by Jefferson, then State Secretary, between the states of the North and the South.On the one hand, he loved the beauty of nature, which led him to design houses opened up as far as possible toward the outside, with windows down to the floor and octagonal projections generating "semicircles of air and light."22 On the other hand, he thought of land as the load-bearing axis of democracy, based on the key concept of the fair division of the territories between all Americans. He dreamed of a nation of farms worked by people living in harmony with nature and their fellow men.23 These agrarian ideals were obviously utopian, given the reality of the northern states, with their large urban concentrations mainly involved in industry and commerce, whereas the great plantations of the South were worked by masses of slaves completely deprived of the rights described as self-evident truths in the Declaration of Independence. Moreover, although Jefferson deplored slavery, he was a landowner whose own economic well-being was based on the exploitation of slaves.24 These were the ambiguities of the nascent nation, which still had to perfect its foundations, but trusted in progress and confidently left its problems to be solved by the future generations.25 To meet the new challenges of the future, the young Americans had to be trained, however, and that is why Jefferson believed that the universal diffusion of knowledge was the only "sure foundation.These two buildings were not to be joined by a plaza or boulevard, as was usually the case in large European cities at the time, but by a public walk along the Tyber, a small tributary of the Potomac.Thanks to Jefferson, the landscape is a powerful presence in the urban space, and nature becomes an integral part of the architectural design.21 Jefferson's predilection for natural landscapes was based on both aesthetic and moral values. 6, 8)...

CAPITAL OF THE NEW AMERICA
The foundation of the federal capital of the United States, to be built on a confluence of the Anacostia and the Potomac between the existing settlements of Georgetown, Hamburg and Carrollsburg, was ratified in July of 1790 with the Residence Act, the result of brilliant diplomatic negotiations
conducted by Jefferson, then State Secretary, between the states of the North and the South. Just over a month later, he drafted a report concerning a project for the Carrollsburg site, in which he envisaged the city organized in a rectangular grid. He also specified the number of lots required for the public buildings and for a long pedestrian walk.16 Although he suggested a minimum
width for the roads, he advised against creating uniform distances between the buildings, since this would have produced the kind of “disgusting monotony” that many had criticized on the subject of Philadelphia. For Washington, he deemed that variety was a more appropriate aesthetic value.17 Some time later Jefferson adopted the same guidelines for a much more detailed project
(fig. 7), sited slightly further north in the town
of Hamburg, which was redesigned according
to an orthogonal grid eleven blocks long and three blocks wide.18 The urban area was rather small, but the plan envisaged the possibility of infinitely extending the grid. In fact, a series of dots indicates the intersections in a less well- defined mesh, accompanied by the words “to be laid off in future.” The southern portion of the new city was to be used as a public area with the President’s House and the Capitol at the two ends. These two buildings were not to be joined by a plaza or boulevard, as was usually the case in large European cities at the time, but by a public walk along the Tyber, a small tributary of the Potomac. Jefferson’s plan was supplied as a reference
model to Charles Pierre l’Enfant, the architect commissioned to design the new capital. L’Enfant considerably extended the plan so as to include all three sites previously considered as alternatives, and overlaid a system of exceptionally wide diagonal and radial avenues on the orthogonal grid.19 The new capital was thus actually oversized for the requirements of the young nation, which was struggling to grow and increase its population, and for several decades Washington was a city with houseless streets.20 What survived of Jefferson’s plan in the city designed by L’Enfant, and in the city today, is the position of the President’s House and the Capitol, linked by the green walkway, now the National Mall, which ends at a point overlooking the river (figs. 6, 8). Thanks to Jefferson, the landscape is a powerful presence in the urban space, and nature becomes an integral part of the architectural design.21 Jefferson’s predilection for natural landscapes
was based on both aesthetic and moral values.
On the one hand, he loved the beauty of nature, which led him to design houses opened up as far as possible toward the outside, with windows down to the floor and octagonal projections generating “semicircles of air and light.”22 On the other hand, he thought of land as the load-bearing axis of democracy, based on the key concept of the fair division of the territories between all Americans. He dreamed of a nation of farms worked by people living in harmony with nature and their fellow men.23 These agrarian ideals were obviously utopian, given the reality of the northern states, with their large urban concentrations mainly involved in industry and commerce, whereas
the great plantations of the South were worked
by masses of slaves completely deprived of the rights described as self-evident truths in the Declaration of Independence. Moreover, although Jefferson deplored slavery, he was a landowner whose own economic well-being was based
on the exploitation of slaves.24 These were the ambiguities of the nascent nation, which still had to perfect its foundations, but trusted in progress and confidently left its problems to be solved
by the future generations.25 To meet the new challenges of the future, the young Americans had to be trained, however, and that is why Jefferson believed that the universal diffusion of knowledge was the only “sure foundation. . . for the preservation of freedom, and happiness.”26 He felt this task was increasingly urgent and, after retiring from public life, he resolutely devoted all his energies to education.