The United States first capitals were in New York and then Philadelphia, both are very special. The federal government set themselves up in a state under the Constitution, so they decided on New York and then Philadelphia. American leaders had previously met in lots of east coast cities, so they thought they needed to have a main location to meet up.According to Source One, “President George Washington selected the city’s actual site- farmland next to Georgetown, Maryland. Ships stopped there because they could not sail farther up the river” (Pamela Scott). L’Enfant named two avenues after the New York and Philadelphia locations. The names were “New York Avenue” and “Philadelphia Avenue” after where George Washington first served as president. Washington D.C. may be special, but Nebraska could be more beneficial.
It could be a great idea to set up the capital in Nebraska. Nebraska is the center of the country and it would be easier for government officials to travel somewhere in the middle rather than flying across the country for some people. Moving the capital to Nebraska would also benefit lots of other areas outside of Nebraska. The second source states “If the U.S. spent an equivalent amount we’d be investing $1.3 trillion in our new Washington. That’s about 50 percent more than the federal government spent in the 2009 stimulus, and could benefit areas far beyond Nebraska” (Philip Bump). If the capital was moved to Nebraska, we would be given an opportunity to build the best city possible for our capital. The U.S. could be able to add solar power and be able to show off modern aesthetics because we could have some of the world’s best architects. Nebraska could be beneficial, but there are lots of other cities that we haven’t explored that could be a great opportunity.
A different city in the United States could be way better and have a lot more to offer than D.C. or Nebraska. There have been many arguments throughout the 1800’s about where the capital should be located, and they were very strong after the White House was burned. In the third source it says “One argument is for a more central and easily accessible location. D.C. is on the east coast , making it far closer to one half of the country to another” (Chloe Thompson). When choosing the location of the capital, there are a lot of things that have to be taken into consideration, like the size, economic health and the population. The location has to be a large size to have a large population, and a large population will mean more taxes and the economic health would be good for the government. Other countries have their capital in their most popular city and our government represents the people, so we should have our capital in one of our most populous cities. There are many cities that could be beneficial for the U.S. capital that should be explored.
can you summarize