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About Where Is The White
Product Description The history of the White House, first completed in 1799, reflects the history of America itself. It was the dream of George Washington to have an elegant "presidential mansion" in the capital city that was named after him. Yet he is the only president who never got to live there. All the rest have made their mark--for better or worse--on the house at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. Megan Stine explains how the White House came to be and offers young readers intriguing glimpses into the lives of the First Families--from John and Abigail Adams to Barack and Michelle Obama. About the Author Megan Stine has written several biographies for young readers, including Who Was Marie Curie?, Who Was Ulysses S. Grant?, Who Is Michelle Obama?, and Who Was Sally Ride? Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved. Where Is the White House? On a fall day in 1792, President George Washington stood in a muddy pit on a barren rise of land. Rolling hills nearby were surrounded by woods. Cows and pigs grazed in the distance. No one lived anywhere near this beautiful wilderness overlooking the Potomac River. Washington picked up a hammer and drove a stake into the ground. Then he drove another. And another. Those stakes told the workmen exactly where to put the corners and walls of a new house. George Washington was the first president of the United States. But he was also a surveyor—a person who measures land. A whole new city was going to be built! It would be the capital city for the new country of the United States of America. The house at the center of it would be the new President’s House. It would take eight years, many laborers, and tons of stone before the house was complete. George Washington never even got to live there. But eventually, the White House stood exactly where the first president said it should go, and the new capital city was named for him—the city of Washington. Chapter 1: Building a Capital City It was 1783. The Revolutionary War was over. The colonists had fought against the British for eight long years to gain their freedom. Finally, the colonists had won! A new country was born—the United States of America. Now it was time to go about the business of creating a government. Like any other country, America would need a capital city. The city would need to have buildings for the government to work in. And it would need an important house for the president to live in. Where should that capital city be? At that time, some people thought the capital should be in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. After all, that’s where the first Congress met. It’s also where the Founding Fathers signed the Declaration of Independence. But one day something scary happened. A mob of angry men stormed up to the building where Congress was meeting. Congress asked Pennsylvania to protect them from the mob. The governor of Pennsylvania refused to help. He thought the angry men were in the right! That made the men in Congress think twice about where the capital should be. They decided it should not be in any of the thirteen states. It should be separate, on a special piece of land. Then the US government could have soldiers to protect and defend the capital city, without ever asking any state for help. In 1790, Congress decided that the new capital city would be built along the Potomac River. The spot they chose was part of Maryland and Virginia. Congress picked the spot to please the southern states. In exchange for having the capital in the south, the southern states agreed that the whole country should pay some debts from the war for the northern states. Now everyone was happy. Both Maryland and Virginia agreed to give up the land for the new city. President George Washington hired a French architect named Pierre L’Enfant to design the city. L’Enfant had big ideas. He designed the entire city of Washington, DC, on a grand scale. The main avenues in the new capital would be wide
