I had never really thought about cities – how they come into being, why, what is represented by them. Except for an excursion into the origins of Sydney, Australia, urban life & habitation hasn’t been on my radar.
…and I definitely never invested any thought into the origins of Washington, DC…
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From the perspective of 21st century America, we know that those thirteen colonies were destined to prevail in the Revolutionary battle for independence. It is easy to make the assumption that somehow, they also knew that. I had unconsciously carried that kind of thinking in my mind, and so did some of my early-days blogging companions. It may not be a natural response today, to sense the risk, the uncertainty & probably immobilizing fear that would have waged its own war against the thrilling expectations, the glorious hope of & faith in ultimate victory. Especially as the years of war dragged on…
Similarly, from my 21st century America viewpoint, I always just assumed that Washington, DC, as the final capital city of the United States of America, had been a done deal. A slam dunk. Everyone wanted that, and the city/district was created, along with the Capitol building & White House, without a hitch.
Washington DC , 1800 – US Capitol
(Have I ever met people? In what universe was I living?)
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“Washington, DC remained a slatternly miserable village throughout much of the nineteenth century, hardly endurable…” according to Stanley Elkins & Eric McKitrick, authors of The Age of Federalism: The Early American Republic, 1788-1800.
That was an unexpected revelation!
Fast-forwarding to today, and considering the hostile, accusative & bitter environment so often seen in Washington, DC as the seat of our government, I have to wonder: has an element of its former tarnish, its spoiled & soiled soul, remained? Threading its way through the years, its people & its activities?
If so, why?
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Elkins & McKitrick posit that cities are not created – rather, they ‘germinate’ and then grow. Beneficial growth requires planning & supervision, based on ‘clearly recognized needs’. And not needs only, but the values resident in what/who may already exist in the area.
Commerce also – even & perhaps especially an element as simple as the local market – had proven, through its presence & activity in the towns & cities of medieval Europe, crucial to urban expansion & success. Burgeoning commerce and its attendant developments & accommodations gave rise to a ‘culture strikingly distinct from that of the peasant countryside’. (John Mundy & Peter Reisenberg, The Medieval Town) Distinct from the peasant countryside also, would be the medieval universities that chose cities instead as their habitation.
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The complex social existence that developed in these places forged ties & loyalties whose strengths depended on a healthy corporate functioning; citizens knew there were advantages to be had, benefits & security found only in their belonging to a civic body.
The idea is presented in The Age of Federalism that the men who attempted the planning of Washington, DC had no concept of these actualities. They were men who “had no feeling for cities at all, little sense of what a city was, and little experience of what urban life meant.”
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…well…I’m just laying some of the backstory. The explanations for the fiasco of raising up Washington, DC are more complicated than I’m presenting here today.
A long & bloody war had not that recently been concluded. An entire new nation was being formed & nurtured, and “…there was little room in the American imagination for the idea of a metropolis…” Healing, survival & prosperity don’t happen overnight. Mix all that up with the passions & oft-misguided desires of men and you can see how it might be difficult to…well, see clearly or have had the needed background to know how to plan & build the nation’s official Federal city.
Additionally, the American experience with the metropolis/city was London – I will take the liberty of calling it the colonists’ ‘nemesis city’, corrupt and “where all the schemes for abridging colonial liberties had been hatched.” A Founding decision was made not to allow any such presence in America. But inherent in that decision was also the denial of a place where political authority, commerce & money, and art & intellect could converge. The American people did not have a clear model for their capital city. Looking to a capital where the avenues of civic, social & economic activities could interact, citizens might have had more of a sense of national character & culture within which they could engage.
But, as Elkins & McKitrick state “the anti-urban, anti-metropolitan component of the Revolutionary mentality” proved most persistent.
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…but I’m wondering if there were other forces at play that hindered the desired success of this venture, and whose dark poisons linger still.
If so, what can be done about it?
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I think it’s interesting that the land on which the District of Columbia was raised up, was originally partly marshland. (Some say entirely ‘swamp’…but a little investigation disproves that.) I think it’s interesting because marshy areas bring to my mind Genesis 1:2, “and the earth was without form, and void…”. I wonder, just as God brought forth from that formlessness, that which He finally declared “very good” (v.31), were His intentions for the capital city of the United States of America the same? And just as the serpent slinked his way into the perfect scenario of Paradise, destroying its beauty by poisoning its very existence with his corrupted motives…did that happen to & during the creation of our early capital city?
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One of my theories, based on these readings, is that a city is where the nature of a thing/place comes to a focal point, and is manifested. Elkins & McKitrick conclude that the focal points of Washington, DC were the edifices & monuments that are the visible symbols of majesty and authority, and that the city was primarily designed for the “requirements and convenience of the nobility.”
Pennsylvania Ave – Washington DC 19th.Century
In fact, in designer Pierre L’Enfant’s original plans, references to “grand avenues”, “grand edifices” and “grand fountains” are frequently made, with not much mention of provision for everyday life & commerce. (Lewis Mumford, The Culture of Cities) The first few decades of the 19th century produced “a total absence of all sights, sounds or smells of commerce” (James S. Young, Washington Community).
The impression is given that the very elements which forced the founding fathers & colonists to severely break from their mother country – monarchical majesty? – were once again taking root?
Was DC launched with wrong motive?
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Jesus told us that when we ask and don’t receive our request, it is because we asked with wrong motive.
At least in more recent history, we hear so much about the fat cats in Washington, the wealthy **global elite running the show (or trying to) for their own selfish purposes and perhaps – in the extreme – unholy agendas, while the bread & butter, the muscle & heart of this great country – the people – are often disregarded, used & hoodwinked, if possible. Does it appear that bad seeds – if I may mix metaphors – came home to roost?
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It would not seem that God is against cities, or at least the idea of a city, as Scripture speaks of Abraham looking for a city whose builder & maker is God (Hebrews 11:10), and “the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem” in chapter 12, v.22. While the term ‘city’ used in each of these verses may be a spiritual metaphor, nonetheless the actual definition does read ‘a town (properly with walls)’ in the Greek dictionary of Strong’s Concordance.
So I guess the problem might be with the nature of the substance of a city, and accordingly, what kind of fruit is produced?
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While reading my source material for this article, the thought of Jericho, the Biblical ‘cursed city’ came to mind. I remembered something I’d read in an old Bible study manual, regarding that curse on Jericho (Joshua 6:17), and on the one who would rebuild it (v.26) (after Joshua invaded & destroyed it). On the face of it, one gets the impression of doom…but this particular Bible preacher had pointed out a completely opposite result.
I could not locate my old Bible study manual, so I did some online research. I did find the same type of outcome stated in this online study of Jericho.
(I am not in 100% agreement with some other conclusions drawn in this study – for instance, I myself don’t know anywhere Scripture indicates that believers reclaim this Earth in battle…I am omitting that part…otherwise, the gist of the conclusion made here does seem accurate to me.) I am posting some final parts of the study:
“In the Battle of Jericho we see that after Jericho is purged with fire, Joshua son of Nun sets the cost {places the curse} of rebuilding the Kingdom at the expense of the owners “firstborn son” and “youngest son”. We know from the Bible that the cost of redeeming this planet back to YHVH and the Remnant back to YHVH came at the expense of YHVH’s firstborn son {Jesus}. And it is with the purchased lives of the eldest to the youngest of the sons of God {believers in Christ}that this Earth will be governed, rebuilt, re-established, after the Earth is purged by fire and everything in it destroyed.”
**“…Today as we witness the Global Elite make their move to control this planet, we see them destroying the Earth. They are poisoning our atmosphere with chemicals, poisoning our water supplies, playing with our weather, and they are playing with the genetics to attempt to achieve eternal life (trans-humanism). In the end, they will neither govern this Earth nor will they achieve Eternal Life…” (Summary)
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…my intention in including the Jericho example/study is as more of an overview than showing many & specific details. I have not read the entire study. But it does seem like Jericho may represent an ultimately redeemed city/state/earth. If such is true, why cannot Washington DC know redemption as well?
Are you a citizen of the United States of America? Do you know Jesus? Then BE BOLD FOR YOUR COUNTRY in His Name! TODAY pray through history & declare the redemption of Washington DC to righteousness.
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