I listen to the Black Taihutip's podcast because rather than Karen, I'll...

New Yorkers bid farewell to their president and to their claim on the nation's capital.

Following the American Revolution, the location of the seat of government was a point of great debate.

With 30 or more cities competing for the right to house the new center of power,

New Yorkers of Philadelphia argued the side of the nation's capital should be alone at Eastern Seaboard,

with its quick and easy access to business transactions.

Philadelphia's were shocked when the Congress abandoned the Pennsylvania State House,

later called the Independence Hall, and took up residence in New York.

In 1788, New York became the official meeting place for the first Congress under the Constitution.

Yet behind closed doors, some members of Congress were holding quiet conversations and private

dinners, where they developed plans to create a federal city that was separate and apart from any

other city or state government. Southerners like James Madison led the charge,

in which would become a decade-long drama around the location of the new seat of power.

Regigions, in particular, George Washington, were insistent that the permanent location

of the nation's capital reside within a southern orbit. The federal city would be splendid,

and the hands of slaves would build it. The new federal government rented hundreds of slaves to clear

the land, making way for pay, streets, and thoroughfares. These same slaves would bake the bricks

and saw the lumber needed to erect buildings on what had been a desolate swamp. Black men and women's

unpaid labor would lay the foundation for what would become the seat of America's power.

Hey, welcome to the Black Outtills podcast. I'm your host, Rod. Join us always on my co-host,

Karen. We are live on a Saturday ready to do some feedback. It's about 6 p.m. Eastern time

in Charlotte, North Carolina. If you're on crowdcast.io and you're following us,

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