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Originally Posted by iheartthed
Detroit was the capital of Michigan, and in an ideal world it still be the capital of Michigan.
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The reason Lansing was selected over Detroit was that in the War of 1812, Detroit was captured by the British as well as Detroit's influence in state politics over other jurisdictions at that time.
In other words, safety was the number one reason for moving the state capital further inland as Canada was still British territory and had not MI moved to Lansing, Detroit would've been a much different looking city. (
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lansing,_Michigan#History)
It would still be a manufacturing city, but with a capital, it would've had a much more educated workforce since we're talking about lobbyists, lawyers, and politicians plus would've Michigan State University or the University of Michigan been based in Detroit over Lansing? Whatever the school would've been called, more than likely, there would've been a major university based in Detroit, turning Detroit into a university town.
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Originally Posted by iheartthed
Annapolis is the capital of Maryland for historical reasons, much like the modern reasoning for D.C. remaining the capital of the United States. It's also barely a 20 minute drive from Baltimore. Chicago and Springfield were the same size when Illinois became a state. I don't think it was very obvious in the early history of Illinois that a large population settlement would sprout there.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Annapo..._(1649–1808)
Baltimore by your logic would've made a better capital but Annapolis was selected due to it's status as a temporary federal capital during which the Treaty of Paris was signed in 1783 while the State House was built in 1772-1797 (
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maryland_State_House)
As for IL, the reason that Springfield was selected over Chicago had very, very little to do with Chicago, (founded in 1780 as a settlement, incorporated as a town in 1833, and incorporated as a city in 1837) and a lot more to do with Abraham Lincoln, who would eventually become the nation's 16th president (
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spring...#Pre-Civil_War). The previous capitals at the time was Kaskaskia on the Mississippi River nearby St Louis, and Vandalia. I doubt Chicago would've made it as the capital of IL since it's too far north and Springfield was an ideal location for a state capital anyways.
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Originally Posted by iheartthed
Washington was not a natural major city. I understand why they made the decision, but it was flawed reasoning. Washington was close to the geographic and population center of the country when it was chosen, but that was obsolete within a couple of decades. If the decision of where to permanently locate the capital had been delayed by even a couple of decades there is probably zero chance that the current location would have been selected.
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You're right that DC wasn't a natural organic city like Boston, NYC, Philadelphia, and Baltimore, and even the southern cities of Richmond, Charleston, and Savannah, but it was chosen because it was closest to George Washington's homestead of Mount Vernon, as well as an appeasement to the more agricultural South, which heavily used slave labor at that time prior to the Civil War.
That's why the nickname for DC is "The Swamp" because DC was all swamp prior to it being built and it's the first city in the world, if I recall, that was built specifically for a national government and a planned city with a grid and diagonals running through it by Benjamin Banneker.
And around 1800, it made perfect sense to place the US capital in DC over other places since America at that time was composed of much of the eastern seaboard without FL (which was still Spanish territory), and OH, MI, and IL weren't states yet so Washington, DC was the perfect location for a federal capital at the time. (
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1800_U...ntial_election)
Quote:
Originally Posted by iheartthed
There would likely be no large settlement in the current site of Washington. Alexandria and Georgetown would probably be satellite cities of Baltimore.
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Remember that it was George Washington who founded DC, a Revolutionary War General and later on the first ever United States president who founded the site of DC, although Washington worked in Philadelphia as president, he selected the site (
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washin....C.#Foundation) and if you're willing to go back in time and go against Washington's wishes for a capital and tell Washington not to place the future capital on the north bank of the Potomac but in French territory nearby St. Louis, then that's your shot. Once again, by 1800, DC was the perfect site of America at the time, not St. Louis!!!