1800 John Adams - New US Capitol bulding

In 1790, in exchange for support of Hamilton's plan to assume the states debts, an agreement was made to move the capital from Philadelphia to it's current location on the banks of the Potomac River. By 1800, the new United States Capitol building was completed, and John Adams was the first president to preside over congress in Washington D.C. On November 17th, 1800 the first session of both houses of the United States Congress was held in the new Capitol.

In President Adams final address to congress, he first asked for God's blessings and then congratulated them on it's completion and wished upon them what we could only dream of today. Virtue and happiness.

"I congratulate the people of the United States on the assembling of Congress at the permanent seat of their Government, and I congratulate you, gentlemen, on the prospect of a residence not to be changed. Although there is cause to apprehend that accommodations are not now so complete as might be wished, yet there is great reason to believe that this inconvenience will cease with the present session.

It would be unbecoming the representatives of this nation to assemble for the first time in this solemn temple without looking up to the Supreme Ruler of the Universe and imploring His blessing.

May this territory be the residence of virtue and happiness! In this city may that piety and virtue, that wisdom and magnanimity, that constancy and self-government, which adorned the great character whose name it bears be forever held in veneration! Here and throughout our country may simple manners, pure morals, and true religion flourish forever!

It is with you, gentlemen, to consider whether the local powers over the District of Columbia vested by the Constitution in the Congress of the United States shall be immediately exercised. If in your opinion this important trust ought now to be executed, you can not fail while performing it to take into view the future probable situation of the territory for the happiness of which you are about to provide. You will consider it as the capital of a great nation advancing with unexampled rapidity in arts, in commerce, in wealth, and in population, and possessing within itself those energies and resources which, if not thrown away or lamentably misdirected, will secure to it a long course of prosperity and self-government. "

Just one year earlier,  as part of his 1799 annual address, Adams delivered a report to Congress that everything was on schedule and the Seat of the Government according to the Residence Act of 1790 would be transferred from Philadelphia to Washington D.C. on the first Monday in December of 1800.  

"The act of Congress relative to the seat of the Government of the United States requiring that on the 1st Monday of December next it should be transferred from Philadelphia to the District chosen for its permanent seat, it is proper for me to inform you that the commissioners appointed to provide suitable buildings for the accommodation of Congress and of the President and of the public offices of the Government have made a report of the state of the buildings designed for those purposes in the city of Washington, from which they conclude that the removal of the seat of Government to that place at the time required will be practicable and the accommodation satisfactory. "
http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=29442

http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=29441
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Capitol
http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/capital.htm
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/64/Capitol_1840_samuel_walker.jpg

Today

215 years later, and our current President is repeating John Adam's wish, but only if we could imagine ...

"Imagine if we broke out of these tired old patterns. Imagine if we did something different. Understand, a better politics isn’t one where Democrats abandon their agenda or Republicans simply embrace mine. A better politics is one where we appeal to each other’s basic decency instead of our basest fears. A better politics is one where we debate without demonizing each other; where we talk issues and values, and principles and facts, rather than “gotcha” moments, or trivial gaffes, or fake controversies that have nothing to do with people’s daily lives."

Barack Obama 2015