Until an official site for the capital of the United States of America was chosen, New York and Philadelphia were the temporary capitals of this new, young and growing country. The land chosen was, between Maryland and Virginia, on the eastern bank of the Potomac River. It was located in the newly created District of Columbia, after Christopher Columbus. This area was not a state, however. It was a district set to carry on business for the government. There was a fight for whether the northern states get the capital or the southern states. The nothern states didn't want the capital located in the southern slavery-states. The southern states did not want the capital to be located in the northern, either. The Congress voted that the capital should be away from complaining citizens. The Congress had, previously, been threatened by former Continental Army soldiers who had demanded their unpaid salaries. the Secretary of the Treasury, Alexander Hamilton and Secretary of State, Thomas Jefferson urged Congress to place the nation's capital in a distant area far from crowded-cities. But it was not to be to far north, nor too far south. President George Washington chose the ten-square-mile loaction for the District of Columbia. A new city would be named Washington after George Washington himself. Wasington knew this area, since his home, Mount Vernon, was only eighteen miles down the river. Washington had helped plan the city of Alexandria, which would be surrounded by the southern edge of the new city. A French aristocrat, engineer, and architect major, Pierre Charles L'Enfant was chosen to design the streets, parks, and buildings of the new capital, by President Washington. The Americans wanted the President's "Palace" to be referred as a "House." this was because they had just won their independence and did not want to be reminded of the British royalty. But L'Enfant had persuaded himself that the president needed to have a palace suited for a emperor. He assured that he was doing the best and would not let ayone meddle with his designs. Even the President Washington found him to be difficult. The President had the thought the house to be large, magnificent, and business-like, not at all like the vast, ornate, royal palace that L'Enfant had in mind. Thomas Jefferson who saw himself as the better one to design buildngs for the Federal City, also thought Enfant's plans and designes to be disapproving.