Chapter 10 Ghosts in the Capitol

Every country has a history of embarrassing itself, and America is no exception. When the United States was founded, it was a strange and embarrassing country.In terms of government structure, it is modern and advanced, and it is still functioning well after more than two hundred years.However, when it comes to the state of the country, it is primitive and backward, and there is a lot of evidence.When the country was founded, there were no trains, cars, lights, and telegraphs; although there was a law of freedom of the press, there was no journalism; it was not until the eighteenth president of the United States that he was lucky enough to make a phone call in the White House.

The United States and other countries cannot be compared together.In 1787, when the U.S. Constitution was made, the largest city at that time was Philadelphia, with a population of only 40,000.You must be wondering, what about New York?New York was smaller than Philadelphia at the time, with only 33,000 residents.Boston has only 18,000 people.These are the largest cities in the early days of the founding of the United States.As long as you make a comparison, you can know the "status" of the United States in the world.At that time, Paris had a population of 600,000 and London 950,000.According to research conducted by experts today, the population of Beijing at that time was approximately one million, and its area was said to be larger than that of London, which had just been expanded. It was the largest city in the world in the eighteenth century.At that time, China was in the reign of Qianlong, and the ancient civilization was in its "prosperous age".Therefore, Europeans at that time certainly looked down on the United States.

But after the founding of a country, there must always be a capital.The construction of the capital of the United States took a lot of trouble.Both Philadelphia and New York are vying to be the capital.They are small and small, and they are always one of the best "metropolises" in the United States.They also have their own reasons: Philadelphia was the birthplace of the Declaration of Independence in 1776 and the U.S. Constitution in 1787, while New York was the seat of the U.S. government after the founding of the country.Just when he was indecisive, a political crisis occurred in the first government. In 1790, Washington’s Secretary of the Treasury, Hamilton, wanted to reform. He was opposed by a group of politicians in Virginia, and they were deadlocked. They made a seemingly inappropriate deal: these politicians no longer opposed his financial reforms. However, the capital of the United States To be placed in Virginia at the time.This is the story of the American capital.

Although President Washington is a Virginian, with his usual style, he has a neutral attitude towards the affairs of the capital.Although the capital was finally set near his hometown, President Washington was the only president who did not work in the new capital, although later everyone named the capital after him. The city of Washington does not belong to the state of Virginia, but an independent district called Columbia. However, no one expected that it was precisely because the geographical location of the capital was chosen in the territory of Virginia at that time that the Americans were blinded. eternal shame.

Washington, the capital today, was still a wasteland at that time.Until 1800, ten years after the construction, there was such a record in the biography of President Adams, "There has not been a city here at all, it is better to say that this is a simple village. There are still large tree stumps in the city, harvested Stubble and swamps. No schools, not even churches".This is a special zone with a radius of ten miles carved out of the forest using primitive methods.There was a shortage of labor, so the person in charge of the capital construction project began to pay rent to the surrounding farmers to rent labor.Yes, I'm not mistaken, rented not hired.

Virginia is at the junction of the north and the south of the United States and is itself a slave-holding southern state.So unlike Philadelphia and New York, Virginia and Maryland near Washington are still slave states.So quite naturally, after the local farmers took the rent, it was their slaves who were sent to work.Slavery in the South is another evidence of the primitive backwardness of the United States at that time. The gap between the north and the south of the United States is very large. In 1800, President John Adams, who grew up in the north, came to Washington, the half-built capital. This was the first time he came to the "south".The reality of slave labor made him very unhappy. Mrs. Adams wrote in a letter, "In our place, two hard-working New Englanders can do the work of these twelve people (referring to slaves) in one day."Instead of blaming the slaves, she said that the slave owners left "these slaves starved and clothed...their master loitered around, though the property he could brag about was a slave," she said because there were slaves near the White House. While working, I feel very worried.

This is America's historical baggage.It is a federation of thirteen independent colonies, like the European Union that is in preparation today.When uniting, it is agreed that the states will basically retain their original sovereignty, and most of their own affairs will be managed by themselves, and the federation has no right to interfere.Therefore, no matter how uncomfortable the President of the Confederacy may seem to the slavery in the South, there is nothing he can do for a while. More than two hundred years ago, slave labor in the American South was a "normal" landscape.With their participation, the Capitol Hill was piled up on the sandstone, and the majestic Capitol was built.Eighty years later, slavery in the South was finally eradicated.Another hundred and forty years have passed, and today's Washington is already a modern metropolis.The Capitol building of that year is still standing there, and representatives of the people, including representatives of black people, come in and out there.A page of history has been turned, and the slave labor under the Capitol Hill has been completely forgotten by everyone.

A few years ago, some historical researchers were looking through documents at the U.S. Treasury Department, and suddenly found a document that the Treasury Department paid slaves "rent" to slave owners.The dusty history was reopened. After several years of research, it was confirmed that more than 400 slaves had participated in the construction of the U.S. Capitol.Americans today who want to be proud of their country naturally feel shame and embarrassment. But how do you deal with your embarrassing history?A country is not an abstract machine, it is made up of people, and people have weaknesses.People always want to show their good side, and cover up their embarrassing history intentionally or unintentionally.The same is true for countries. When some countries accuse others of forgetting history, they don't even think that they have the same problem.It is extremely difficult to face up to one's embarrassing history and transcend one's own human weakness.

On the last day of May this year, in Washington, the leaders of the two major parties in the US Congress announced a decision together.Congress should set up a special group to study this period of history, find out all the facts, and propose a way to commemorate the country's contribution to the construction of the Capitol by the slaves. It is often said that some souls who died unjustly would not want to leave the place where they lived.The halls of the U.S. Capitol may have been haunted by the ghosts of slaves for more than two hundred years.More than two hundred years have passed. After gradually building up their self-confidence, the American people have been cleaning up those embarrassing historical cases one after another.Only by clearing can there be an end.On the day when the monument is erected on Capitol Hill, the souls of the slaves more than 200 years ago can rest in peace, and the United States can thus unload a historical burden of its own.

Then, it is possible to really start a new journey.