The writer who undertakes to tell the story of Washington confronts a task the like of which is presented by none of its sister cities. The federal capital during its first hundred years of existence has been — and is today — the political center of the republic, the birthplace of parties and legislation, the training-ground and forum of one generation after another of public men. Indeed, from its founding until the present time it has been the brain and heart of the nation. This fact has been kept constantly in mind in the writing of the present work, and, while sketching the rise of Washington from a wilderness hamlet to one of the most beautiful capitals in the world, the author has also attempted adequately to portray the political growth and development of the republic. Washington, Jackson, and Lincoln, Webster, Clay, and Calhoun, Seward, Chase, and Sumner are an inseparable and vital part of the history of the capital which they endeared to their countrymen and have in the following pages the place that by right belongs to them. Liberal use, at the same time, has been made of anecdote, in the hopeful belief that our great men can be thus brought closer to a later generation than is possible in any other way. No pains have been spared to assure accuracy of detail; though in a work intended primarily for popular reading it has not been thought necessary to quote authorities which are within the reach of every student. Years of preparation and many months of exacting labor have helped to the making of a book which it is hoped will awaken in its readers a new interest and a new pride in the history of their capital and common country.
