AHC: District of Columbia in Staten Island

However possible, have the seat of Congress be Staten Island (owned by the Federal Government and donated by New York State), rather than on the Potomac. The area was sparsely populated at the time, but, like the eventual spot chosen, has port access and some settlement on the extreme ends of the island.

The only restriction is that have it be done before the Potomac spot is selected.
 
I have no idea why they ultimately chose the Potomac, but i do have a few nitpicks for Staten Island. It is ultimately way less defensible than the current location of DC, and way closer to Canada. I like the idea, but I'm not sure its possible considering the dangers.
 
I have no idea why they ultimately chose the Potomac, but i do have a few nitpicks for Staten Island. It is ultimately way less defensible than the current location of DC, and way closer to Canada. I like the idea, but I'm not sure its possible considering the dangers.

It was close to Washington's home and it was in the cultural south (geographically center), as a nod to the south in the compromise of 1790.
 
It was close to Washington's home and it was in the cultural south (geographically center), as a nod to the south in the compromise of 1790.

In fact, I personally think it was put there because the Potomac pretty much is THE dividing line between North and South going back even that far, in both cultural and geographic terms (Maryland had Baltimore's influence to make their identity vis-a-vis the rest of the East Coast less clear-cut than Virginia or the Carolinas).

It should be noted that the vote to put the Capital there only beat out the alternative during the formation of the Residence Act by one vote, and would still be astride the cultural Yankee-Dixie boundary more or less, so it's not as if the Potomac location is an inevitable outcome. Staten Island, however, I think requires a POD before the termination of the Revolutionary War: perhaps the site of a major American victory early on in the war instead of the Brits holding onto the largely Loyalist-at-the-time NYC?
 
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