To what extent did the 1793 yellow fever outbreak in Philadelphia influence the process of relocating the capital to Washington DC in 1800?

Question

Yellow fever outbreaks were frequent in the southern US in the late C18th. The 1793 Philadelphia epidemic was one of the most severe outbreaks of infectious disease in US history, killing 10% of the residents of the city and causing 40% to flee (more information on that outbreak here).

Some time ago, I remember reading that this epidemic played a significant role in the decision to move the capital from Philadelphia to Washington DC. Looking into it in more detail (I'd like to use it as an example in a forthcoming lecture), it sounds like it would be more accurate to say that the capital was already due to move to Washington DC as a result of the Residence Act of 1790, but that the Philadelphians were lobbying to reverse that decision during the 1790s, and ultimately the YF epidemic was a factor in their failure to get a reversal reconsidered.

There are more details on the move from Philadelphia to DC in this article by the US National Constitution Centre. However, the only place YF is mentioned , it simply states "a yellow fever epidemic hit Philadelphia in 1793, raising doubts about the safety of the area". It doesn't say who had those doubts, how we know about them or what actual effect they had, if any, on decisions about the move.

It seems plausible that such a massive public health problem could influence decisions on this topic if there was still any plausible chance of reversal, although it is equally apparent that there were other significant factors in favour of a move to DC.

Did the 1793 YF epidemic or (more broadly) the history of YF epidemics in the region affect any appeals regarding the move, or is there any evidence that public support for the move to DC was strengthened on the basis of the threat from YF?

Answer 1

Not at all.

The decision to create a new capital at what we now know as Washington D.C. had been taken in 1790, three years before the yellow fever in Philadelphia. There were a couple reasons why the new republic wanted to move the capital from Philadelphia.

The first reason was that the republic wanted a capital closer to the center of the country on what was then a north-south axis (basically the 13 colonies). That meant further south.

The second reason was that they wanted a capital district (of Columbia) that was independent of any state. That ruled out existing cities. Instead, the founding fathers found a piece of land further south, on the border of Maryland and Virginia, that was considered "expendable" by the two states, on which to build a new capital from scratch.

The southerly move was a sop to the Southern states, who then agreed to allow the more heavily indebted northern states to transfer their Revolutionary War debts to the new Federal government. Given that such a deal had been "brokered" by Hamilton and Madison, it was a point of "no return" that did not allow for reconsideration of Philadelphia, the original capital.

It took until 1800 to actually build the capital, but that's a different story. The decision had been taken ten years earlier. A yellow fever epidemic in what was then three years in the future had nothing to do with the decision.