The George Washington College
However, town had poor housing circumstances and strained public works. The district was the first city within the nation to undergo urban renewal initiatives as a half of the "City Beautiful motion" in the early 1900s. The outbreak of the American Civil War in 1861 led to the growth of the federal authorities and notable development within the district's population, including a large inflow of freed slaves. President Abraham Lincoln signed the Compensated Emancipation Act in 1862, which ended slavery in the district of Columbia and freed about three,100 enslaved persons, nine months prior to the Emancipation Proclamation. In 1868, Congress granted the district's African American male residents the best to vote in municipal elections. In the 1830s, the district's southern territory of Alexandria went into financial decline partly because of neglect by Congress. Cityscape Directly south of the mall, the Tidal Basin features rows of Japanese cherry trees. The F...