on the Virginia side of the Potomac was used as an argument for the retrocession of this area in mid-19th Century.

The compromise which had resulted in the selection of the Potomac as the site of the Federal District included an agreement that the seat of the Government should be in Philadelphia for a period of ten years. Accordingly, it was not until 1800 that the Congress and Government offices were moved to the City of Washington in the District of Columbia.

Almost from the beginning there was dissatisfaction among the inhabitants of Alexandria County at being part of the District of Columbia. This sentiment crystallized in 1846 when the General Assembly adopted an Act[28] expressing the willingness of Virginia to accept the territory should the Congress re-cede it. A petition was presented to the Congress by the residents requesting that this be done. The petition was referred to the Committee on the District which reported:

Accordingly, a bill was introduced to turn back to Virginia the area ceded by it in 1789. After considerable debate as to its constitutionality, the bill was enacted on July 9, 1846. It stipulated that the retrocession should be contingent upon a referendum among the people of the area in question. The referendum was held[30] and the vote was 763 for and 222 against retrocession.

On September 7, 1846, President Polk announced the results of the referendum and called "upon all and singular the persons whom it doth or may concern to take notice that the act aforesaid [of July 9, 1846] 'is in full force and effect.'"[31] It was not until the next year, however, that Virginia got around to extending its jurisdiction over the "county of Alexandria." On March 13, 1847, "An Act to extend the jurisdiction of the Commonwealth of Virginia over the county of Alexandria" was passed. It stated:

The Act provided that after March 20, 1847, the laws of Virginia were to be in force in this territory, and went on:

Tentative efforts have been made from time to time to re- annex this area to the District of Columbia. It was on one such occasion, in 1865, that a "Remonstrance of the Mayor and Citizens of Alexandria against the Bill to annex the city and county of Alexandria to the District of Columbia" concluded that "Annexation to the District at this time is repugnant to the feelings and wishes and would be ruinous to the interests of the people of Alexandria."

Arlington's Boundary with the City of Alexandria

Until 1870, Alexandria, first as a Town and, after 1852 as a City, was geographically part of the County of Alexandria. However, its boundaries must be considered from the beginning because all Acts extending the area of the Town were made in reference to the pre-existing limits. It is impossible to comprehend the effect of any given change without tracing the boundaries back to—or forward from—the beginning. (Map III.)

MAP III
Boundaries of the Town and City of Alexandria 1749 to 1915

Drafted by W.B. Allison and B. Sims

In 1748, a charter was issued to a group of trustees to establish a Town

The land was surveyed and lots sold by auction in July 1749. A map with a notation of the purchasers was made by George Washington,[34] at that time a boy of seventeen. On the north, the lots lay along the north side of Oronoco Street, one block below Water Street (later Lee; at that time it was interrupted between Queen and King Streets by the shore line of the River), and on the south, lots were laid off on the south side of Duke Street. The Potomac with its bend between Oronoco and the south side of Prince Street, formed the eastern boundary, while the western was a line of lots on the west side of Royal Street. There were 84 lots in all, four to a block for the most part except for the northwest portion where a stream, rising on Pitt Street between Cameron and Queen, drained into the Potomac north of Oronoco Street. This is the "first branch above the warehouse" referred to in the charter.

The first increment came in 1762 when the General Assembly passed "An Act for enlarging the town of Alexandria in the county of Fairfax."[35] On the ground that all of the lots included within the bounds of the town had been built on except for some lying in low wet marsh, this Act included in Alexandria the