On July 16, 1790, Congress passed the Residence Act, establishing a permanent capital for the United States along the Potomac River. President George Washington worked with French engineer Peter (Pierre) Charles L'Enfant to select the sites for federal buildings, including the White House and the United States Capitol.
In 1792, an encampment was built on this land for American, English, Scottish, and Irish wage laborers and craftsmen, along with barracks for enslaved African Americans who were hired out by their owners. These workers - free and enslaved, skilled and unskilled - labored alongside each other for the next eight years to build the White House.
During that time, hundreds of enslaved people were involved in nearly every aspect of construction including quarrying and transporting stone, cutting timber, producing bricks, and building the walls and roof. Throughout each phase of construction, enslaved and free African Americans worked as axe men, stone cutters, carpenters, brick makers, sawyers, and laborers. The use of enslaved labor to build the home of the President of the United States - often seen as a symbol of democracy - illuminates our country's conflicted relationship with the institution of slavery and the ideals of freedom and equality promised in America's founding documents.
The White House and President's Park
Source: U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service