William Thornton Re-examined by Bob Arnebeck

Table of Contents   Chapter Three (1777-1792): "give beauty & granduer to the pile" 26. A 1757 map of Maryland before the Plan "Eclat" became a choice word in the correspondence of the "Founders" shortly after the alliance with France in 1776. T he young Marquis de Lafayette who led the French expeditionary army personified eclat. For General Washington that French word meant more than style and brilliance. It also meant the thunder-striking solution to a problem. Founding a national capital was not as problematic as beating the British, and congress gave the president until 1800 to have the city ready. However, before the Revolution the General had led troops in the American theatre of the Seven Years War between Britain and France. He had never overseen planning and building a city or experienced the palaces and forums where heroes of old had made their mark. Having never been to Europe or Mexico City, which had a population around 100,000 in ...