North America

There’s something undemocratic at the heart of US democracy. The very ground that the US Capitol building, the Whitehouse, the US Supreme court, the Lincoln and Washington monuments, and all the famous buildings synonymous with US democracy all sit in a city without a voice. The people of Washington DC may be surrounded by the infrastructure of US democracy, but the very proximity to political power means the residents of D.C do not enjoy the same representation as every other American citizen.  In order to make sense of this, we need to head all the way back to the founding of the US itself. In this article we will look at the foundation of this great city, the strategic reasons for its location, its intricate relationship with politics and more specifically, the reasons behind the lack of representation in the US congress.  The Birth of a National Capital Washington DC is not an old city, even by American standards. Many of the cities that we know and love were founded and thriving long before the establishment of Washington DC. Cities such as Albany and Jersey City had been settled for well over 100 years by the time they broke ground in Washington DC. Philadelphia, which served as the fledgling nation’s capital city on and off throughout the latter part of the 1700s, was the largest city of the 13 colonies with close to 40,000 people. Philadelphia, along with other cities such as Boston and New Amsterdam (soon to be renamed to its more familiar New York) were instrumental in the formation of the US constitution and the first continental congresses in a way that Washington DC simply wasn’t.  With all these thriving metropolises, why bother with a new capital at all? And when exactly did the city come into existence if so much of early American history had already taken place elsewhere? It’s fair to say that this period was rather a busy one in the history of the USA. The 13 colonies had just fought, and won, a bruising and bloody revolutionary war against the British and were in full swing with the crafting of the US constitution. At that time, the 13 colonies thought of themselves almost as independent nations with a shared goal of ridding themselves of the British almost as much as they thought of themselves as a single nation. With this delicate balance in mind, the Founding Fathers sought a neutral location that would not favor any particular state, thereby avoiding regional biases. The location for the capital was selected by three of the big hitters of US history.  President Washington himself, in collaboration with Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson and Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton. The Residence Act of 1790, signed by President George Washington, authorized the creation of a new capital along the Potomac River. The city was named in honor of George Washington, and “District of Columbia” was chosen to reflect Christopher Columbus. Pierre Charles L’Enfant, a French engineer and architect, was commissioned to design the city, envisioning grand avenues and significant public spaces that would embody the young nation’s aspirations. Where to put a national capital The Whitehouse The placement of Washington, D.C., along the Potomac River was a strategic decision influenced by several factors. As a matter of principle, the founders believed that the capital should be a federal city, and not beholden to any one state. For this reason, in the very first article of the constitution, the matter of the capital was explicitly settled with section 8 stating that congress shall have the power “to exercise exclusive legislation in all cases whatsoever, over such district (not exceeding ten miles square) as may …..” The clause goes on to talk about cession and other technical matters, suffice to say, the framers of the constitution thought that the independence from local politics of a new capital was very important.  Next up was a point of perception. Alexander Hamilton believed that the US government should be seen in good standing among other nations. The fledgling nation should therefore pay its debts, and by extension, the debts of the 13 founding colonies. This was an issue for the southern states that had paid off their debts and did not want to see the northern states benefit from debt relief. The compromise was for northern states to forego their claim that the capital should continue to be Philadelphia or New York, and the southern states would agree to the federalisation of all debts into the new government. The capital would then be sited in a central location. The final reason is purely practical, the Potomac River provided a navigable waterway that facilitated trade and transportation. The colonies stretched some 2,100km from Georgia in the south, up the eastern seaboard, to Maine (then a province of Massachusetts) in the north. This at a time when overland travel was in horse drawn carriages. In short, it needed to be central.  The proximity to important cities like Baltimore and Philadelphia also made it a convenient choice. Additionally, the land for the new capital was donated by the states of Maryland and Virginia. The new country finally had a political heart!  Planning and construction began almost immediately. The announcement of the site was made by President Washington on January 24th 1791 and the cornerstone of the Whitehouse was laid on October 13th 1792. Just 9 years after the initial building works, the 1800 census showed a population of 8,144. It was a staggeringly successful opening decade. But, I hear you say….what on earth does any of this have to do with a deficit in democracy for the people of Washington DC? Population explosion Arial view of Washington D.C. Roll forwards a few hundred years and Washington, D.C. is a melting pot of cultures and ethnicities, reflecting the broader diversity of the United States. The demographic composition includes a significant African American community, making up about 45% of the population. This is followed by White (36%), Hispanic or

Formation of a Supervolcano Tucked away in the very northeastern corner of Wyoming, and spilling out into Montana and Idaho is an area of outstanding natural beauty, beloved by tourists and natives alike. So beloved, in fact, that in 1872, President Ulysses S Grant declared it to be the first national park in the US and the second national Park on earth. We are, of course, talking of Yellowstone National Park. Scratch beneath the surface and you’ll find the Yellowstone hotspot, a plume of molten rock rising from deep within the Earth’s mantle. Interestingly, tectonic activity is causing the North America plate to slide over the magma chamber whilst the chamber itself stays put in relation to the center of the earth. As it does so, the magma chamber grows….and grows. Very occasionally, but ominously consistently, the magma chamber can grow no more and must release pressure in a violent eruption, the likes of which has not happened in the entire existence of human memory. The Yellowstone volcanic field has experienced three major eruptions in the past 2.1 million years: The Huckleberry Ridge Eruption (2.1 Million Years Ago) The first and largest of Yellowstone’s three major eruptions, known as the Huckleberry Ridge eruption, occurred approximately 2.1 million years ago. This eruption was truly colossal, ejecting an estimated 2,450 cubic kilometers (588 cubic miles) of volcanic material. To put this into perspective, Mount St. Helens ejected just 0.25 kilometres in its eruption of 1980. The Huckleberry Ridge eruption ejected 6000 times that amount of hot magma, ash and rock high up into the atmosphere.  If you were around 2.1 million years ago, the first thing you’re going to want to do is stand back. The caldera alone was 100km across. But don’t worry – even from many hundreds of kilometers away, you would be able to observe the 50km high plume of ejecta. It was colossal.  The ash and gases released into the atmosphere would have had profound climatic effects, likely killing every living organism within many hundreds of miles and causing a global volcanic winter for anything that survived. This period of global cooling would have drastically affected plant and animal life, leading to significant ecological disruptions.  The Huckleberry Ridge eruption created the Huckleberry Ridge Tuff, a widespread deposit of ash and pumice that can be seen in the geological record seeing the world. The eruption’s sheer volume caused the ground above the magma chamber to collapse, forming the massive caldera, one of the largest calderas on Earth.  The Mesa Falls Eruption (1.3 Million Years Ago) The second major eruption, known as the Mesa Falls eruption, took place around 1.3 million years ago. While smaller than the Huckleberry Ridge eruption, it was still a significant event, ejecting approximately 280 cubic kilometers (67 cubic miles) of volcanic material. The Mesa Falls eruption produced the Mesa Falls Tuff, another extensive deposit of ash and pumice. The eruption formed the Henry’s Fork Caldera, located in the Island Park region of Idaho, just west of the Yellowstone National Park boundary. This caldera measures approximately 45 kilometers (28 miles) in diameter. The climatic impact of the Mesa Falls eruption would have been less severe than that of the Huckleberry Ridge eruption, but it still would have caused significant environmental changes. The release of ash and gases into the atmosphere would have led to a short-term period of global cooling and disruptions in weather patterns. The Mesa Falls eruption highlights the cyclical nature of volcanic activity at Yellowstone. By studying the intervals between these major eruptions, geologists can better understand the behavior of the Yellowstone supervolcano and its potential future activity. The Lava Creek Eruption (640,000 Years Ago) The third and most recent major eruption, known as the Lava Creek eruption, occurred approximately 640,000 years ago. This eruption was responsible for creating the current Yellowstone Caldera, a prominent feature of the national park today. The Lava Creek eruption ejected around 1,000 cubic kilometers (240 cubic miles) of volcanic material. The Lava Creek eruption produced the Lava Creek Tuff, yet another widespread deposit of ash and pumice that blanketed much of North America. The collapse of the magma chamber following the eruption formed the Yellowstone Caldera, which measures approximately 70 kilometers (43 miles) in diameter. The climatic effects of the Lava Creek eruption would have been significant, with the release of ash and gases causing short-term cooling and disruptions to ecosystems. However, life gradually recovered, and the Yellowstone region has since been shaped by ongoing geothermal activity. The Lava Creek eruption provides a more recent example of a supereruption and its effects. The current geothermal features of Yellowstone, including world famous geysers, hot springs, and fumaroles, are a direct result of the heat and activity remaining from this last major eruption. These eruptions have shaped the landscape of the region, creating extensive lava flows, ash deposits, and the characteristic caldera. How to spot a Supervolcano The Yellowstone Supervolcano was identified through a combination of geological, geophysical, and geochemical studies. Early explorers and geologists noted the region’s extensive geothermal activity, but were unable to locate the caldera. but it wasn’t until the mid-20th century that the true nature of Yellowstone’s volcanic system was understood. Advances in seismic imaging, satellite technology, and other scientific tools showed that the entire central portion of the park was caldera.  The Yellowstone Caldera The caldera at Yellowstone was almost entirely formed by the final eruption, the Lava Creek eruption. Unlike most volcanoes, with their recognisable conical shape and caldera sat atop, The Yellowstone Caldera is massive. It’s simply too big to see in a single vista with the naked eye. The volcanic depression was formed during the final eruption not so much by the accumulation of materials around a central caldera as most volcanoes form, but rather by the literal collapse of earth as the staggering amount of materials were blown out into the atmosphere. The caldera, measuring approximately 55 by 72 kilometers (34 by 45 miles) doesn’t really project up into