Benjamin Banneker Surveyor of Washington, DC 1/29/06.

Benjamin Banneker

Surveyor of Washington, DC

1/29/06

Benjamin Banneker

Why did the Post Office issue a stamp on Benjamin Banneker in 1980?

Benjamin Banneker

Benjamin Banneker was born November 9, 1731 in Maryland Colony. His mother, Mary, was the daughter of a white man and an African American slave. Benjamin’s father was a free African American but Benjamin took his mother’s last name.

Benjamin Banneker

In 1737, Benjamin moved to Baltimore County where he lived on a 100 acre tobacco farm.He learned to read the Bible but he preferred arithmetic. He did attend an integrated school part-time as a teenager and read borrowed textbooks.

Benjamin Banneker

In 1751, when Benjamin was 20, he decided to build a clock. After studying a pocket watch, he built a wooden clock.After his father died in 1759, Benjamin successfully ran the farm with his mother.

Benjamin Banneker

In 1771, three Quaker brothers immigrated from Pennsylvania, became Benjamin’s neighbors, and set up a mill on their 700 acre farm. They provided enough flour for Baltimore and even exported flour to Europe.Benjamin became close friends with George Ellicott, one of their sons, who was 29 years younger.

Benjamin Banneker

In 1788, George loaned Benjamin some astronomical instruments and Benjamin became very interested in astronomy.He learned quickly enough that he was able to predict a 1789 solar eclipse.

Benjamin Banneker

The next year, at age 59, Benjamin gave up farming.His astronomy skills attracted the attention of Major Andrew Ellicott, one of the three Ellicott brothers and head surveyor for the new national capital project. Major Ellicott needed an assistant. George recommended Benjamin.

Benjamin Banneker

Benjamin had been in contact with another great inventor and planner, Thomas Jefferson. The future president had been so impressed by Banneker's skills that he had also recommended him for employment as an assistant surveyor of the new federal district.

Benjamin Banneker

In 1791 Benjamin became an assistant in the survey of what would become Washington DC. Benjamin lived in Alexandria, Virginia in the home of Andrew Ellicott, the project’s principle surveyor, while working on the project.

Benjamin Banneker

Benjamin’s main task was to maintain the astronomical clock. He had to see that the time would always be as accurate as possible.He also observed the stars each night. Using the clock and observations, plus information in books, he ensured that the latitude the surveyors noted was correct.

Benjamin Banneker

Pierre L’Enfant, the architect of the new capital city then used the survey to ensure that what he laid out would be accurate.

Benjamin Banneker

This is the original of L’Enfant’s map.

Benjamin Banneker

This is what it looks like digitally enhanced. Let’s take a look at L’Enfant’s notes.

Benjamin Banneker

L’Enfant confirmed in his notes on the map that the lines were based on “celestial observation” leaving nothing to the “uncertainty of the compass.”

Benjamin Banneker

A year later, Benjamin wrote his first almanac and George helped get it published in 1792. He continued to publish almanacs every year to 1797.

Benjamin Banneker

He called his almanac the Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia Almanac and Ephemeris.

Benjamin Banneker

The almanac included information on medicines and medical treatment, useful tables, and listed tides, astronomical information, and eclipses calculated by Banneker himself.

Benjamin Banneker

The almanac included information on medicines and medical treatment, useful tables, and listed tides, astronomical information, and eclipses calculated by Banneker himself.

Benjamin Banneker

The almanac included information on medicines and medical treatment, useful tables, and listed tides, astronomical information, and eclipses calculated by Banneker himself.

Benjamin Banneker

The almanac included information on medicines and medical treatment, useful tables, and listed tides, astronomical information, and eclipses calculated by Banneker himself.

Benjamin Banneker

The almanac included information on medicines and medical treatment, useful tables, and listed tides, astronomical information, and eclipses calculated by Banneker himself.

Benjamin Banneker

The almanac included information on medicines and medical treatment, useful tables, and listed tides, astronomical information, and eclipses calculated by Banneker himself.

Benjamin Banneker

And, of course, a day by day prediction of the weather and other notable events.

Benjamin Banneker

And, of course, a day by day prediction of the weather and other notable events.

Benjamin Banneker

There is a short biography, noting that he learned “reading, writing, and arithmetic”

Benjamin Banneker

and that he learned astronomy and how to make an almanac in about three years.

Benjamin Banneker

The almanac editors also included information on Banneker being African American and pointed out that this scholarly work was, as Banneker said, “the first attempt of the kind that was ever made in American by a person of my complexion.”

Benjamin Banneker

Benjamin Banneker

August 19, 1791, Benjamin wrote a letter to Thomas Jefferson, then Secretary of State. In it, he enclosed a manuscript copy of his first almanac.

Benjamin Banneker

In the letter Banneker complains that although African Americans "have long been considered rather as brutish than human, and scarcely capable of mental endowments, . . .

Benjamin Banneker

one universal Father hath given being to us all; and that he hath not only made us all of one flesh, but that he hath also, without partiality, afforded us all the same sensations and endowed us all with the same faculties."

Benjamin BannekerBenjamin Banneker

In the same letter Banneker In the same letter Banneker also quotes from the first lines also quotes from the first lines

of the Declaration of of the Declaration of Independence: Independence:

"We hold these truths to be "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men self-evident, that all men are created equal . . . ."are created equal . . . ."

Benjamin Banneker

In a polite response to Banneker's August 1791 letter, Jefferson expressed his ambivalent feelings about slavery

Benjamin Banneker

and assured the surveyor that "no body wishes more ardently to see a good system commenced for raising the condition" of blacks "to what it ought to be."

Benjamin Banneker

Jefferson also indicated that he had sent an example of Banneker's work to the Marquis de Condorcet, secretary of the Royal Academy of Science I n Paris and a strong advocate of racial equality, for the marquis's use in disposing of other people's doubts about black inferiority.

Benjamin Banneker

And send the letter he did, stating that Benjamin was a “very respected mathematician” and that “I have seen very elegant solutions of geometrical problems by him.”

Benjamin Banneker

Benjamin did get to see Washington DC become the nation’s capital.

Benjamin Banneker

On October 9, 1806, Benjamin suddenly became ill while walking home. He made it home, but died in his sleep. He was 74. His home and all his possesions burned down on the day of his burial.

Bibliography

Benjamin Banneker's Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland and Virginia Almanack and Ephemeris, for the Year of Our Lord 1792.Baltimore: William Goddard and James Angell, 1791.First image:http://memory.loc.gov/rbc/rbcmisc/ody/ody0214/0214001v.jpgBenjamin Banneker's Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland and Virginia Almanack and Ephemeris, for the Year of Our Lord 1792. CREATED/PUBLISHEDBaltimore: William Goddard and James Angell, 1791. African American Odyssey , Library of Congress Rare Book and Special Collections Division. Washington, D.C. 20540 rbcmisc ody0214 http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage?collId=rbcmisc&fileName=ody/ody0214/ody0214page.db&recNum=0&itemLink=/ammem/aaohtml/exhibit/aopart2.html@0214&linkText=9

Bibliography

Letter, Thomas Jefferson to Benjamin Banneker expressing his belief that blacks possess talents equal to those of "other colours of men," 30 August 1791.(Thomas Jefferson Papers)http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/treasures/images/vc004878.jpgReproduction Number:A54 (color slide); LC-MSS-27748-21 (B&W negative) http://memory.loc.gov/mss/mcc/028/0001.jpg

Bibliography

Letter, Thomas Jefferson to French philosophe Marquis de Condorcet http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/treasures/images/vc004808.jpg

Bibliography

Plan of the City Intended for the Permanent Seat of the Government,by Pierre Charles L'EnfantManuscript map on paper, 1791.American Treasures of the Library of Congresshttp://www.loc.gov/exhibits/treasures/images/tlc0290.jpg

Bibliography

Plan of the city of Washington in the territory of Columbia : ceded by the states of Virginia and Maryland to the United States of America, and by them established as the seat of their government, after the year MDCCC / engrav'd by Sam'l Hill, Boston ; in order to execute this plan, Mr. Ellicott drew a true meridional line ... Ellicott, Andrew, 1754-1820, Boston : s.n., 1792 Shows block numbers and proposed government buildings. Watermarks: Budgen, GR, [crown over fleur-de-lis]. Includes text and notes. LC copies variously soiled, torn, annotated in lead pencil, trimmed, edged with cloth stripping, and mounted on cloth backing. LC copies 1 and 3 have annotated notes on verso, in pencil of the city canal by F.C. de Krafft dated September 9, 1831. Scale [ca. 1:19,800]. G3850 1792 .E41 Vault, Library of Congress Geography and Map Division Washington, D.C. 20540-4650 USA, g3850 ct000299http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.gmd/g3850.ct000299

Bibliography

A portrait of Benjamin Banneker on the cover of his Almanac, 1795 CREDIT: "Cover, Benjamin Banneker's Almanac for 1795." Courtesy of the Maryland Historical Society, Baltimore.http://www.americaslibrary.gov/jb/colonial/jb_colonial_banneker_1_e.html

Bibliography

Banneker and Jefferson's correspondence reveals Jefferson's contradictions when it comes to slavery CREDIT: Pendleton's Lithography. "Thomas Jefferson, Third President of the United States." Engraving after an original painting by Gilber Stuart, circa 1828. By Popular Demand: Portraits of the Presidents and First Ladies, 1789-Present, American Memory collections, Library of Congress.Photo of Jeffersonhttp://www.americaslibrary.gov/jb/colonial/jb_colonial_banneker_3_e.html

Bibliography

A View of the Capitol of Washington before it was burnt down by the British, ca. 1800. Library of Congress. Prints and Photographs Division. Reproduction number: LC-USZC4-247 (color film copy transparency). A view of the Capitol of Washington before it was burnt down by the British. Birch, William Russell, 1755-1834, artist.CREATED/PUBLISHEDca. 1800. DRWG/US - BirchREPRODUCTION NUMBERLC-USZC4-247 DLC (color film copy transparency)LC-USZ62-1804 DLC (b&w film copy neg.)REPOSITORYLibrary of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C., 20540 USA http://memory.loc.gov/service/pnp/cph/3b50000/3b51000/3b51800/3b51829v.jpg

Bibliography

Bibliography

Benjamin Banneker's Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland and Virginia Almanack and Ephemeris, for the Year of Our Lord 1792.Baltimore: William Goddard and James Angell, 1791.First image:http://memory.loc.gov/rbc/rbcmisc/ody/ody0214/0214001v.jpgBenjamin Banneker's Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland and Virginia Almanack and Ephemeris, for the Year of Our Lord 1792. CREATED/PUBLISHEDBaltimore: William Goddard and James Angell, 1791. African American Odyssey , Library of Congress Rare Book and Special Collections Division. Washington, D.C. 20540 rbcmisc ody0214 http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage?collId=rbcmisc&fileName=ody/ody0214/ody0214page.db&recNum=0&itemLink=/ammem/aaohtml/exhibit/aopart2.html@0214&linkText=9

Bibliography

Letter, Thomas Jefferson to Benjamin Banneker expressing his belief that blacks possess talents equal to those of "other colours of men," 30 August 1791.(Thomas Jefferson Papers)http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/treasures/images/vc004878.jpgReproduction Number:A54 (color slide); LC-MSS-27748-21 (B&W negative) http://memory.loc.gov/mss/mcc/028/0001.jpg

Bibliography

Letter, Thomas Jefferson to French philosophe Marquis de Condorcet http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/treasures/images/vc004808.jpg

Bibliography

Plan of the City Intended for the Permanent Seat of the Government,by Pierre Charles L'EnfantManuscript map on paper, 1791.American Treasures of the Library of Congresshttp://www.loc.gov/exhibits/treasures/images/tlc0290.jpg

Bibliography

Plan of the city of Washington in the territory of Columbia : ceded by the states of Virginia and Maryland to the United States of America, and by them established as the seat of their government, after the year MDCCC / engrav'd by Sam'l Hill, Boston ; in order to execute this plan, Mr. Ellicott drew a true meridional line ... Ellicott, Andrew, 1754-1820, Boston : s.n., 1792 Shows block numbers and proposed government buildings. Watermarks: Budgen, GR, [crown over fleur-de-lis]. Includes text and notes. LC copies variously soiled, torn, annotated in lead pencil, trimmed, edged with cloth stripping, and mounted on cloth backing. LC copies 1 and 3 have annotated notes on verso, in pencil of the city canal by F.C. de Krafft dated September 9, 1831. Scale [ca. 1:19,800]. G3850 1792 .E41 Vault, Library of Congress Geography and Map Division Washington, D.C. 20540-4650 USA, g3850 ct000299http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.gmd/g3850.ct000299

Bibliography

A portrait of Benjamin Banneker on the cover of his Almanac, 1795 CREDIT: "Cover, Benjamin Banneker's Almanac for 1795." Courtesy of the Maryland Historical Society, Baltimore.http://www.americaslibrary.gov/jb/colonial/jb_colonial_banneker_1_e.html

Bibliography

Banneker and Jefferson's correspondence reveals Jefferson's contradictions when it comes to slavery CREDIT: Pendleton's Lithography. "Thomas Jefferson, Third President of the United States." Engraving after an original painting by Gilber Stuart, circa 1828. By Popular Demand: Portraits of the Presidents and First Ladies, 1789-Present, American Memory collections, Library of Congress.Photo of Jeffersonhttp://www.americaslibrary.gov/jb/colonial/jb_colonial_banneker_3_e.html

Bibliography

A View of the Capitol of Washington before it was burnt down by the British, ca. 1800. Library of Congress. Prints and Photographs Division. Reproduction number: LC-USZC4-247 (color film copy transparency). A view of the Capitol of Washington before it was burnt down by the British. Birch, William Russell, 1755-1834, artist.CREATED/PUBLISHEDca. 1800. DRWG/US - BirchREPRODUCTION NUMBERLC-USZC4-247 DLC (color film copy transparency)LC-USZ62-1804 DLC (b&w film copy neg.)REPOSITORYLibrary of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C., 20540 USA http://memory.loc.gov/service/pnp/cph/3b50000/3b51000/3b51800/3b51829v.jpg

Bibliography

Bibliography

Benjamin Banneker's Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland and Virginia Almanack and Ephemeris, for the Year of Our Lord 1792.Baltimore: William Goddard and James Angell, 1791.African American Odyssey , Library of Congress Rare Book and Special Collections Division. Washington, D.C. 20540 rbcmisc ody0214 http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage?collId=rbcmisc&fileName=ody/ody0214/ody0214page.db&recNum=0&itemLink=/ammem/aaohtml/exhibit/aopart2.html@0214&linkText=9

Bibliography

Letter, Thomas Jefferson to Benjamin Banneker expressing his belief that blacks possess talents equal to those of "other colours of men," 30 August 1791. (Thomas Jefferson Papers) While serving as secretary of state, Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826), one of Virginia's largest planters and slaveholders, wrote this 30 August 1791 response to Benjamin Banneker (1731-1806), an African-American mathematician and surveyor living in Maryland, who had written a forceful letter to Jefferson the day before, chastising him for holding slaves and questioning his sincerity as a "friend of liberty." (Banneker's 19 August 1791 letter to Jefferson is held by the Massachusetts Historical Society). Jefferson and Banneker had been in contact previously, and the future president had been so impressed by Banneker's skills that he had recommended him for employment as an assistant surveyor of the new federal district. In a polite response to Banneker's August 1791 letter, Jefferson expressed his ambivalent feelings about slavery and assured the surveyor that "no body wishes more ardently to see a good system commenced for raising the condition" of blacks "to what it ought to be." Jefferson also indicated that he had sent an example of Banneker's work to the Marquis de Condorcet (1743-1794), secretary of the Royal Academy of Science and a strong advocate of racial equality, for the marquis's use in disposing of other people's doubts about black inferiority. Years later, however, Jefferson reneged on his favorable comments to Banneker about blacks in letters to Henri Gregoire (1750-1831) and Joel Barlow (1754-1812) in 1809. Gerard W. Gawalt and Janice E. Ruth, Manuscript Division For additional information on the Thomas Jefferson Papers, you can leave this site and read a summary catalog record for the collection. Reproduction Number: A54 (color slide); LC-MSS-27748-21 (B&W negative) Reproduction Number:A54 (color slide); LC-MSS-27748-21 (B&W negative) http://memory.loc.gov/mss/mcc/028/0001.jpgLetter, Thomas Jefferson to Benjamin Banneker expressing his belief that blacks possess talents equal to those of "other colours of men," 30 August 1791. (Thomas Jefferson Papers) (sepia copy)http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/treasures/images/vc004878.jpg

Bibliography

Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826) to Benjamin Banneker Letterpress copy, August 30, 1791Thomas Jefferson, secretary of state in the first federal government and one of Virginia's largest planters and slave holders, wrote this letter to Benjamin Banneker in response to a letter that argued strongly for an end to slavery. In it Banneker had enclosed a manuscript copy of the mathematical calculations for his 1792 almanac. Jefferson's polite response expresses his ambivalent feelings about slavery and the native abilities of black individuals. http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/treasures/trr022.html

Bibliography

Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826) to M. de Condorcet (1743-1794)Holograph press copy, August 30, 1791Manuscript Division( November 21, 2002 )In this letter to the French philosophe Marquis de Condorcet, Thomas Jefferson praises the mathematical abilities of Benjamin Banneker, "the son of a black man born in Africa, and of a black woman born in the United States." He voices the hope that the example of Banneker might prove "that the want of talents observed in them is merely the effect of their degraded condition, and not proceeding from any difference in the structure of the parts on which intellect depends." http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/treasures/images/vc004808.jpg

Bibliography

American Treasures of the Library of Congresshttp://www.loc.gov/exhibits/treasures/images/tlc0290.jpgPierre Charles L'Enfant (1754-1825)Plan of the city intended for the permanent seat of the government . . . Manuscript map on paper, 1791Geography & Map DivisionPierre-Charles L'Enfant's 1791 plan for the city of Washington is one of the great landmarks in city planning. It was, L'Enfant claimed, "a plan whol[l]y new," designed from its inception to serve as the framework for the capital city of the new nation beginning in the year 1800. Its scheme of broad radiating avenues connecting significant focal points, its open spaces, and its grid pattern of streets oriented north, south, east, and west is still the plan against which all modern land use proposals for the Nation's Capital are considered.L'Enfant (1754-1825) was born in France and educated as an architect and engineer. Caught up in the spirit of the American Revolutionary War, he came to America at the age of twenty-two and served with honor as an officer in the Corps of Engineers of the Continental Army. On September 11, 1789, he wrote to President George Washington in order "to sollicit [sic] the favor of being Employed in the Business" of designing the new city. At this early date, L'Enfant already perceived "that the plan should be drawn on such a scale as to leave room for that aggrandizement & embellishment which the increase of the wealth of the Nation will permit it to pursue at any period how ever remote.""An Act for establishing the temporary and permanent seat of the Government of the United States," was signed into law on July 16, 1790. After giving cursory consideration to other locations, George Washington selected a site for the seat of government with which he was very familiar--the banks of the Potomac River at the confluence of its Eastern Branch, just above his home at Mount Vernon. Selected by Washington to prepare a ground plan for the new city, L'Enfant arrived in Georgetown on March 9, 1791, and submitted his report and plan to the president about August 26, 1791. It is believed that this plan is the one that is preserved in the Library of Congress. After showing L'Enfant's manuscript to Congress, the president retained custody of the original drawing until December 1796, when he transferred it to the City Commissioners of Washington, D.C. One hundred and twenty-two years later, on November 11, 1918, the map was presented to the Library of Congress for safekeeping.In 1991, to commemorate the two hundredth anniversary of the plan, the Library of Congress, in cooperation with the National Geographic Society, the National Park Service, and the United States Geological Survey, published an exact-size, full-color facsimile and a computer-assisted reproduction of the original manuscript plan. These reproductions are the Library's first facsimiles to be based on photography and electronic enhancement technology. During this process, it was possible to record faint editorial annotations made by Thomas Jefferson, which are now virtually illegible on the original map.

Bibliography

Plan of the city of Washington in the territory of Columbia : ceded by the states of Virginia and Maryland to the United States of America, and by them established as the seat of their government, after the year MDCCC / engrav'd by Sam'l Hill, Boston ; in order to execute this plan, Mr. Ellicott drew a true meridional line ... Ellicott, Andrew, 1754-1820, Boston : s.n., 1792 Shows block numbers and proposed government buildings. Watermarks: Budgen, GR, [crown over fleur-de-lis]. Includes text and notes. LC copies variously soiled, torn, annotated in lead pencil, trimmed, edged with cloth stripping, and mounted on cloth backing. LC copies 1 and 3 have annotated notes on verso, in pencil of the city canal by F.C. de Krafft dated September 9, 1831. Scale [ca. 1:19,800]. G3850 1792 .E41 Vault, Library of Congress Geography and Map Division Washington, D.C. 20540-4650 USA, g3850 ct000299http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.gmd/g3850.ct000299

Bibliography

A portrait of Benjamin Banneker on the cover of his Almanac, 1795 CREDIT: "Cover, Benjamin Banneker's Almanac for 1795." Courtesy of the Maryland Historical Society, Baltimore.http://www.americaslibrary.gov/jb/colonial/jb_colonial_banneker_1_e.html

Bibliography

Banneker and Jefferson's correspondence reveals Jefferson's contradictions when it comes to slavery CREDIT: Pendleton's Lithography. "Thomas Jefferson, Third President of the United States." Engraving after an original painting by Gilber Stuart, circa 1828. By Popular Demand: Portraits of the Presidents and First Ladies, 1789-Present, American Memory collections, Library of Congress.Photo of Jeffersonhttp://www.americaslibrary.gov/jb/colonial/jb_colonial_banneker_3_e.htmlorThomas Jefferson, third president of the United States. Pendleton's Lithography. CREATED/PUBLISHED [1828(?)] From the original series painted by Stuart for the Messrs. Doggett of Boston. 1 print : lithograph.CALL NUMBERPGA - Pendleton--Thomas Jefferson ... (A size) <P&P>REPRODUCTION NUMBERLC-USZ62-117117 DLC (b&w film copy neg. of cropped image)REPOSITORYLibrary of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA DIGITAL ID(b&w film copy neg. of cropped image) cph 3c17117 Credit Line: Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division [LC-USZ62-117117 DLC ]http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/presp:@field(NUMBER+@band(cph+3c17117))

Bibliography

A View of the Capitol of Washington before it was burnt down by the British, ca. 1800. Library of Congress. Prints and Photographs Division. Reproduction number: LC-USZC4-247 (color film copy transparency). A view of the Capitol of Washington before it was burnt down by the British. Birch, William Russell, 1755-1834, artist.CREATED/PUBLISHEDca. 1800. DRWG/US - BirchREPRODUCTION NUMBERLC-USZC4-247 DLC (color film copy transparency)LC-USZ62-1804 DLC (b&w film copy neg.)REPOSITORYLibrary of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C., 20540 USA http://memory.loc.gov/service/pnp/cph/3b50000/3b51000/3b51800/3b51829v.jpgCredit Line: Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division [LC-USZC4-247 DLC ]

Bibliography

Description: "View of the Suburbs [Georgetown] of the City of Washington." Black and white aquatint by George Isham Parkyns, ca. 1795. Location: Original in P&P PGA-B-Parkyns, reference copy in P&P LOT 4386-34.Reproduction number: LC-USZ62-1750 (black & white film copy negative); LC-USZC2-1327 (color film copy slide)

http://lcweb2.loc.gov/pnp/cph/3c00000/3c02000/3c02000/3c02054r.jpg