In the following year the foregoing act was amended, in order to include a portion of the Anacostia River ("Eastern Branch"), and the town of Alexandria within the limits of the district. The following is the act of amendment: AN ACT to amend "An act for establishing the temporary and permanent seat of government of the United States." Approved March 3, 1791. Be it enacted, &c., That so much of the act entitled "An act for establishing the temporary and permanent seat of the Government of the United States" as requires that the whole of the district of territory, not exceeding ten miles square, to be located on the river Potowmac for the permanent seat of the Government of the United States shall be located above the mouth of the Eastern Branch be, and is hereby, repealed, and that it shall be lawful for the President to make any part of the territory below said limit and above the mouth of Hunting Creek a part of the said district, so as to include a convenient port of the Eastern Branch and of the lands lying on the lower side thereof, and also the town of Alexandria; and the territory so to be included. shall form a part of the district not exceeding ten miles square for the permanent seat of the Government of the United States, in like manner and to all intents and purposes as if the same had been within the the purview of the above recited act: Provided, That nothing herein contained shall authorize the erection of the public buildings otherwise than on the Maryland side of the river Potowmac, as required by the aforesaid act. In pursuance of the foregoing acts, three commissioners were appointed, who made preliminary surveys of the territory, and on the 30th day of March, 1791, George Washington, President of the United States, issued a proclamation, in which the bounds of the said District were defined as follows, viz: Beginning at Jones' Point, being the upper cape of Hunting Creek, in Virginia, and at an angle in the outset of 45° west of the north, and running in a direct line ten miles for the first line; then beginning again at the same Jones' Point and running another direct line at a right angle with the first, across the Potomac, ten miles for the second line; then, from the terminations of the said first and second lines, running two other direct lines, of ten miles each, the one crossing the Potomac and the other the Eastern Branch aforesaid, and meeting each other in a point. In 1800 Congress removed to this District. In the following year the District was divided into two counties, as follows, viz: UNITED STATES STATUTES AT LARGE, SIXTH CONGRESS, SECOND SESSION, 1801, (CHAPTER XV). AN ACT concerning the District of Columbia. The said District of Columbia shall be formed into two counties. One county shall contain all that part of said district which lies on the east side of the river Potomac, together with the islands therein, and shall be called the county of Washington, the other county shall contain all that part of said District which lies on the west side of said river, and shall be called the county of Alexandria; and the said river, in its whole course through said District, shall be taken and deemed to all intents and purposes to be within both of said counties. In 1846 Congress passed an act retroceding to the State of Virginia that part of the District of Columbia originally ceded to the United |