use, as he said, he "considered it a document to which
your whole race had a right for its justification against the doubts
which have been entertained of them." This recognition of Banneker's
merit very naturally added greatly to his rapidly growing reputation
at home, and brought to him hundreds of letters of congratulation from
scholarly men throughout the civilized world.

The most distinguished honor that came to him from his own countrymen
was the invitation to serve with the commission appointed by President
Washington to define the boundary line and lay out the streets of the
Federal Territory, later called the District of Columbia. This
commission, was appointed by Washington, in 1789, and was composed of
David Stuart, Daniel Carroll, Thomas Johnson, Andrew Ellicott and
Major Pierre Charles L'Enfant, a famous French engineer. This
personnel was given in the article on Benjamin Banneker by John R.
Slattery in the _Catholic World_ in 1883,[169] but in the _Washington
Evening Star_ of October 15, 1916, reporting an address by Fred
Woodward, the commission was said to consist of "Major L'Enfant,
Andrew Ellicott, Count de Graff, Isaac Roberdeau, William King,
Nicholas King, and Benjamin Banneker, a free Negro."[170] It is on
record that it was at the suggestion of his friend, Major Andrew
Ellicott, who so thoroughly appreciated the value of his scientific
attainments, that Thomas Jefferson nominated Banneker and Washington
appointed him a member of the commission. In the Georgetown _Weekly
Ledger_, of March 12, 1791, reference is made to the arrival at that
port of Ellicott and L'Enfant, who were accompanied by "Benjamin
Banneker, an Ethiopian whose abilities as surveyor and astronomer
already prove that Mr. Jefferson's concluding that that race of men
were void of mental endowment was without foundation."[171]

Speaking afterwards of his work with this commission, Banneker
referred to the unfailing kindness and courtesy of the distinguished
company in which he found himself. One of his biographers says that
the deportment of the mathematician during this engagement was such as
to secure for him the respect and admiration of the commissioners. His
striking superiority over all other men of his race whom they had met
led them to disregard all prejudices of caste.[172] During the stay of
the commissioners at their official quarters, Banneker was invited, of
course, to eat at the same table with them just as he sat wi