SW2 Boundary Stone Letterbox: Retrocession Letterbox Hybrid

CACHE IS NOT AT POSTED LOCATION

There you will find one of Washington D.C.'s 40 boundary stones.

OK, it's actually a fake boundary stone but you should check out GCA9KZ6 to learn more about that.

This cache is a quick two-stage letterbox hybrid. There IS a stamp at S2 so bring your stamp books.

To acquire the coordinates for S2 you must answer the questions below. Some answers can be done at home while others must be done on location near the bogus boundary stone. 

You are solving for N 38 48.ABC W 077 03.DEF
Plug in the number in parentheses of the correct answer into the above letters

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Where am I?

Well, today you are in Virginia, the City of Alexandria to be specific. But from 1790 to March,1847 you would have been in the District of Columbia.  The 1790 Residence Act created the 100 square mile diamond-shaped capital district from land ceded by Maryland and Virginia. This is the border that the boundary stones are demarcating.

And that big word in the cache title: Retrocession? That's what the returning of this territory is formally called. Why did it happen? Well, perhaps the questions below may shed some light. Keep in mind, sometimes there's no one simple answer to these complicated questions. 

Question A:
Why did citizens of 19th-century Alexandria no longer want to be a part of the District of Columbia?
* Disenfranchisement: As citizens of a federal district they no longer had congressional representation (0)
* Dwindling importance: The Residence Act in 1791 prohibited construction of public buildings on the Virginia side of the Potomac (1)
* Economic decline: Congressional rule was not good for many Alexandria business and funding largely went to Georgetown and inland projects (2)
* Alexandria's booming slave trade: Pro-slavery Alexandrians felt that Congress would soon outlaw slavery in the District (3)
* All of the above (4)

Question B:
Which of the below were reasons why retrocession was opposed?
* Many believed it to be unconstitutional, specifically the contract clause of Article One (7)
* Alexandria's free black population feared being subject to Virginia's hostile laws regarding their free movement and property rights (6)
* Alexandria's geography gave it high military value (5)
* Alexandria residents though taxes would rise (4)
* All of the above (3)

Question C:
Why did Congress vote to retrocede the Virginia portion of the District back to Virginia?
* Slavery: Abolitionist states did not want the slave trade in the nation's capital (0)
* Slavery: Pro-slavery states wanted slavery to continue in Alexandria (1)
* Both (2)

Question D:
Which of the following has advocated for the return of the Virginia lands to the District of Columbia?
* Abraham Lincoln in 1861 because of security concerns during the Civil War (2)
* Radical Republican Benjamin Wade in 1866 in order to better defend the Capital (3)
* Alexandria residents in 1873 and 1890 because of high Virginia taxes (4)
* An Alexandria gambling empresario in 1905 because "pool rooms" were legal in D.C. (5)
* President William Howard Taft in 1909 because of its unconstitutionality (6)
* All of the above (7)

Question E:
Count the number of cane-shaped poles surround the Boundary Stone. "E" is the number in the tens position.

Question F:
"F" is the number that appear most often on the Daughters of the American Revolution placard affixed to the boundary stone fencing.

If you need help with any of the questions you can check out these links all of which have many further links to lead you down a fun spiral of learning:
* Virginia Places' take on Retrocession
* WETA Boundary Stones series article about Retrocession
* Wikipedia Page for D.C. Retrocession

The final is in an Alexandria City park so please no night caching. This park is usually quite empty. We would suggest parking on Russell Road between Cedar and Rosemont (waypoint included and free for three hours) especially if you are combining this cache with GCA9KZ6. And if you haven't already found Awesnap's terrific Earthcache GC8NK57, that's across the street.

You can validate your puzzle solution with certitude.