By 1870, war and mismanagement had caused the finances and infrastructure of the city to deteriorate so badly that the Mayor of Washington, Sayles J. Bowen, had his furniture seized in an attempt to pay the city's debts. Democrats and Republicans were in a rare agreement that a drastic change was needed from Bowen's regime. As a solution, Shepherd and his allies began agitation for the abolition of the elected governments of Washington City and Georgetown, as well as the appointed justices of the peace for Washington County, to be replaced with a unified territorial government to administer the entire District of Columbia. The Shepherd machine was easily able to sway popular support in favor of that notion.