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Capital City
of the United States of America, Municipal Corporation:
February 21, 1871
The District
of Columbia—identical with the City of Washington—is the
capital of the United States. It is located between Virginia
and Maryland on the Potomac River. The district is named
after Columbus.
When European settlers first visited the area that is now
Washington D.C., Piscataway Native Americans lived in the
area. During the late 1600s, many of the Native Americans
moved west and white farmers and plantation owners settled
the new colony of Virginia. In 1749, Alexandria was
established as the first town in the area.
The United
States of America won its independence in 1783, at the end
of the Revolutionary War. Several different cities served as
the national capital until the late 1700s. Congress then
wished the nation's capital to be permanent. Disagreements
rose as to which state it would be a part of. In 1790,
Alexander Hamilton proposed a solution that established the
new permanent capital on federal land rather than in a
state. President George Washington, raised in the Potomac
area, was chosen to pick the site. Both Maryland and
Virginia gave up land along the Potomac River that became
the District of Columbia, established in 1791.
DC history
actually began in 1790 when the United States Constitution
was adopted on September 15, 1787, Article 1, Section 8,
Clause 17, included language authorizing the establishment
of a federal district. This district was not to exceed 10
miles square, under the exclusive legislative authority of
Congress. On July 16, 1790, Congress authorized President
George Washington to choose a permanent site for the capital
city and, on December 1, 1800, the capital was moved from
Philadelphia to an area along the Potomac River. The census
of 1800 showed that the new capital had a population of
14,103. Congress directed selection of a new capital site,
100 sq mi, along the Potomac. When the site was determined,
it included 30.75 sq mi on the Virginia side of the river.
In 1846, however, Congress returned that area to Virginia,
leaving the 68.25 sq mi ceded by Maryland in 1788. The seat
of government was transferred from Philadelphia to
Washington on Dec. 1, 1800, and President John Adams became
the first resident in the White House.
The city was planned and partly laid out by Maj. Pierre
Charles L'Enfant, a French engineer. This work was perfected
and completed by Maj. Andrew Ellicott and Benjamin Banneker,
a freeborn black man who was an astronomer and
mathematician. In 1814, during the War of 1812, a British
force burned the capital including the White House.
District
residents won the right to vote in a presidential election
on March 29, 1961, to elect a board of education in 1968
and, in 1970, to elect a non-voting delegate to the House of
Representatives. In 1973, Congress approved a bill that
provided District residents with an elected form of
government with limited home rule authority; as a result,
District residents voted for a mayor and a council for the
first time in more than 100 years. District residents
accepted the home rule charter by referendum vote in 1974.
Congress delegated to the District government the authority,
functions and powers of a state, with a very important
exception: Congress retains control over the District's
revenue and expenditures by annually reviewing the entire
District government budget. In addition, Congress has
repeatedly prohibited the District from imposing a
non-resident income tax.
There have
been several forms of appointed and elected governments in
the District of Columbia. Until Nov. 3, 1967, the District
of Columbia was administered by three commissioners: an
appointed, three-member commission (1790-1802); elected
councils and an appointed mayor (1802-1820); elected
councils and an elected mayor (1820-1871); an appointed
governor, a two-house legislature (one appointed and the
other elected), and an elected , non-voting delegate to the
Congress (1871-1874); and another appointed, three-member
commission (1874-1967). Following the defeat by Congress of
a home rule effort in 1967, then-President Lyndon B. Johnson
reorganized the District government and created the
positions of an appointed mayor/commissioner and an
appointed nine-member council.
On that day, a
government consisting of a mayor-commissioner and a 9-member
council, all appointed by the president with the approval of
the Senate, took office. On May 7, 1974, the citizens of the
District of Columbia approved a Home Rule Charter, giving
them an elected mayor and 13-member council—their first
elected municipal government in more than a century. The
district also has one nonvoting member in the House of
Representatives and an elected Board of Education.
On Aug. 22, 1978, Congress passed a proposed constitutional
amendment to give Washington, DC, voting representation in
the Congress. The amendment had to be ratified by at least
38 state legislatures within seven years to become
effective. It died in 1985. A petition asking for the
district's admission to the Union as the 51st state was
filed in Congress on Sept. 9, 1983, and new statehood bills
were introduced in 1993. The district is continuing this
drive for statehood.
The District
of Columbia Bicentennial Commission was established to
develop plans for the celebration of various anniversary
dates in District of Columbia history. The commission is
comprised of 39 members with a specified number of
commissioners appointed by the mayor, the chairman of the
D.C. Council, council members, the District delegate to the
House of Representatives, the courts, and the District of
Columbia Bar. Among the events celebrated are the 200th
anniversary of the Residency Act, which established that
there shall be a permanent seat of government on the Potomac
River (July 16, 1990); the 200th anniversary of President
George Washington's proclamation of the site for the federal
district (January 24, 1991); and the 200th anniversary of
the arrival of Pierre L'Enfant, Benjamin Banneker and Andrew
Ellicott. The commission may designate other bicentennial
events for celebration.
As the federal
government continues to grow steadily, so does the
population of Washington. The city's population reached a
peak of 800,000 in 1950 and then declined as the suburb
population began to increase dramatically. Between 1950 and
1980, the metropolitan area grew faster than that of any
other large city, increasing from 1.5 million to more than 3
million.
The federal
government and tourism are the mainstays of the city's
economy, and many unions, business, professional, and
nonprofit organizations are headquartered there. Among the
city's many educational institutions are the Catholic
University of America, Georgetown University, Howard
University, and Gallaudet University. Cultural attractions
include the National Gallery of Art, the Smithsonian
Institution, the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing
Arts, and the Folger Shakespeare Library.
In 1963, Washingtonians were given the right to vote for the
President of the United States. In 1970, they were given the
right to elect a representative to Congress. Finally, in
1973 Congress gave Washingtonians the right to elect local
officials for the first time in 100 years. Recently, some
residents have wanted to make the District of Columbia the
51st state. However, Congress denied the request. In 1997,
Congress appointed a control board to oversee efforts in
solving growing city problems such as street repair and
school expansion.
On Sept. 11, 2001, terrorists attacked the United States. It
began that morning, as two hijacked airplanes crashed into
the World Trade Center Towers in New York. Later that
morning, at 9:45 a.m. hijacked American Airlines Flight 77
crashed into the Pentagon. The capital was placed on
emergency alert. Congressional leaders were taken away in
hiding, all federal offices, national monuments, and streets
were cleared of people. This event began a war on terrorism
within the United States and the world, that continues
today.
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