Even before coming of age, DC was nearly completely destroyed. During the War of against Great Britain, enemy forces invaded the city and burned much of it to the ground, including the newly completed White House, the Capitol and the Library of Congress including all of its books.
After the devastation, the city remained small, especially in terms of permanent residents. Soon it would become smaller in physical size as well. In , the portion of the city that had originally belonged to Virginia was retroceded, after the voters of Alexandria elected to leave DC, feeling that they had been left out of development on the other side of the river.
You can still see some surviving, original markers for the District today. The city only increased in size as a result of the Civil War. Slaves owned in Washington were emancipated on April 16, , nine months before the Emancipation Proclamation, and it therefore became a hub for freed slaves. After, it remained a home to a significant and vibrant African American population, which included abolitionist Frederick Douglass. A substantial army was set up just to protect the capital during the war, and the federal government grew around this administration.
Northern states wanted the capital to be in the North and for the federal government to assume their debts from the Revolutionary War, but southern states that had already paid off much of their debt objected.
The issue deadlocked Congress and provoked bitter arguments until then-Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson hosted a pivotal dinner with Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton, who sided with the northern states, and Virginia Congressman James Madison. The result was the Residence Act, which set a permanent capital in what became Washington, D.
The law gave the U. He chose a location next to Georgetown, and Maryland and Virginia ceded the land to the federal government. Congress took over jurisdiction in February Here's how cherry blossoms came to the U. People already living in the area were abruptly disenfranchised by the creation of Washington, D. This rankled, and for the last two centuries, Washington residents have pushed to rule themselves. Though they gained a municipal charter in —which came with the right to elect a member city council—it was abruptly dumped in when Washington was temporarily absorbed into a territorial government, then ruled by three presidentially appointed commissioners.
Washington residents continued to pressure the federal government for broader rights. In , they gained the right to vote for president with the passage of the 23rd Amendment , and in , the Home Rule Act granted them a representative local government with a mayor and city council.
These pictures reveal the real D. But Washingtonians still lack the self-governance and voting rights enjoyed by other Americans.
Local laws in Washington still are subject to Congressional review. They have no Congressional representation aside from a nonvoting delegate in the House of Representatives.
And despite increasing pressure to become a 51st state, the District is still disenfranchised to this day. All rights reserved. Why isn't Washington, D. It started with a drunken mob. Residents have incrementally gained voting rights and self-governance since Congress established jurisdiction over the U. However, today's , Washingtonians still do not have voting representation in Congress. Share Tweet Email.
Why it's so hard to treat pain in infants. The s system that denied D. During that time, D. By then, many residents had moved to the suburbs of Maryland and Virginia where they had full voting rights. Black D. The first was the right to vote for the president and vice president through the 23rd Amendment, ratified in The city held its first presidential election in , voting overwhelmingly for the sitting president Lyndon B.
Still, there were drawbacks to this victory. Even though D. Since , D. The scene at a polling place in the nation's capital where residents were allowed to vote for the first time since , on November 3. Self-governance was another battle. Despite such resistance, D. The next year, D. Washington as its first home-rule mayor. Still, there were limitations on what the new home-rule government could do.
Congress has the right to reject any laws the D. House of Representatives.
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