What's the deal with D.C.?

[CanuckAmok]

It's in the state of Maryland, right? How come it's "Washington, D.C.", not "Washington, Maryland"? What's the purpose of the "District of Columbia" designation? Are there other, less visible 'districts' in the U.S.?

[dorktv]

1. I am guessing you are not from the US and will try to answer you:

Washington D.C. is the United States Capital. It is like the Australian capital and not part of any state.

[CanuckAmok]

2. Well, that's what I'm trying to clear up.

I mean, Ottawa, the Capitol of Canada, is "Ottawa, Ontario". London, the Capitol of England, is "London, England".

What, exactly is the reason behind the "District of Columbia"?

[Faygo Kid]

3. Compromise between northern and southern states

Original capital was in New York City. DC was created between the northern and southern states as a compromise location. The Framers of the Constitution felt it would give any one state too much power to have the national capital located in it, so they created the District of Columbia as a "neutral site," without representation in the Congress. And that's the scoop.

[CanuckAmok]

5. interesting...

So, it's a post-Civil War thing, I assume?

Are there other "Districts" in the US, or just that one?

[Bunny]

6. No, it's pre-civil war.

Goes back to the founding fathers. I'm not sure who was the first president to be stationed there, but it was established well before the civil war.

[Faygo Kid]

10. Adams was the first to live in the White House

Only briefly, before his term expired in 1801. Washington never actually lived in DC. The capital was then in New York, and he spent much of his time at Mt. Vernon, very near DC.

[youngred]

17. No, the Capitol he spent most of his presidency in was Philadelphia

though he was inagurated in NY

[Faygo Kid]

21. I stand corrected. You are right.

Embarrassing brain lapse. I knew that. The older I get, the more it happens.

[Faygo Kid]

8. No, not a post-Civil War thing. No other such districts in U.S.

It was part of the debate about the Constitution (1787), and one of many such compromises. From the very start, there was tension between the North and South in terms of influence and policy, which culminated in the Civil War in 1861. There are no other such "districts" in the U.S., and never have been. A unique situation that solved a problem, that's all. Washington (a surveyor, remember) picked the site himself.

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

19. Well, not in the continential US, no... but Puerto Rico, the Virgin

Islands and Guam have the same status, technically, as the D.C.

[NorthernSpy]

nope

Washington was the capital well before the Civil War. Actually, it was the capital at the time of the War of 1812 -- which is why the British burned it.

As previously mentioned, New York was the capital originally. Then Philadelphia, then finally DC in 1800.


Mary

[dorktv]

4. I have never figured that out. Sounded stupid when I first learned it

and still does...I can get Washington, but to call it d.c.? Why no District of the US? DUS?

[mobuto]

12. Well

the Capital of the United States was chosen to be the City of Washington. Washington City was located within a section of land donated by Virginia and Maryland called the District of Columbia. In addition to holding Washington City, the District also included the towns of Georgetown and Alexandria.

Virginia eventually was given its land back, and Washington City grew to the point where it occupied all of the District of Columbia. So the two are now synonomous.

[Bertha Venation]

7. I didn't know the answer, so I looked it up.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica: *

Although the decision to locate the capital on the Potomac was largely a political compromise, selection of the exact site for the city was left to the newly elected president, George Washington. The chosen district < i.e., the District of Columbia > , or territory as it was first called, was 10 miles (16 km) square.

<snip>

Descriptions of life in early Washington reveal many of the shortcomings resulting from establishment of a capital city by fiat amid what was essentially a wilderness. . . . Until the introduction of the steam engine and the telegraph, a more or less continuous agitation went on in Congress and in the national press to move the capital because of its remoteness and inaccessibility.

Although < the burning of the Capitol, White House, and Navy Arsenal in 1814 > was rather inconsequential to the outcome of the War of 1812, it had the effect of solidifying Washington in the minds of many Americans as the national capital. Public indignation over destruction of the seat of government ended all significant movements to relocate the federal city, and Washington became the national capital in fact as well as in name.

<snip>

Originally, the city of Washington and the District of Columbia were not coextensive, either geographically or administratively. The 10-mile-square district was reduced by about one-third in 1847 by the return of the land south of the Potomac to the state of Virginia. Alexandria city resumed its former independent existence, while Arlington county was created from the remainder. Self-governing bodies within the district existed until 1895, when Georgetown was annexed by Washington.

The article doesn't reveal why the name "Columbia" was chosen.

Edited to add that the current size of the city of Washington, DC, is about 68 square miles while (as noted above) the original area designated for the District -- the actual capital district -- was 10 miles.

* can't offer a link -- it's a paid subscription

[CanuckAmok]

9. sorry about burning the WH down...it won't happen again, honest.

Thanks for the text BV!

[Faygo Kid]

11. Feel free to repeat, so long as the current resident is at home.

Just kidding, of course.

[Bertha Venation]

13. my pleasure -- I learned stuff I feel I should've known long ago.

And I work in that god-forsaken city. :shrug:

[primavera]

18. The federal government didn't want to rely on states

At one point while the capitol was in Philadelphia, rioters threatened its safety and the Pennsylvania state government did nothing to protect it. As a consequence, the feds concluded that they needed a territory of their own with its own police force and security protections which did not depend upon any individual state. Which is why the District of Columbia was carved out of Maryland and Virginia and to this day is not a part of any state. Which is also why DC residents have no political representation: the Constitution stipulates that elected representatives to Congress shall come from the states, and, since DC is not and cannot be a state according to the logic governing its creation, its inhabitants cannot have representation. Strangely enough, no one's volunteered to let us out of the burden of taxation or being subject to the draft... funny how that works.

But we're by no means alone. None of the other US territories and possessions, such as Samoa or the US Virgin Islands, for instance, are considered states either, even though they are part of US territory, so none of their residents are granted representation either. What can I say, it's a pretty fucked system.

[Thor_MN]

20. 10 miles square is 100 square miles

Just in case that anyone thought that DC grew to it's current size.

BTW, my little brother lives there and has always been PO'ed that while they get to vote for the POTUS, DC has no Electoral votes, so their votes don't really do anything other than to add to the popular vote counts.

[youngred]

23. DC has 3 electoral votes

but no representation in the congress (hence the bumper stickers)

[Scottie72]

14. There is a very slight chance this may change

I have heard that there is a slight push to have Washington DC become a state. It is hard to have a non-biased opinion on this because it would definitely favour Democrats. It would give DC probably 1 house represenative and 2 senators. All would likely be democrats so it doesn't have much chance at actually happening.

[mobuto]

15. It would definitely favor Democrats

Which is why it will never happen. Whenever the House is controlled by Democrats, DC's Congresswoman gets a vote, when its controlled by Republicans, she loses her right to vote.

But there's just no way the Republicans would ever consent to DC statehood unless a parallel Republican-leaning territory became a state at the same time. There just aren't any such territories.

So DC is basically stuck with taxation without representation.

On edit: To say that DC would "favor" Democrats is something of an understatement. In 2000, Bush won less than 9% of the vote here.

[youngred]

16. It's not part of Maryland

its not part of any state. It was bought from maryland for "capitol city".

[Snow]

22. Some other countries do that, too...

The capital of Korea, Seoul, is designated a 'special city', and even though it's in the middle of Kyongee province, it is not governed by Kyongee provincial government. Pusan as also a 'special city', likely because of its major port status. Also it used to be the second-largest city in the country; don't know if that's still the case.