District of Columbia statehood movement

The District of Columbia statehood movement is a political movement that advocates making the District of Columbia a U.S. state. As the national capital, the District of Columbia is a federal district under the direct jurisdiction of the United States Congress. Statehood would grant the District voting representation in the Congress and full control over local affairs. For most of the modern statehood movement, the new state's name would have been "New Columbia"; however, the D.C. City Council changed the proposed name to "State of Washington, D.C." in October 2016, in which "D.C." would stand for "Douglass Commonwealth", a reference to abolitionist Frederick Douglass.

Statehood for the District, which is also known as Washington, D.C., might be achieved by an act of Congress, under the power granted to Congress under Article Four, Section 3 of the U.S. Constitution. However, there is some debate as to whether simple legislation would be sufficient to grant statehood to Washington, which is the seat of the United States federal government.

An alternative proposal is to reincorporate the District of Columbia into the state of Maryland.

In 1783, a crowd of disbanded Revolutionary War soldiers angry about not having been paid, gathered to protest outside the building where the Continental Congress was meeting. The soldiers blocked the door and initially refused to allow the delegates to leave. Despite requests from the Congress, the Pennsylvania state government declined to call out its militia to deal with the unruly mob, and so Congress was forced to abruptly adjourn to New Jersey. This led to the widespread belief that Congress needed control over the national capital. As James Madison wrote in The Federalist No. 43, "Without it, not only the public authority might be insulted and its proceedings interrupted with impunity; but a dependence of the members of the general government on the State comprehending the seat of the government, for protection in the exercise of their duty, might bring on the national councils an imputation of awe or influence, equally dishonorable to the government and dissatisfactory to the other members of the Confederacy." This belief resulted in the creation of a national capital, separate from any state, by the Constitution's District Clause.

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