Washington, D.C. Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! == History == {{Main|History of Washington, D.C.}} {{For timeline|Timeline of Washington, D.C.}} Various tribes of the [[Algonquian peoples|Algonquian]]-speaking [[Piscataway people]], also known as the Conoy, inhabited the lands around the [[Potomac River]] and present-day Washington, D.C., when Europeans first arrived and colonized the region in the early 17th century. The [[Nacotchtank]], also called the Nacostines by [[Catholic missions|Catholic missionaries]], maintained settlements around the [[Anacostia River]] in present-day Washington, D.C. Conflicts with [[European colonization of the Americas|European colonists]] and neighboring tribes ultimately displaced the Piscataway people, some of whom established a new settlement in 1699 near [[Point of Rocks, Maryland]].<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BaJrnQEACAAJ |title=Ancient Washington: American Indian Cultures of the Potomac Valley |last1=Humphrey |first1=Robert Lee |last2=Chambers |first2=Mary Elizabeth |date=1977 |publisher=George Washington University |isbn=978-1-888028-04-1 |access-date=March 6, 2018 |archive-date=January 26, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210126020432/https://books.google.com/books?id=BaJrnQEACAAJ |url-status=live }}</ref> === Founding === [[File:USCapitol1800.jpg|thumb|left|[[United States Congress|Congress]] began assembling in the new [[United States Capitol]] in 1800, after the nation's capital was moved from [[Philadelphia]].]] Several other cities served as the U.S. capital before 1800. [[Philadelphia]] served as the capital [[List of capitals in the United States|on five separate occasions]] during the [[American Revolution]] and its aftermath from May 1775 to July 1776, December 1776 to February 1777, March 1777 to September 1777, July 1778, July 1778 to March 1781, and March 1781 to June 1783. The [[Continental Congress]] was briefly based in five additional locations: [[York, Pennsylvania]], in September 1777; [[Princeton, New Jersey]], in 1783; [[Annapolis, Maryland]], from November 1783 to August 1784; [[Trenton, New Jersey]], from November to December 1784; and [[New York City]] from January 1785 to March 1789. On October 6, 1783, after the capital was forced by the [[Pennsylvania Mutiny of 1783]] to move to Princeton, Congress resolved to consider a new location for it.<ref name="JCC120">{{cite journal |url=https://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage?collId=lljc&fileName=025%2Flljc025.db&recNum=120&itemLink=r%3Fammem%2Fhlaw%3A%40field%28DOCID+%40lit%28jc02530%29%29%230250129&linkText=1 |journal=Journals of the Continental Congress |date=October 1783 |page=647 |title=October 6, 1783 |publisher=[[Library of Congress]]: [[American Memory]] |access-date=January 14, 2022 |archive-date=January 15, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220115011035/https://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage?collId=lljc&fileName=025%2Flljc025.db&recNum=120&itemLink=r%3Fammem%2Fhlaw%3A%40field%28DOCID+%40lit%28jc02530%29%29%230250129&linkText=1 |url-status=live }}</ref> The following day, [[Elbridge Gerry]] of Massachusetts moved "that buildings for the use of Congress be erected on the banks of the [[Delaware River|Delaware]] near [[Trenton, New Jersey|Trenton]], or of the [[Potomac River|Potomac]], near [[Georgetown (Washington, D.C.)|Georgetown]], provided a suitable district can be procured on one of the rivers as aforesaid, for a federal town".<ref name="JCC127">{{cite journal |url=https://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage?collId=lljc&fileName=025%2Flljc025.db&recNum=127&itemLink=r%3Fammem%2Fhlaw%3A%40field%28DOCID+%40lit%28jc02530%29%29%230250129&linkText=1 |journal=Journals of the Continental Congress |date=October 1783 |page=654 |title=October 7, 1783 |publisher=[[Library of Congress]]: [[American Memory]] |access-date=January 14, 2022 |archive-date=January 14, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220114184055/https://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage?collId=lljc&fileName=025%2Flljc025.db&recNum=127&itemLink=r%3Fammem%2Fhlaw%3A%40field%28DOCID+%40lit%28jc02530%29%29%230250129&linkText=1 |url-status=live }}</ref> In [[Federalist No. 43]], published January 23, 1788, [[James Madison]] argued that the new [[Federal government of the United States|federal government]] would need authority over a national capital to provide for its own maintenance and safety.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://thomas.loc.gov/home/fedpapers/fed_43.html |title=The Federalist No. 43 |access-date=September 5, 2011 |last=Madison |first=James |work=The Independent Journal |publisher=Library of Congress |archive-date=September 14, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130914085128/http://thomas.loc.gov/home/fedpapers/fed_43.html |url-status=dead}}</ref> The Pennsylvania Mutiny of 1783 emphasized the need for the national government not to rely on any state for its own security.<ref>{{Cite book |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5Q81AAAAIAAJ |title=Centennial History of the City of Washington, D.C. |last1=Crew |first1=Harvey W. |last2=Webb |first2=William Bensing |last3=Wooldridge |first3=John |publisher=United Brethren Publishing House |year=1892 |location=Dayton, OH |page=66 |chapter=IV. Washington Becomes The Capital |access-date=June 16, 2015 |archive-date=November 18, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161118202557/https://books.google.com/books?id=5Q81AAAAIAAJ |url-status=live }}</ref> [[Article One of the United States Constitution#Section 8: Powers of Congress|Article One, Section Eight]] of the [[Constitution of the United States|U.S. Constitution]] permits the establishment of a "District (not exceeding ten miles square) as may, by cession of particular states, and the acceptance of Congress, become the seat of the government of the United States".<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.archives.gov/exhibits/charters/constitution_transcript.html |title=Constitution of the United States |access-date=July 22, 2008 |publisher=[[National Archives and Records Administration]] |archive-date=August 19, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110819235454/http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/charters/constitution_transcript.html |url-status=live }}</ref> However, the constitution does not specify a location for the capital. In the [[Compromise of 1790]], Madison, [[Alexander Hamilton]], and [[Thomas Jefferson]] agreed that the federal government would pay each state's remaining [[American Revolutionary War|Revolutionary War]] debts in exchange for establishing the new national capital in the [[Southern United States]].<ref name=Crew124>{{cite book |last1=Crew |first1=Harvey W. |last2=Webb |first2=William Bensing |last3=Wooldridge |first3=John |title=Centennial History of the City of Washington, D.C. |publisher=United Brethren Publishing House |year=1892 |location=Dayton, OH |url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_5Q81AAAAIAAJ |page=[https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_5Q81AAAAIAAJ/page/n131 124]}}</ref>{{efn|By 1790, the Southern states had largely repaid their overseas debts from the Revolutionary War. The Northern states had not, and wanted the federal government to take over their outstanding liabilities. Southern Congressmen agreed to the plan in return for establishing the new national capital at their preferred site on the Potomac River.<ref name="Crew124" />}} On July 9, 1790, Congress passed the [[Residence Act]], which approved the creation of a national capital on the [[Potomac River]]. Under the Residence Act, the exact location was to be selected by President [[George Washington]], who signed the bill into law on July 16, 1790. Formed from land donated by Maryland and Virginia, the initial shape of the federal district was a square measuring {{convert|10|mi|km}} on each side and totaling {{convert|100|sqmi|km2|0}}.<ref name=Crew89>{{cite book |last1=Crew |first1=Harvey W. |last2=Webb |first2=William Bensing |last3=Wooldridge |first3=John |title=Centennial History of the City of Washington, D.C. |publisher=United Brethren Publishing House |year=1892 |location=Dayton, OH |url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_5Q81AAAAIAAJ |pages=[https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_5Q81AAAAIAAJ/page/n96 89]β92}}</ref>{{efn|The Residence Act allowed the President to select a location within Maryland as far east as the [[Anacostia River]]. However, Washington shifted the federal territory's borders to the southeast and rotated them to include [[Alexandria, Virginia|Alexandria]] at the district's southern tip. In 1791, Congress amended the Residence Act to approve the new site, including territory ceded by Virginia.<ref name=Crew89 />}} Two pre-existing settlements were included in the territory, the port of [[Georgetown (Washington, D.C.)|Georgetown]], founded in 1751,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.nps.gov/history/nr/travel/Wash/dc15.htm |title=Georgetown Historic District |access-date=July 5, 2008 |publisher=[[National Park Service]] |archive-date=July 2, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080702044337/http://www.nps.gov/history/nr/travel/wash/dc15.htm |url-status=live }}</ref> and the [[port]] city of [[Alexandria, Virginia]], founded in 1749.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.alexandriahistorical.org/history.html |title=Alexandria's History |access-date=April 4, 2009 |publisher=Alexandria Historical Society |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090404012136/http://www.alexandriahistorical.org/history.html |archive-date=April 4, 2009}}</ref> In 1791 and 1792, a team led by [[Andrew Ellicott]], including Ellicott's brothers [[Joseph Ellicott|Joseph]] and [[Benjamin Ellicott|Benjamin]] and African American [[astronomer]] [[Benjamin Banneker]], whose parents had been enslaved, surveyed the borders of the federal district and placed [[boundary markers of the original District of Columbia|boundary stones]] at every mile point; many of these stones are still standing.<ref>{{cite book |last=Bordewich |first=Fergus M. |title=Washington: the making of the American capital |year=2008 |publisher=HarperCollins |isbn=978-0-06-084238-3 |pages=76β80 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kKKMJ7Rqta8C |access-date=June 16, 2015 |archive-date=September 5, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150905234220/https://books.google.com/books?id=kKKMJ7Rqta8C |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.boundarystones.org/ |title=Boundary Stones of the District of Columbia |publisher=BoundaryStones.org |access-date=May 27, 2008 |archive-date=December 17, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141217004724/http://boundarystones.org/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Both Maryland and Virginia were [[slave states]], and [[Slavery in the District of Columbia|slavery existed]] in the District from its founding. The building of Washington likely relied in significant part on slave labor, and slave receipts have been found for the White House, Capitol Building, and establishment of Georgetown University. The city became an important [[slave market]] and a center of the nation's [[Slave trade in the United States|internal slave trade]].<ref>{{Cite news |last=Salentri |first=Mia |date=2020-07-21 |title=How many buildings in DC were built by slaves? |url=https://www.wusa9.com/article/entertainment/television/programs/q-and-a/dc-enslaved-labor-buildings-the-q-and-a/65-05b18bf4-f1db-46e2-8463-e14aa21b550b |access-date=2024-04-12 |work=WUSA |language=en-US |The Q&A}}</ref><ref>{{Cite magazine |last=Davis |first=Damara |year=2010 |title=Slavery and Emancipation in the Nation's Capital |url=https://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2010/spring/dcslavery.html# |access-date=2024-04-12 |magazine=Prologue Magazine |publisher=U.S. National Archives |edition=Spring |volume=42 |issue=1}}</ref> After its survey, the new [[federal city]] was constructed on the north bank of the Potomac River, to the east of Georgetown centered on [[Capitol Hill]]. On September 9, 1791, three commissioners overseeing the capital's construction named the city in honor of President Washington. The same day, the federal district was named Columbia, a feminine form of [[Christopher Columbus|Columbus]], which was [[Columbia (personification)|a poetic name for the United States]] commonly used at that time.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Crew |first1=Harvey W. |last2=Webb |first2=William Bensing |last3=Wooldridge |first3=John |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5Q81AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA101 |title=Centennial History of the City of Washington, D.C. |publisher=United Brethren Publishing House |place=Dayton, OH |page=101 |year=1892 |access-date=June 1, 2011 |archive-date=January 26, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210126020434/https://books.google.com/books?id=5Q81AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA101 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Get to Know D.C. |url=http://www.historydc.org/aboutdc.aspx |publisher=Historical Society of Washington, D.C. |access-date=July 11, 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100918042009/http://www.historydc.org/aboutdc.aspx |archive-date=September 18, 2010}}</ref> Congress held its first session there on November 17, 1800.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/minute/The_Senate_Moves_to_Washington.htm |title=The Senate Moves to Washington |access-date=July 11, 2008 |date=February 14, 2006 |publisher=[[United States Senate]] |archive-date=July 5, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170705105922/https://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/minute/The_Senate_Moves_to_Washington.htm |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=https://ghostsofdc.org/2013/07/24/washington-dc-district-of-columbia/ |title=Why Is Washington, D.C. Called the District of Columbia? |last=Tom |date=July 24, 2013 |website=Ghosts of DC |language=en-US |access-date=February 20, 2019 |archive-date=February 20, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190220124034/https://ghostsofdc.org/2013/07/24/washington-dc-district-of-columbia/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Congress passed the [[District of Columbia Organic Act of 1801]], which officially organized the district and placed the entire territory under the [[District of Columbia home rule|exclusive control]] of the federal government. The area within the district was organized into two counties, the [[Washington County, D.C.|County of Washington]] to the east and north of the Potomac and the [[Alexandria County, D.C.|County of Alexandria]] to the west and south.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Crew |first1=Harvey W. |last2=Webb |first2=William Bensing |last3=Wooldridge |first3=John |title=Centennial History of the City of Washington, D.C. |chapter=IV. Permanent Capital Site Selected |publisher=United Brethren Publishing House |year=1892 |location=Dayton, Ohio |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5Q81AAAAIAAJ |page=103 |access-date=June 16, 2015 |archive-date=November 18, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161118202557/https://books.google.com/books?id=5Q81AAAAIAAJ |url-status=live }}</ref> After the Act's passage, citizens in the district were no longer considered residents of Maryland or Virginia, which ended their representation in Congress.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.americanbar.org/content/dam/aba/migrated/poladv/letters/electionlaw/060914testimony_dcvoting.authcheckdam.pdf |title=Statement on the subject of The District of Columbia Fair and Equal Voting Rights Act |access-date=August 10, 2011 |date=September 14, 2006 |publisher=[[American Bar Association]] |archive-date=October 16, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111016174336/http://www.americanbar.org/content/dam/aba/migrated/poladv/letters/electionlaw/060914testimony_dcvoting.authcheckdam.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> === Burning during War of 1812 === {{Main|Burning of Washington}} [[File:British_Burning_Washington.jpg|thumb|After their victory at the [[Battle of Bladensburg]] in 1814, the [[British Army during the American Revolutionary War|British Army]] burned the [[White House]] and other buildings during a one-day occupation of Washington, D.C.]] On August 24, 1814, during the [[War of 1812]], [[United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland|British]] forces invaded and occupied the city after defeating an American force [[Battle of Bladensburg|at Bladensburg]]. In retaliation for acts of destruction by American troops in [[the Canadas]], the British set fire to government buildings in the city, gutting the [[United States Capitol]], the [[Treasury Building (Washington, D.C.)|Treasury Building]], and the [[White House]] in what became known as the [[burning of Washington]]. However, a storm forced the British to evacuate the city after just 24 hours.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.whitehousehistory.org/whha_classroom/classroom_documents-1812.html |title=Saving History: Dolley Madison, the White House, and the War of 1812 |access-date=February 21, 2010 |publisher=White House Historical Association |archive-date=August 10, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110810154832/http://www.whitehousehistory.org/whha_classroom/classroom_documents-1812.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Most government buildings were repaired quickly, but the Capitol, which was largely under construction at the time, would not be completed in its current form until 1868.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.aoc.gov/history/us-capitol-building |title=A Brief Construction History of the Capitol |access-date=December 2, 2012 |publisher=Architect of the Capitol |archive-date=December 10, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121210221221/http://www.aoc.gov/history/us-capitol-building |url-status=live }}</ref> === Retrocession and the Civil War === {{Main|District of Columbia retrocession|Washington, D.C., in the American Civil War}} [[File:LincolnInauguration1861a.jpg|thumb|The [[United States Capitol dome|U.S. Capitol dome]] was under construction during [[Abraham Lincoln's first inaugural address|Lincoln's first inauguration]] on March 4, 1861, five weeks before the start of the [[American Civil War]].]] In the 1830s, the district's southern territory of [[Alexandria, Virginia|Alexandria]] declined economically, due in part to its neglect by Congress.<ref name=richards>{{cite journal |last=Richards |first=Mark David |date=SpringβSummer 2004 |title=The Debates over the Retrocession of the District of Columbia, 1801β2004 |journal=[[Washington History]] |pages=54β82 |url=http://www.dcvote.org/pdfs/mdrretro062004.pdf |access-date=January 16, 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090118053203/http://www.dcvote.org/pdfs/mdrretro062004.pdf |archive-date=January 18, 2009}}</ref> Alexandria was a major market in the [[Slave trade in the United States|domestic slave trade]] and pro-slavery residents feared that [[Abolitionism in the United States|abolitionists]] in Congress would end [[Slavery in the District of Columbia|slavery in the district]], further depressing the local economy. Alexandria's citizens petitioned Virginia to retake the land it had donated to form the district, a process known as [[District of Columbia retrocession|retrocession]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Greeley |first=Horace |title=The American Conflict: A History of the Great Rebellion in the United States |publisher=G. & C.W. Sherwood |year=1864 |location=Chicago |url=https://archive.org/details/americanconflic06greegoog |pages=[https://archive.org/details/americanconflic06greegoog/page/n154 142]β144}}</ref> The [[Virginia General Assembly]] voted in February 1846, to accept the return of Alexandria. On July 9, 1846, Congress went further, agreeing to return all territory that Virginia had ceded to the district during its formation. This left the district's area consisting only of the portion originally donated by Maryland.<ref name=richards /> Confirming the fears of pro-slavery Alexandrians, the [[Compromise of 1850]] outlawed the slave trade in the district, although not slavery itself.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.loc.gov/rr/program/bib/ourdocs/Compromise1850.html |title=Compromise of 1850 |access-date=July 24, 2008 |date=September 21, 2007 |publisher=[[Library of Congress]] |archive-date=September 3, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110903103833/http://www.loc.gov/rr/program/bib/ourdocs/Compromise1850.html |url-status=live }}</ref> The outbreak of the [[American Civil War]] in 1861 led to the expansion of the federal government and notable growth in the city's population, including a large influx of freed slaves.<ref name="Dodd">{{cite book |last=Dodd |first=Walter Fairleigh |title=The government of the District of Columbia |publisher=John Byrne & Co. |year=1909 |location=Washington, D.C. |url=https://archive.org/details/governmentdistr01doddgoog |pages=[https://archive.org/details/governmentdistr01doddgoog/page/n46 40]β45}}</ref> President [[Abraham Lincoln]] signed the [[Compensated Emancipation Act]] in 1862, which ended slavery in the district, freeing about 3,100 slaves in the district nine months before the [[Emancipation Proclamation]].<ref name=emancipation>{{cite web |url=http://emancipation.dc.gov/page/ending-slavery-district-columbia |title=Ending Slavery in the District of Columbia |access-date=May 12, 2012 |publisher=D.C. Office of the Secretary |archive-date=October 23, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121023225745/http://emancipation.dc.gov/page/ending-slavery-district-columbia |url-status=live }}</ref> In 1868, Congress granted the district's [[African American]] male residents the right to vote in municipal elections.<ref name="Dodd" /> === Growth and redevelopment === {{See also|City Beautiful movement}} [[File:Army Headquarters in Washington - State, War, and Navy Building, c. 1888 (cropped).jpg|thumb|The [[Eisenhower Executive Office Building]], built between 1871 and 1888, was the world's largest office building until 1943, when it was surpassed by [[The Pentagon]].]] By 1870, the district's population had grown 75% in a decade to nearly 132,000 people,<ref name="histpop">{{cite web |url=https://www.census.gov/content/dam/Census/library/working-papers/2002/demo/POP-twps0056.pdf|title=Historical Census Statistics on Population Totals By Race, 1790 to 1990 |access-date=November 6, 2023 |date=September 13, 2002 |publisher=[[United States Census Bureau]] |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110804230047/http://www.census.gov/population/www/documentation/twps0056/tab23.pdf |archive-date=August 4, 2011}}</ref> yet the city still lacked paved roads and basic sanitation. Some members of Congress suggested moving the capital farther west, but President [[Ulysses S. Grant]] refused to consider the proposal.<ref>{{cite book |last=Bordewich |first=Fergus M. |title=Washington: the making of the American capital |year=2008 |publisher=HarperCollins |isbn=978-0-06-084238-3 |page=272 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kKKMJ7Rqta8C |access-date=June 16, 2015 |archive-date=September 5, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150905234220/https://books.google.com/books?id=kKKMJ7Rqta8C |url-status=live }}</ref> In the [[District of Columbia Organic Act of 1871|Organic Act of 1871]], Congress repealed the individual charters of the cities of Washington and [[Georgetown (Washington, D.C.)|Georgetown]], abolished [[Washington County, D.C.|Washington County]], and created a new territorial government for the whole District of Columbia.<ref>{{cite web |title=An Act to provide a Government for the District of Columbia |url=http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage?collId=llsl&fileName=016/llsl016.db&recNum=0454 |work=Statutes at Large, 41st Congress, 3rd Session |access-date=July 10, 2011 |publisher=[[Library of Congress]] |archive-date=January 20, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130120224357/http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage?collId=llsl&fileName=016%2Fllsl016.db&recNum=0454 |url-status=live }}</ref> These steps made "the city of Washington...legally indistinguishable from the District of Columbia."<ref name="Tikkanen-2023" /> In 1873, President Grant appointed [[Alexander Robey Shepherd]] as Governor of the District of Columbia. Shepherd authorized large projects that modernized the city but bankrupted its government. In 1874, Congress replaced the territorial government with an appointed three-member board of commissioners.<ref>{{cite book |last=Wilcox |first=Delos Franklin|author-link=Delos Franklin Wilcox |title=Great cities in America: their problems and their government |year=1910 |publisher=The Macmillan Company |pages=[https://archive.org/details/greatcitiesinam00wilcgoog/page/n43 27]β30 |url=https://archive.org/details/greatcitiesinam00wilcgoog}}</ref> In 1888, the city's [[streetcars in Washington, D.C.|first motorized streetcars]] began service. Their introduction generated growth in areas of the district beyond the City of Washington's original boundaries, leading to an expansion of the district over the next few decades.<ref name=neighborhoods>{{cite book |title=Washington at Home: An Illustrated History of Neighborhoods in the Nation's Capital |year=2010 |publisher=Johns Hopkins University Press |isbn=978-0-8018-9353-7 |pages=1β11 |edition=2 |editor=Kathryn Schneider Smith}}</ref> Georgetown's street grid and other administrative details were formally merged with those of the City of Washington in 1895.<ref name=Tindall>{{cite book |last=Tindall |first=William |title=Origin and government of the District of Columbia |year=1907 |publisher=U.S. Government Printing Office |location=Washington, D.C. |pages=[https://archive.org/details/origingovernment02tind/page/26 26]β28 |url=https://archive.org/details/origingovernment02tind}}</ref> However, the city had poor housing and strained public works, leading it to become the first city in the nation to undergo [[urban renewal]] projects as part of the [[City Beautiful movement]] in the early 20th century.<ref name=ramroth>{{cite book |last=Ramroth |first=William |title=Planning for Disaster |year=2007 |publisher=Kaplan |isbn=978-1-4195-9373-4 |page=[https://archive.org/details/planningfordisas0000ramr/page/91 91]| chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BgTpVyDyWDIC |chapter=The City Beautiful Movement |url=https://archive.org/details/planningfordisas0000ramr/page/91}}</ref> The City Beautiful movement built heavily upon the already-implemented [[L'Enfant Plan]], with the new [[McMillan Plan]] leading urban development in the city throughout the movement. Much of the old [[Victorian architecture|Victorian]] [[National Mall|Mall]] was replaced with modern [[Neoclassical architecture|Neoclassical]] and [[Beaux-Arts architecture]]; these designs are still prevalent in the city's governmental buildings today. Increased federal spending under the [[New Deal]] in the 1930s led to the construction of new government buildings, memorials, and museums in the district,<ref>{{cite book |last=Gelernter |first=Mark |title=History of American Architecture |year=2001 |publisher=Manchester University Press |isbn=978-0-7190-4727-5 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tCe8AAAAIAAJ |page=248 |access-date=June 16, 2015 |archive-date=September 5, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150905234845/https://books.google.com/books?id=tCe8AAAAIAAJ |url-status=live }}</ref> though the chairman of the House Subcommittee on District Appropriations, [[Ross A. Collins]] of [[Mississippi]], justified cuts to funds for welfare and education for local residents by saying that "my constituents wouldn't stand for spending money on niggers."<ref>''[https://books.google.com/books?id=feb5BE4wvq4C&dq=constituents%20wouldn't%20stand%20for%20spending%20money%20on%20niggers.&pg=PA94 Home Rule or House Rule? Congress and the Erosion of Local Governance in the District of Columbia] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210813155247/https://books.google.com/books?id=feb5BE4wvq4C&lpg=PA94&dq=constituents%20wouldn%27t%20stand%20for%20spending%20money%20on%20niggers.&hl=pt-BR&pg=PA94 |date=August 13, 2021 }}'' by [[Michael K. Fauntroy]], [[University Press of America]], 2003 at [[Google Books]], page 94</ref> [[World War II]] led to an expansion of federal employees in the city;<ref>{{cite book |last=Williams |first=Paul Kelsey |title=Washington, D.C.: the World War II years |year=2004 |publisher=Arcadia Publishing |isbn=978-0-7385-1636-3 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GtVIlFGursEC |access-date=June 16, 2015 |archive-date=September 6, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150906000441/https://books.google.com/books?id=GtVIlFGursEC |url-status=live }}</ref> by 1950, the district's population reached its peak of 802,178 residents.<ref name="histpop" /> === Civil rights and home rule era === {{See also|1968 Washington, D.C., riots|District of Columbia home rule}} [[File:IhaveadreamMarines.jpg|thumb|The [[March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom|March on Washington]] at the [[Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool]] on August 28, 1963]] The [[Twenty-third Amendment to the United States Constitution]] was ratified in 1961, granting the district three votes in the [[Electoral College (United States)|Electoral College]] for the election of president and vice president, but still not affording the city's residents representation in Congress.<ref>{{cite web |title=Twenty-third Amendment |url=https://www.law.cornell.edu/anncon/html/amdt23_user.html |work=CRS Annotated Constitution |publisher=Legal Information Institute (Cornell University Law School) |access-date=August 28, 2012 |archive-date=August 30, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120830173738/http://www.law.cornell.edu/anncon/html/amdt23_user.html |url-status=live }}</ref> After the [[Assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.|assassination of civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr.]] on April 4, 1968, [[1968 Washington, D.C., riots|riots broke out in the city]], primarily in the U Street, 14th Street, 7th Street, and H Street corridors, which were predominantly black residential and commercial areas. The riots raged for three days until more than 13,600 federal troops and [[Army National Guard|Washington, D.C., Army National Guardsmen]] stopped the violence. Many stores and other buildings were burned, and rebuilding from the riots was not completed until the late 1990s.<ref>{{cite news |first=Paul |last=Schwartzman |author2=Robert E. Pierre |title=From Ruins To Rebirth |date=April 6, 2008 |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/04/05/AR2008040501607.html |newspaper=The Washington Post |access-date=June 6, 2008 |archive-date=May 4, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110504041451/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/04/05/AR2008040501607.html |url-status=live }}</ref> In 1973, Congress enacted the [[District of Columbia Home Rule Act]] providing for an elected mayor and 13-member council for the district.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.abfa.com/ogc/hract.htm |title=District of Columbia Home Rule Act |access-date=May 27, 2008 |date=February 1999 |publisher=Government of the District of Columbia |archive-date=August 26, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110826223320/http://www.abfa.com/ogc/hract.htm |url-status=live }}</ref> In 1975, [[Walter Washington]] became the district's first elected and first black mayor.<ref>{{cite news |last=Mathews |first=Jay |title=City's 1st Mayoral Race, as Innocent as Young Love |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/local/2000/mayor101199.htm |newspaper=The Washington Post |date=October 11, 1999 |page=A1 |access-date=November 29, 2015 |archive-date=October 14, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171014050258/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/local/2000/mayor101199.htm |url-status=live }}</ref> Since the 1980s, the [[District of Columbia statehood movement|D.C. statehood movement]] has grown in prominence. In 2016, a [[2016 Washington, D.C., statehood referendum|referendum on D.C. statehood]] resulted in an 85% support among Washington, D.C., voters for it to become the nation's [[51st state]]. In March 2017, the city's congressional delegate [[Eleanor Holmes Norton]] introduced a bill for statehood. Reintroduced in 2019 and 2021 as the [[Washington, D.C., Admission Act]], the [[United States House of Representatives|U.S. House of Representatives]] passed it in April 2021. After not progressing in the Senate, the statehood bill was introduced again in January 2023.<ref>{{cite news |url= https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2023/01/24/dc-statehood-senate-bill/ |title= D.C. leaders herald Senate statehood bill despite steep odds |newspaper= The Washington Post |first= Meagan |last= Flynn |date= January 24, 2023 |access-date= July 18, 2023 |archive-date= March 29, 2023 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20230329171144/https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2023/01/24/dc-statehood-senate-bill/ |url-status= live }}</ref> Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here. You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource (see Christianpedia:Copyrights for details). Do not submit copyrighted work without permission! 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