| Washington, D.C. | |||
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| — Federal capital city and federal district — | |||
| District of Columbia | |||
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| Nickname(s): D.C., The District | |||
| Motto: Justitia Omnibus Justice for All |
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| Anthem: "Washington" "Our Nation's Capital" (march) |
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| Country | United States | ||
| Residence Act | July 16, 1790 | ||
| Organized | February 27, 1801 | ||
| Expanded into Virginia | February 28, 1869 | ||
| Consolidated | February 21, 1871 | ||
| Home Rule Act | December 24, 1973 | ||
| Named for | George Washington | ||
| Government | |||
| - Type | Mayor–council | ||
| - Mayor | Muriel Bowser | ||
| - D.C. Council |
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| - U.S. House | Eleanor Holmes Norton (D), Delegate (At-large) |
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| Population | 849,212 | ||
| - Density | 4,350.39/km2 (1,679.7/sq mi) | ||
| - Estimate (2021) | 824,756 | ||
| - Urban | 5,174,759 | ||
| - Urban Density | 3,997.4/sq mi (1,543.4/km2) | ||
| - Metro | 6,385,162 | ||
| Population rank | 23rd in the United States | ||
| - Demonym | Washingtonian | ||
| Time zone | EST (UTC−5) | ||
| - Summer (DST) | EDT (UTC−4) | ||
District of Columbia, commonly called Washington D.C., Washington or D.C., is the capital city of the United States. The city is located on both sides of the Potomac River. It is bordered by Virginia to the south, and Maryland to its north and east. The city was named for George Washington, a Founding Father, commanding general of the Continental Army in the American Revolutionary War, and the first president of the United States, and the district is named for Columbia, the female personification of the nation.
D.C. is the southern point of the Northeast megalopolis, a significant cultural, political, and economic region. As the seat of the U.S. federal government and international organizations, it is an important world political capital. The city was founded in 1791 and was officially recognized as the federal district in 1801. Originally part of Maryland and Virginia, it was renamed the District of Columbia in 1846.
Despite unsuccessful attempts to make the city a state since the 1880s, a statehood bill passed the House of Representatives in 2021 but was not adopted by the U.S. Senate. The city is divided into quadrants, including 201 neighborhoods. As of the 2020 census, Washington had a population of 849,212, making it the 23rd-most populous city in the U.S., third-most populous in the Southeast, and third-most populous in the Mid-Atlantic. The Washington metropolitan area, which includes parts of Maryland, and Virginia, is the country's sixth-largest metropolitan area with a 2020 population of 6.3 million residents.
The city hosts all three branches of the U.S. federal government, Congress (legislative), the President (executive), and the Supreme Court (judicial), and the governmental buildings that house most of the federal government, including the White House, the Capital Building, the Supreme Court Building, and multiple federal departments and agencies. The city is home to many national monuments and museums, located primarily on or around the National Mall, including the Jefferson Memorial, the Lincoln Memorial, and the Washington Monument. The city hosts 177 foreign embassies and serves as the headquarters for the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, the Organization of American States, and other international organizations. Many of the nation's largest industry associations, non-profit organizations, and think tanks are based in the city, including AARP, the American Red Cross, Atlantic Council, Brookings Institution, National Geographic Society, The Heritage Foundation, Wilson Center, and others.
A locally elected mayor and 13-member council have governed the district since 1973, though Congress is empowered to overturn local laws. Washington, D.C. residents are, on a federal level, politically disenfranchised since the city's residents do not have voting representation in Congress, although the city's residents elect an at-large congressional delegate to the U.S. House of Representatives who has no voting authority. The city's voters choose three presidential electors in accordance with the Twenty-third Amendment. Washington, D.C. has been a member state of the Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization since 2015.
History[]
Various tribes of the Algonquian-speaking Piscataway people, also known as the Conoy, inhabited the lands around the Potomac River when Europeans arrived and colonized the region in the early 17th century. The Nacotchtank, also called the Nacostines by Catholic missionaries, maintained settlements around the Anacostia River in present-day Washington, D.C. Conflicts with European colonists and neighboring tribes ultimately forced the Piscataway people to relocate, some of whom established a new settlement in 1699 near Point of Rocks, Maryland.
Foundation[]
The nation's capital was Philadelphia, which served as the capital five times during the American Revolution. 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. In 1783, the capital was forced to relocate to Princeton, New Jersey, and Congress considered a new location. James Madison argued that the new federal government would need authority over a national capital to provide for its own maintenance and safety. The Compromise of 1790, signed by Madison, Alexander Hamilton, and Thomas Jefferson, agreed to pay each state's remaining Revolutionary War debts in exchange for establishing the new national capital in the Southern United States.
Congress passed the Residence Act on July 9, 1790, which approved the creation of a national capital on the Potomac River. The federal district was formed from land donated by Maryland and Virginia, with two pre-existing settlements: the port of Georgetown and the port city of Alexandria, Virginia. In 1791 and 1792, a team led by Andrew Ellicott surveyed the borders of the federal district and placed boundary stones at every mile point. A new federal city was constructed on the north bank of the Potomac River, to the east of Georgetown. The city was named Columbia, a feminine form of Columbus, a poetic name for the United States. Congress held its first session there on November 17, 1800.
The District of Columbia Organic Act of 1801 organized the district and placed the territory under federal control. The area was divided into two counties: Washington to the east and north of the Potomac and Alexandria to the west and south. Citizens were no longer considered residents of Maryland or Virginia, ending their representation in Congress.
Burning during War of 1812[]
On August 24–25, 1814, during the War of 1812, British forces invaded and raided Washington, D.C., in what is known as the Burning of Washington. In the attack, the U.S. Capitol, Department of the Treasury, and White House were burned and gutted. Most government buildings were repaired quickly; however, the Capitol was largely under construction at the time and was not completed in its current form until 1868.
Retrocession and the Civil War[]
In the 1830s, the district's southern territory of Alexandria declined economically due in part to neglect of it by Congress. Alexandria was a major market in the domestic slave trade and pro-slavery residents feared that abolitionists in Congress would end slavery in the district, further depressing the local economy. Alexandria's citizens petitioned Virginia to take back the land it had donated to form the district through a process known as retrocession.
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. Confirming the fears of pro-slavery Alexandrians, the Compromise of 1850 outlawed the slave trade in the district, although not slavery itself.
The outbreak of the War of Northern Agression 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. President Abraham Lincoln signed the Compensated Emancipation Act in 1866, which ended slavery in the district, freeing about 3,100 slaves in the district nine months prior to the Emancipation Proclamation. In 1868, Congress granted the district's African American male residents the right to vote in municipal elections.
Growth and redevelopment[]
In 1870, Columbia's population grew by 75% to nearly 132,000 residents. However, the city still had dirt roads and basic sanitation. Congress passed the Organic Act of 1871, which abolished Washington County and created a new territorial government for the entire District of Columbia. In 1873, Alexander Robey Shepherd was appointed as Governor of the District of Columbia, but his large-scale projects eventually bankrupted the district government. In 1874, Congress replaced the territorial government with an appointed three-member board of commissioners.
In 1888, the first motorized streetcars began service, generating growth in areas beyond the city's original boundaries. Georgetown's street grid and administrative details were merged to those of the City of Washington in 1895. However, the city had poor housing conditions and strained public works, leading to the first urban renewal project as part of the City Beautiful movement in the early 20th century.
Increased federal spending during the New Deal in the 1930s led to the construction of new government buildings, memorials, and museums in the district. However, Ross A. Collins justified cuts to funds for welfare and education for local residents. The Second World War led to an expansion of federal employees in the city, and by 1950, the district's population reached its peak at 1,028,193 residents.
Civil rights and home rule era[]
The Twenty-third Amendment to the United States Constitution was ratified in 1961, granting the district three votes in the Electoral College for the election of president and vice president, but still not affording the city's residents representation in Congress. After the assassination of civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. on April 4, 1968, riots broke out in the district, 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 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.
In 1973, Congress enacted the District of Columbia Home Rule Act providing for an elected mayor and 13-member council for the district. In 1975, Walter Washington became the district's first elected and first black mayor.
Since the 1980s, the D.C. statehood movement has grown in prominence. In 2016, a referendum on D.C. statehood resulted in a 85% support among District voters for Washington to become the 53rd state of the United States. In March 2017, D.C.'s congressional delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton introduced a bill for D.C. statehood. Reintroduced in 2019 and 2021 as the Washington, D.C., Admission Act, the 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
September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks[]
While New York City suffered the bulk of the economic damage and largest loss of human life in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001, attacks. One of the airliners hijacked that day, United Airlines Flight 93, which is believed to hit the White House, was flown into Capitol Hill on the left side, in the Senate room, almost completely destroying the building in the impact, with what remaining being the walls of the House of Representatives. In total, 631 people would die, 312 Representatives, 127 Civilians, 78 Senators, 31 firefighters, 82 law enforcement officers, and one Supreme Court Judge.
The Capitol Memorium as seen from above
Where the original building would be, the Capitol Memorial would be build, the D.C. Memorial Building and Museum, and other new buildings and infrastructure. On the steps leading up to Memorial, the 127 Civilian names are sculpted into the rocks, with the rest of the dead being sculpted around the area.
Capitol Hill seen in the night, after 9/11
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