why ‘district of columbia’. is washington really a district of columbia? soooo…columbia owns it? what does that mean?
Columbia was specifically designed NOT to be a state, so they called it a district. That’s why they don’thave any senators or congresspeople, and didn’t even have any electors until about 40 or 50 years ago. Some sort of Federalist vs. StatesRights issue, I think…
In the beginning, Columbia had several municipalities, including Washington, Georgetown, and I think 2 others, but at some point they all merged together and that’s why nowadays Washington and Columbia are the same thing.
Howzat for an educated response with lotsa veriable source material! Hah!
I hope you’re not confounding Columbia (the district on the Potomac) with Colombia (the South American country)?
that’s pretty good. this sounds dumb but for some reason i thought columbia was some antiquated reference to colombia the country - like that area was owned by colombia at one time.
Actually, both refer to Christopher Columbus. They spell it with an ‘O’ down South America way because his name in Spanish was Colón, with the n changing to an m through some linguistic mutation, the name of which I forget at this point.
AFAIK, though it was never an official name, a long-time nickname for the United States was Columbia (as shown in such old-time favorite songs as “Columbia, the Gem of the Ocean”). So when they finally got around to creating the federal district, people probably figured “The Federal District” sounded too plain.
Keeve - Georgetown was its own separate municipality for decades before D.C. was even laid out on paper. IIRC it was one of the final ports on the Potomac before it got too shallow for boats to go further upriver.
Please don’t tell Walter Fauntleroy (if he’s still alive) or Eleanor Holmes Norton that the District of Columbia doesn’t have Congressional representation - they worked long and hard to get a seat at the table (even if they don’t get to eat).
Article I, Section 7 of the U.S. Constitution provides, in relevant part:
In the first years of the government under the Constitution, Congress established a 10 mile square distruct spanning the Potomac river as the seat of government from territory ceded by Maryland and Virginia, and named it the District of Columbia.
Some time later (I don’t know when), Congress returned the portion of the square which had been ceded by Virginia back to that state, becoming what is now Alexandria, Virginia.
The District of Columbia was awarded electoral votes in the election for President of the U.S. by the 23rd Amendment (1961).
This thread is chockful of Washington D.C. that the OP seeks info on.
http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=13507
well, all i have to say to that link is "
[quote]
3)."
Close. The receded portion is now the Old Town area of (city of) Alexandria, VA, and the entirety of (county of) Arlington, VA.
Before becoming part of DC, the port city of Alexandria already existed, along with Georgetown, MD, further up the river. When the diamond was originally allocated, the Virginia half (VH) was originally called Alexandria County of the District of Columbia.
In the 1840’s, the VH was ceded back to Virginia. The city portion rejoined the rest of Alexandria, VA, which had started to develop westward. In 1870, the city and county officially separated their jurisdictions, and in 1920, Alexandria County became Arlington County to avoid confusion.
I don’t know if this is true, but I have read that when Washington State was about to enter the union, the name proposed was “Columbia”. Politicians in Washington D.C. were so concerned that it might accidentally be confused with The District of Columbia that they changed the name to “Washington”, thereby eliminating all possible confusion. Right? :rolleyes:
I believe the state of Washington was called the Territory of Washington prior to statehood. It adopted that name in 1853 after it separated from the Oregon Territory.
Both bibliophage and BobT are right. In 1853, the northern part of the Oregon Territory petitioned to be organized as the Territory of Columbia. Things were going well until a Mr Stanton of Kentucky said:
After that, a wave of hero-worship swept the House and the name was approved forthwith.
This wasn’t the first time the name Washington had been proposed as a territory name. It seemed to come up whenever a name was in question. For instance, it was proposed for both Mississippi and Minnesota.
i was always told it stood for dark country
Jason,
All the white government workers would be shocked to learn this. As well as the large number of white residents of the District.
I suggest not listening to the person(s) who told you this.
George Washington threw a silver dollar across the Potomac, right?
Or is that just an old urban legend? Like the cherry tree caper?
Have you ever seen the Potomac? Go take a look at it and see if you can throw a silver dollar accross.
From memory(having been born in VA)
It was the "Rappahannock, not the Potomac.
Both rivers have wide spots and narrow spots.
Did it happen? Considering that we first coined silver dollars in 1794, perhaps not. Unless he tossed a Spanish “silver dollar-sized coin” across.
I think every story about Washington was anecdotal.
…or do I mean apocryphal?
HERE you go. By a professor.