The District of Columbia is a non-protectorate state that serves as the nation's capital, and a permanent seat in the government, by the US Constitution. The first European to get to the Potamac River in 1608 was Captain John Smith. He started the process of displacing the Native Americans that lived there. Whether they were killed by diseases that the Europeans spread, or they joined tribes in the north, south, and west, the Piscataway, Pamunkey, Nentego, Mattaponi, Chickahominy, Monacan, and the Powhatan were removed from the land. Being the resilient people they are, around 4,000 indigenous people live in the Washington DC today.
In the 1700's, the northern states, led by Alexander Hamilton, wanted the federal government to take care of Revolutionary War debts, but the southern states, led by Thomas Jefferson, wanted to put the country's capital in an agricultural area that was friendly to slave-holders. However, the president, George Washington, chose to put the capital near the Potomac and Anacostia Rivers. In 1790, Marlyand and Virginia gave up some of their land in order to form this new "district". The president chose Pierre Charles L'Enfant to design the city, and he planned a grid system with the Capitol Building in the center. The city was built on the ancestral homelands of the Anacostans, Piscatoaway, and the Pamunkey people.
During the War of 1812, DC was invaded and burned to the ground. The Capitol Building, the Library of Congress, and all of the books were destroyed. After this fire, Virginia's land was retroceded because the voters of Alexandria decided to leave DC. In 1862 during the Civil War, the slaves in Washington were emancipated, and the freed slaves from all over the country came there to settle. In order to protect the capital during the war, an army was set up and the government started to grow. After the war, the state began to increase in size again. In 1901, the McMillan Plan was set to complete the original designs of the buildings and the expansion of the National Mall. The expansion continued through the 20th century after the riots and civil unrest of the 1960's through the 1970's. Today, many people are moving back there and the downtown areas have been built back up. Washington DC has a non-voting delegate in the House of Representatives and a shadow senator in Congress. It was not until 1973 that the city was allowed to elect their own mayor. Congress is still in charge of overturning local laws, but the state has a 13-member city council, as well as locally elected officials. It has been the capital of the US for over 200 years.
DC residents have been trying for statehood, and in 2016, 86% of the state were in favor becoming the 51st state. In 2020, the House passed an act that would have sealed this manifestation, but it never passed the Senate floor. Because it is a diverse and democratic state, Republicans have long fought against it becoming the 51st state, as it would add two progressive Senate seats that they don't want to lose. The White House is the official residence of the sitting president, and the Capitol is the spot for the US Senate and House of Representatives in Washington DC. The DC state flower is the American Beauty Rose, the state tree is the Scarlet Oak, and the state bird is the Wood Thrush.
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