District of Columbia Home Rule - History of Self-government

History of Self-government

See also: History of Washington, D.C. and List of mayors of Washington, D.C.

On July 16, 1790, the Residence Act provided for a new permanent capital to be located on the Potomac River, the exact area to be selected by President Washington. As permitted by the U.S. Constitution, the initial shape of the federal district was a square, measuring 10 miles (16 km) on each side, totaling 100 square miles (260 km2). The Residence Act also provided for the selection of a three-member board of commissioners, appointed by the President, charged with overseeing the construction of the new capital. Two other incorporated cities that predated the establishment of the District were also included within the new federal territory: Georgetown, founded in 1751, and the City of Alexandria, Virginia, founded in 1749. A new "federal city" called the City of Washington was then constructed on the north bank of the Potomac, to the east of the established settlement at Georgetown.

The Organic Act of 1801 officially organized the District of Columbia and placed the entire federal territory, including the cities of Washington, Georgetown, and Alexandria under the exclusive control of Congress. In 1802, the board of commissioners was disbanded and the City of Washington was officially incorporated. The city's incorporation allowed for a local municipal government consisting of a mayor appointed by the President and an elected six-member council. The local governments of Georgetown and Alexandria were also left intact. As such, the citizens of Georgetown retained their locally-elected mayor. In 1820, the Congress granted the City of Washington a new charter, which allowed for an elected mayor.

During these first few years of the city's development, the federal government maintained a laissez faire approach to the city's affairs. However, in 1829 with the new administration of President Andrew Jackson and the election of pro-Jackson majorities in each house of Congress, the federal government began intervening more in the city's local affairs. Most of the disputes between the federal and municipal governments involved financing for capital projects in the city.

The disputes became more political in 1840 when the city elected a member of the anti-Jackson Whig Party as mayor. Two weeks after the election, members of Congress submitted legislation to alter the charter of the City of Washington to remove the city's elected government. However, the bill was unable to pass the Congress due to disputes among members about the status of slavery in the District. The election of President William Henry Harrison, who was favorable to residents of the District, assured that the proposed bill would not become law.

In the years preceding and during the American Civil War, the District developed a complicated, piecemeal government. Separate municipal authorities for the cities of Washington and Georgetown remained intact, but shared jurisdiction with overlapping authorities for the whole District, such as the Metropolitan Police Department founded in 1861. Following the Civil War, the city experienced a large increase in its population; by 1870, the District's population had grown to nearly 132,000. Despite the city's growth, Washington still had dirt roads and lacked basic sanitation; the situation was so bad that some members of Congress proposed moving the capital elsewhere.

In order to build new infrastructure and make the city's government operate more efficiently, Congress passed the Organic Act of 1871, which created a new government for the entire federal territory. This Act effectively combined the City of Washington, Georgetown, and unincorporated area known then as Washington County, into a single municipal government for the whole District of Columbia. In the same Organic Act, Congress created a territorial government which consisted of a legislative assembly with an upper-house composed of eleven council members appointed by the President and a 22-member house of delegates elected by the people, as well as an appointed a Board of Public Works charged with modernizing the city. In 1873, President Ulysses S. Grant appointed the board's most influential member, Alexander Robey Shepherd, to the new post of governor. Shepherd authorized large-scale projects to modernize Washington but overspent three times the approved budget, bankrupting the city. In 1874, Congress abolished the District's local government in favor of direct rule.

The territorial government was replaced by a three-member Board of Commissioners; two members appointed by the President after approval by the Senate and a third member was selected from the United States Army Corps of Engineers. One of the three members would be selected to act as President of the Board. This form of government continued for nearly a century. Between 1948 and 1966, six bills were introduced in Congress to provide some form of home rule, but none ever passed. The commissioner form of government was replaced in 1967 by a mayor-commissioner and a nine-member city council appointed by the President.