District of Columbia Retrocession - Virginia Retrocession

Virginia Retrocession

In the 1830s, efforts grew to reunite the southern portion of the District with Virginia. Besides the fact that District residents had lost representation in Congress, a number of additional factors aided the movement to return the area to Virginia:

• Alexandria had gone into economic decline due to neglect of the area by Congress. Alexandria needed infrastructure improvements in order to compete with other ports in the area such as Georgetown, which was further inland and on the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal. Members of Congress from other areas of Virginia used their power to prohibit funding for projects, such as the Alexandria Canal, which would have increased competition with their home districts. Returning Alexandria to Virginia allowed residents to seek financing for projects without interference from Congress.
• A 1791 amendment to the Residence Act specifically prohibited the "erection of the public buildings otherwise than on the Maryland side of the river Potomac." The institutions of the federal government, including the White House and the United States Capitol were therefore located in Washington on the east side of the Potomac River. This made Alexandria less important to the functioning of the national government.
• At the time, Alexandria was a major market in the American slave trade, but rumors circulated that abolitionists in Congress were attempting to end slavery in the nation's capital, which would have also seriously harmed the area's economy.
• There was also an active abolitionist movement in Virginia. If Alexandria were returned to the state of Virginia, the move would have added two additional pro-slavery representatives to the Virginia General Assembly.

From 1840 to 1846, Alexandrians petitioned Congress and the Virginia legislature to approve retrocession. On February 3, 1846, the Virginia General Assembly agreed to accept the retrocession of Alexandria if Congress approved. Following additional lobbying by Alexandrians, Congress passed legislation on July 9, 1846, to return all the District's territory south of the Potomac River back to the Commonwealth of Virginia, pursuant to a referendum; President Polk signed the legislation the next day. A referendum on retrocession was held on September 1–2, 1846. The residents of the city of Alexandria voted in favor of the retrocession, 734 to 116; however, the residents of Alexandria County voted against retrocession 106 to 29. Despite the objections of those living in Alexandria County, President Polk certified the referendum and issued a proclamation of transfer on September 7, 1846. However, the Virginia legislature did not immediately accept the retrocession offer. Virginia legislators were concerned that the people of Alexandria County had not been properly included in the retrocession proceedings. After months of debate, the Virginia General Assembly voted to formally accept the retrocession legislation on March 13, 1847. Confirming the fears of pro-slavery Alexandrians, the Compromise of 1850 outlawed the slave trade in the District, although not slavery itself.

At the start of the Civil War, President Lincoln attempted to have the Virginia portion re-annexed over security concerns, but was rejected by the Senate.