Facts of Washington DC

                                  Washington DC

white house image

What is the meaning of Washington?

Washington DC is the capital city of the United States of America (USA). "D.C." stands for the "District of Columbia" which is the federal district containing the city of Washington. The city is named for George Washington, military leader of the American Revo
lution and the first President of the United States.

Why it is called District of Columbia?

On September 9, 1791, the three commissioners overseeing the capital's construction named the city in honor of President Washington. The federal district was named Columbia (a feminine form of "Columbus"), which was a poetic name for the United States commonly in use at that time.

Why is Washington DC not a state?

In other words, the Founders worried that if the capital were to be a state, the members of the federal government would be unduly beholden to the state simply by power of proximity to the seats. To avoid this, they specifically crafted the Constitution so that the District would not be within a state.


WHY’S IT CALLED THAT?
You can probably guess that the "Washington" part of Washington, D.C., was named after the first president of the United States, George Washington. But what about the initials? They stand for District of Columbia, named after Christopher Columbus.

                                               HISTORY

In 1774 the First Continental Congress—a group of representatives from the colonies—needed a place to meet. The delegates first gathered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was essentially a capital city, as the capital is wherever the seat of government is. When the first U.S. president, George Washington, took office 1789, the capital was New York City.
But the 13 northern and southern states wanted a capital that would represent them equally
—not too far north or too far south. (In those days, all the states were along the East Coast, from Georgia to New Hampshire.) So in 1790 Washington chose a spot in the middle, right between the states of Maryland and Virginia.
America’s founders were concerned that people living in Washington, D.C., might unfairly influence Congress and therefore decided that those residents would not have representation in the House of Representatives or the Senate. Even today, D.C. residents don’t have voting representatives in Congress. (But residents can vote in federal elections.) The city was nearly destroyed during the War of 1812 against Great Britain. For a while the city’s population remained small, but it suddenly expanded after the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863, when many newly freed slaves came to live there.
Today Washington, D.C., is a 68-square-mile federal district home to important government buildings, including the U.S. Capitol, where the Senate and the House of Representatives meet; the White House, where the president lives and works; and the Supreme Court Building, where many important court rulings are made. The city is also full of landmarks including the Washington Monument, the Thomas Jefferson Memorial, and the Lincoln Memorial.