More Tidbits From The District

In 1802, Congress granted the City of Washington its first municipal charter. Voters, defined as white males who paid taxes and have lived in the city for at least a year, received the right to elect a 12-member council. The mayor was appointed by the president of the United States.

Residents of the District of Columbia would have to wait another 150 years to vote for the president, however, finally winning the right to vote in a presidential election on March 29, 1962. Voters then won the right to elect a board of education in 1968 and, in 1970, to elect a non-voting delegate to the House of representatives. In 1973 Congress gave Washingtonians the right to elect local officials for the first time in 100 years.

By April of 2000, Washington, D.C's population had grown to 572,059, although its physical mass was smaller than when it was created, shrinking to 68.2 square miles. It was originally 100 square miles and crossed into Virginia. The Virginia portion was later ceded back in 1846.

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