Norton Sends Birthday Greetings to D.C. from Herself and the Founders
WASHINGTON, DC – Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) today issued a statement recognizing the 210th anniversary of the incorporation of the District of Columbia:
"It was 210 years ago when the District of Columbia became a separate jurisdiction and Congress began the process of empowering District residents. The first charter provided for a 12-member city council elected by voters and a mayor appointed by the President. I believe that Congress probably had to begin the empowerment of the residents, because during the 10-year transition prior to 1801, people living in what is now the District of Columbia could vote in elections in Maryland and Virginia, the two states from which the city was carved.
"The founders of our country were just as famous for the slogan ‘No Taxation Without Representation' as they were for the words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence. At the time, there were no federal income taxes and it appears that may be the reason that the Congress began with local representation. I have no doubt that, as with virtually all matters before the Congress, it was understood by many that more democracy would come to the District with time as it would to the country, which then allowed only white men to vote. Multiple versions of home rule and congressional representation over 210 years have left the District's right to self government and to representation in the Congress drifting with the political winds. How strange it is to acknowledge that on the District's 210th birthday, Congress understood from the birth of the city that the country's founding principle, taxation demanded representation, must apply here. Congress needs to return to the first principles of our founders and proceed from there to the full democracy Congress began 210 years ago. Happy birthday, D.C.!"
Published: May 3, 2012