ON APRIL 15th the District of Columbia celebrated Emancipation Day, which commemorates Abraham Lincoln’s 1862 order freeing slaves held in Washington, DC. This year, Muriel Bowser, the city’s mayor, used the occasion to announce her plans for a city-wide referendum on making the District a state. The referendum is a new tactic in a decades-long push for statehood. Why is the District seeking statehood now? Washington’s legal status is unique within America. When the nation was founded, its statesmen worried that if the capital were situated within a state, that state might exercise undue power over the national government. Consequently, the constitution allows for the creation of “a district, not exceeding ten miles square” for the capital, and grants Congress complete authority over this capital district. The resultant District of Columbia was formed out of parts of Maryland and Virginia (although Virginia’s part was eventually returned). Ever since, Washington has been governed by Congress, directly or indirectly. Not being a state, it was entitled to neither representation in Congress nor to vote for president.

When it was formed, the District was home to only about 14,000 people, but as the federal government grew, so did the city. By 1950 it contained more than 800,000 people. Moreover, its residents are largely African-American, and the lack of representation was seen as a civil rights issue. In 1961, a constitutional amendment granted DC residents the right to vote in presidential elections. Congress followed this with limited home rule for the city, but a 1980 effort to grant legislative representation and many other rights of statehood stalled, and the District’s position has changed little since. The federal government continues to have authority over the city’s budget, inviting all manner of meddling from legislators who have sought to change everything from the city’s drug policies to the way its taxis set their fares. Mayor Bowser has seen progress: a court victory in March will allow her government to pass its own budget for the first time, although Congress may still alter it. But despite strong local support (a Washington Post poll last year showed two-thirds of residents support statehood), the prospects remain slim.