Is washington dc a state?? or is it just a district?

Question

Is washington dc a state?? or is it just a district?

Answer 1

D.C. is too small to be a state. Where the White House is and all of the mall area actually is apart of Virginia. Virginia didn't want to take on the responsibilities and taking the risk of having the White House in their state. So then that's when Virginia and Maryland decided to give apart of land which makes WDC. That's then when they separated WDC into four quadrants. NW - SW - SE - NE .

So basically it is just a District.

Answer 2

Just a district, but fighting for statehood

Answer 3

It is the seat of the U.S. Federal Government.  It is not a state.

Answer 4

District of Columbia, technically part of Maryland.

Answer 5

Just a district.  As MetroGirl pointed out, the Federal City, as it was called then, was taken from parts of Maryland and Virginia, but the land south of the Potomac was retroceded back to Virginia back in 1840, I believe it was.  So now, we're just a little spot of land carved out of Maryland.

While DC may be small in area, we do have more residents than a few sparsely populated states, such as Wyoming and Alaska.  Still, we have no representation in Congress, as we have no senators, and our representative is a non-voting delegate.  However, we are given three electoral votes representing the miminum congressional delegation during presidential elections.

Answer 6

DC is not a state.  It is a federal district.  Back in the day, our Founding Fathers decided that no state should hold the capital of the country  (Previously it had been in PA and NY - with some problems).  

They also decided it should be more centrally locate within the 13 states.  Maryland and Virgina donated the land for the new capital.  However, the Virgina part (Alexandria, Arlington, the Pentagon, etc.)  was given back to Virgina in the mid 1800s because the residents wanted to be part of VA and not the "Federal City."

Where things get confusing is the voting rights.  The district doesn't have voting representation in the House or the Senate (the House Rep doesn't have the right to vote).  There are proposals that would give back most of the city to Maryland, except a small area around the mall, Capital, White House and Supreme Court, if Congress and Maryland agree.  Another proposal is to simply allow DC residents to vote in Maryland.  It is unlikely that Congress will retroceded the city back to Maryland.  

Answer 7

it's just a district

Answer 8

It's a District. It is in no way "a part of Maryland".