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How did the District of Columbia get it's name?

Posted on 02/03/2006 12:24:08 PM PST by Leatherneck_MT

How did the District of Columbia come by it's name and why was it made the Nation's Capitol?

This was a question posed to me and I have to admit it stumped me.

I'm sure a freeper here can enlighten me.


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KEYWORDS: christophercolumbus; dc; districtofcolumbia; googleismyfriend; lazyfreeper; washington
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1 posted on 02/03/2006 12:24:09 PM PST by Leatherneck_MT
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To: Leatherneck_MT

This is the first result in the Yahoo search engine for:

"how did district of columbia get it's name"



http://urlcutter.com?2359


Origins of the Name District of Columbia

Review by: Leslie Yezerinac

Confused about the proper name for the Nation's capital? If so, you're not alone.

Pierre L'Enfant, designer of the city, thought of it as the Capital City. Jefferson referred to it as Federal Town. Washington, however, considered this undignified, and instead used the name Federal City.

The initial plot of land authorized by the Constitution for the seat of the US government was a 100-square mile area. The first commissioners appointed to acquire the property for the new capital and construct the first government buildings made the obvious choice and named the city Washington. At the same time, they decided to call the entire 100 square-mile area the District of Columbia. Congress later went along with this decision through legislative references to the area.

The city of Washington as designed by L'Enfant did not, of course, fill the 100 square-mile area authorized by the Constitution for the seat of government. The area also included the cities of Georgetown (1751) and Alexandria (1749), which were already in existence. Congress designated the rest of the 10-mile by 10-mile portion outside the corporate limits of these three cities as the County of Alexandria, in the section given by Virginia, and the County of Washington, in the Maryland-ceded portion.

In 1846 Congress voted to give back to Virginia all the land that state had given to the government in 1790 for creation of the District of Columbia. This move returned about 32 square miles of territory to Virginia. Residents of Alexandria and what is now Arlington County, Virginia, thus lost District of Columbia residency and again became Virginia citizens.

If all this sounds confusing, think of Congress trying to enact legislation dealing with the local affairs of this area. Congress tried to clarify the jurisdictional muddle when it established a territorial form of government for the capital in 1871. It revoked the charters of the cities of Washington and Georgetown and also abolished a levy court for the County of Washington. All legal municipal functions were given to the District of Columbia.

Then Congress changed its mind again and decided that Georgetown and the County of Washington should be separate entities. In 1895, Congress legally ended Georgetown's status as a separate city by merging it with the City of Washington, yet this act said nothing about the County of Washington. Technically, this Maryland-ceded portion of the District of Columbia is still a part of that namesake even though it operates as a separate identity. The slip-up, moreover, has never been corrected.

So, today, a resident of the District of Columbia may be living either in the old County of Washington or in the merged section made up of L'Enfant's City of Washington and of Georgetown. Washington, D.C., however, is a city in name only - a mapmaker's designation and the established pseudonym for the District of Columbia.


2 posted on 02/03/2006 12:26:45 PM PST by iPod Shuffle
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To: Leatherneck_MT

Actually, they asked me and I sort of said it as a joke.

Sorry.


3 posted on 02/03/2006 12:26:48 PM PST by IncPen (Torture should be safe, legal, and rare.)
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To: Leatherneck_MT
Information on the history of the District of Columbia including how it got its (no apostrophe) name is available at:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/District_of_Columbia

4 posted on 02/03/2006 12:27:45 PM PST by glennaro
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To: Leatherneck_MT
HISTORY of D.C
5 posted on 02/03/2006 12:27:57 PM PST by commish (Freedom Tastes Sweetest to Those Who Have Fought to Preserve It)
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To: Leatherneck_MT

Columbia is a derivation of the latin word "columba" I believe, which is "peace".

It was designed as a neutral place for the Federal government to be placed. Both Maryland and Virginia agreed to provide land for this capital city and the city was laid out in a way to impress visiting dignitaries once the federal buildings were built.


6 posted on 02/03/2006 12:28:05 PM PST by Anitius Severinus Boethius
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To: Leatherneck_MT

"Columbia" was an old "nickname" of the United States of America back in the Day.


7 posted on 02/03/2006 12:29:03 PM PST by Tallguy (When it's a bet between reality and delusion, bet on reality -- Mark Steyn)
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To: Leatherneck_MT

The District of Columbia was named after Columbus ... "but the interesting part of the story is that in 1792 there was a serious movement in the United States to rename the whole country and call it Columbia. As a compromise, the nation's capital was given the name District of Columbia"

http://www.brooks.af.mil/HSW/PA/discovery/2004%20Discovery%20Issues/Oct8web.pdf


8 posted on 02/03/2006 12:31:20 PM PST by bwteim (Begin With The End In Mind)
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To: Leatherneck_MT

Here is another palce that talks about it:

http://www.narpac.org/ITXDCHIS.HTM


9 posted on 02/03/2006 12:31:57 PM PST by freedom4ever
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To: Leatherneck_MT
It was named after Lt. Columbo. :)
10 posted on 02/03/2006 12:32:53 PM PST by msnimje (SAMMY for SANDY --- THAT IS WHAT I CALL A GOOD TRADE!!!)
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To: Leatherneck_MT

Regardless of how, the place doesn't deserve statehood.


11 posted on 02/03/2006 12:33:58 PM PST by lilylangtree
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To: Anitius Severinus Boethius; Tallguy

Well, yeah, but, more to the point, isn't Columbia derived from "Columbus," just as with the country of the same name?


12 posted on 02/03/2006 12:34:59 PM PST by j.havenfarm (Proud to be mentioned by my full name in Rush Limbaugh's San Jose speech of 2/8/05.)
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To: iPod Shuffle

Whoa! You mean there's a place on the Internet where you can just type in a question and find the answer? It's called Google? Man...this is a revolution. Let's let all Freepers know about it and it will cut down on the number of easily-answered questions folks post as vanities.

Who knew? Google, eh? Wow!


13 posted on 02/03/2006 12:35:01 PM PST by MineralMan (godless atheist)
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To: Leatherneck_MT

I'm pretty sure it was a Radio promo contest.


14 posted on 02/03/2006 12:35:52 PM PST by Wolfie
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To: bwteim

O, Columbia! the gem of the ocean,
The home of the brave and the free,
The shrine of each patriot's devotion,
A world offers homage to thee.
Thy mandates make heroes assemble
When Liberty's form stands in view;
Thy banners make tyranny tremble
When borne by the Red, White and Blue!


15 posted on 02/03/2006 12:36:36 PM PST by MineralMan (godless atheist)
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To: Leatherneck_MT
This question would be better written as

How did the District of Columbia get ITS name?"

[It's] would be the contraction for it is.

The English teacher in me pops up every now and then and I must feed the beast.

:)

16 posted on 02/03/2006 12:39:45 PM PST by Thoeting
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To: Anitius Severinus Boethius
Columbia is a derivation of the latin word "columba" I believe, which is "peace".

Perfect for Kucinich's Department of Peace.

17 posted on 02/03/2006 12:40:50 PM PST by ChuckShick (He's clerking for me...)
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To: Leatherneck_MT
The capital should be moved to south-central Illinois and D.C. designated a historical site.

The new site should strictly be a federal "campus," so to speak, so that local corruption and crime wouldn't exist. That's the problem with D.C. now, if it's the nation's capital it has no business having a city council, mayor, and a regular police force.

18 posted on 02/03/2006 12:43:34 PM PST by Extremely Extreme Extremist (None genuine without my signature - Jim Beam)
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To: Thoeting
Just to bump your comments, I quote from dictionary.com

The difference between it's and its

Usage Note: Its is the possessive form of the pronoun it and is correctly written without an apostrophe.

It should not be confused with the contraction it's (for it is or it has), which should always have an apostrophe.


19 posted on 02/03/2006 12:44:12 PM PST by george wythe
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To: Anitius Severinus Boethius

The Latin word for "peace" is "pax".

"Columba", if I recall correctly, means "Dove".


20 posted on 02/03/2006 12:46:15 PM PST by Renfield (If Gene Tracy was the entertainment at your senior prom, YOU might be a redneck...)
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