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Posted on 04/22/2026 3:17:30 PM PDT by Jacquerie
In 1846, a third of the District of Columbia was stolen by Virginia to appease slaveholders. It is time to right that wrong and return to the borders laid down by George Washington himself.
The One-Way Ratchet
The Constitution gave Congress a one-way ratchet: the power to create a permanent seat of government by accepting cessions from states. Once that ratchet clicked forward in 1790, it was locked. The Constitution provides no mechanism to pull it back.
Article I, Section 8 grants Congress the power to "exercise exclusive Legislation" over a district "not exceeding ten Miles square" that becomes "the Seat of the Government of the United States."
Notice what the Constitution authorizes: Congress may accept cessions from states to form a District. It does not authorize Congress to return, retrocede, or give away territory once accepted. The grant of power is directional.
Constitutional scholar Hannis Taylor, in his 1910 opinion to the U.S. Senate, argued:
"After the power to select the seat of government had been once exercised by Congress... the power of Congress over the subject-matter was exhausted."
The Founding Fathers Chose Permanence
The Act of July 16, 1790 declared the District "the permanent seat of government of the United States." During debate, constitutional scholar Hannis Taylor reported:
"When Mr. Madison moved, in the House of Representatives, to strike out the word 'permanent' from this act, he was voted down." - Hannis Taylor (1910)
The First Congress, packed with Framers who had just written the Constitution, deliberately chose permanence. This was the inducement that convinced Virginia and Maryland to cede territory at all.
Legislative Intent Was Clear
The 1790 Congress's explicit choice of "permanent" is binding legislative history. Contemporary interpretation, practiced and acquiesced in for years, conclusively fixes constitutional construction.
The Supreme Court Chose Permanence
In 1830, the Supreme Court decided Van Ness v. City of Washington, addressing the permanence of the District's founding. Justice Joseph Story wrote:
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“Notice what the Constitution authorizes: Congress may accept cessions from states to form a District. It does not authorize Congress to return, retrocede, or give away territory once accepted”
Read ARTICLE IV., SECTION 3
“dispose of...the territory...”
I hope Trump does it. He has nothing to lose
Give Arlington back. The commies there deserve to be part of the mess that is DC and off the Va voter rolls.
And now is the time - when S out
And now is the time- with SCOTUS loaded with textualists.
How quaint.
Some folks still believe the laws are based on the written Constitution, rather than the interpreted judgement of the Supreme Court.
Nowadays, the Constitution says what the USSCOTUS says it says. 😵💫
Looking at the history, I believe your view is correct.
No. Aside from the central district where the capital is located, the rest of DC should be returned to Maryland. We need to make sure DC is never made a state with 2 senators.
They complain about not having representation in congress; solve it by making them part of Maryland. Not a state of their own, as Democrats promise to do once they regain power.
How about using eminent domain to take land from people who live there for ‘government purposes’ & then tear down the housing. Make people move to a nearby state. That preserves the District & prevents the Dems from making it a state, as no one LIVES there.
Well played.
the argument here is very weak
the idea that one congress can bind future congresses from ever revoking an action of theirs is nonsense.
If a democrat congress passed a law saying “annual contributions from the US government to planned parenthood shall be ‘permanent’ “
would you say, “well we have no choice but to submit to that law”
Of course not
I say we give DC Loudon, Fairfax and Arlington counties from Virginia. Its the right thing to do.
We don’t want DC.
We have enough misery as it is.
reminds me of the musical 1776 when john adams throws down his notes and yells ‘oh for the love of....we have to offend SOMEBODY!’
Including those genocided, every group had been railroaded...hard. In the name of Jesus Christ, MOVE ON!
Unless you are siding with satan, in which case, of course, you will continue.....like here....
That would be Hilarious!
“...give DC Loudon, Fairfax and Arlington counties from Virginia. Its the right thing to do.”
and to sweeten the deal, include Alexandria.
“...give DC Loudon, Fairfax and Arlington counties from Virginia. Its the right thing to do.”
and to sweeten the deal, include Alexandria.
This doesn’t even rank in the top one thousand of my political concerns.
Laws passed by Congress are not at the same level as the US Constitution.
Even the Supreme Court can overrule a Congressional law if they deem it unconstitutional.
Puting Arlington back in DC would not make the city any less blue but it would upset the racial balance. Washington has been getting more and more diverse and with it less and les Chocolate City. Immigration and gentrification and black flight have already diluted black political control. Arlington is 58% white and only 9% black, there are more Asians in the county than blacks and more Hispanics than Asians. Alexandria is 50% white and 19% black with again large Asian and Hispanics cohorts. Meanwhile DC is about evenly split between black and white each having roughly 40% but the white population has been growing while the black population has been in decline. It is no longer the Chocolate City I lived and worked in when I was a young man.
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