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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 14 October 2011
In November 1990 voters in the District of Columbia elected two “shadow” United States senators (one of whom is former presidential candidate Jesse Jackson) and one “shadow” representative to lobby for statehood. Statehood bills have been introduced in Congress regularly since 1982 and committee hearings on statehood were held in the fall of 1991 and the spring of 1992. Although only recently has there been serious discussion about District statehood, the issue of the proper relationship of the national government to the federal city has been a matter of debate since 1787. This article provides a historical analysis of statehood and alternative policy options and aruges that the relationship between the federal government and the District has always mirrored national polit.
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