Will the District of Columbia ever become a state?
437534
No.  The District of Columbia was established so that the working seat of American governement would not reside in a specific state.  \n\nThat way when Iowa and Maryland get into a urination contest one of them can't say "Well I am home to the whole freakin' government!"
436053
I think it takes 3/4 of the states to ratify after the congress votes on it. I am not sure though.
1032812
I'm not sure about what you mean with this question, but it stands for what you said, the District of Columbia. Washington is not a State it is a District. It is a U.S. territory, which that's right, allows it's inhabitants to vote, though we do not allow our other territories, i.e. Puerto Rico, Virgin Islands, vote.
487123
There's no such thing as a national referendum. There's no process to do something like that. In order to make any substantial change to the way government operates in the US, Congress would have to pass an amendment to the constitution by a 2/3 majority and 3/4 of the states would have to ratify it.
601161
There has only been one US capital city. There were none before Washington D.C. Before that, Congress worked in buildings in various cities, none of which were the capital.
990305
Although the whole world knows Washington, DC as the capital of the United States, the city did not exist when we became a nation in 1789. The seat of the new government was located temporarily in New York City. A year later it was moved to Philadelphia. When it came to selecting the place for a permanent capital, both these cities were among those who vied to be chosen. Some of the competing cities offered land and money as incentives. A fierce rivalry developed between the northern and southern states over the location, a conflict that was finally resolved by a political compromise. In exchange for agreeing to locate the capital in the southern region, the northern states were relieved of the heavy debts they had incurred during the Revolution.\n\nIn 1790 Congress passed the Residence Act giving President George Washington the power to select a site for a new federal district, as the then-nameless capital was called. The Act also said that Congress would continue to meet in Philadelphia until 1800, when the capital city was supposed to be ready for the government to move in.\n\nWashington's own estate, Mount Vernon, was located on the Potomac River below the bustling river towns of Alexandria, Virginia and Georgetown, Maryland. He was convinced that the land along the Potomac had enormous commercial potential as a shipping center if it were linked by canal to the Western frontier. For the site of the new capital Washington picked an area at the junction of the Potomac and Anacostia rivers about 14 miles upstream from Mount Vernon.\n\nA survey of the land, a "ten-mile square" which had been ceded by Maryland, was undertaken by Andrew Ellicott with the help of Benjamin Banneker, a free black from Maryland who was a self- taught mathematician and astronomer. Forty boundary stones, laid at one-mile intervals, established the boundaries based on Banneker's celestial calculations. Most of the land consisted of floodplain, dense forest, and farmland. In order to speed development of the city, Washington convinced a number of local landholders to donate tracts of land for the new capital.\n\n"It is sometimes called the City of Magnificent Distances, but it might with greater propriety be termed the City of Magnificent Intentions."      — Charles Dickens, 1842
591567
Well, think of the consequences if they did. We'd be down to 49 states. We'd have to change our flag, our maps, our globes. There are tons of memorials that have 50 of a particular item to represent the 50 States. Plus, there's the issue of the Senators. Each state gets 2 Senators, so which two get to stay? Then there are the differences in state laws and all the residents, granted, neither is a heavily populated state, but they'd all have to get new licenses and new tags for their cars and voter registration...it would be a beauracratic nightmare. Don't even go there with North/South Carolina and West Virginia and regular Virginia...
444795
No, and maybe. It depends on if a democratic majority is returned to congress this year, if we leave it for the repulicans it will never happen.
203213
Washington the Capital City of the U.S. was built in two states, Maryland and Virginia so that the capital of the country would not be in one particular state.  The area set aside for building the capital city is the District of Columbia in which Washington and it's suburbs exist.  The District of Columbia while it borders the two states is actually a separate entity from those states.  The Nations Capital is actually controlled by the Federal Government.
519156
No.\n\nState of Washington is north of Oregon.\n\nWashington D.C. is the District of Columbia (not a state, not belonging to another state), and is located on the eastern coast of the U.S.
1111381
DC govenment can not even figure it out!!!
204771
It would never work.  Why   casue we are a country that  wants a one world Goverment  but cannot resove the probems that we  do have  here in the US.   Sorry
672110
Washington D.C. in the District of Columbia.
423761
The US Constitution mandates that the seat of the Government be its own idependant entity, not part of any state.  The land that is DC now used to be part of Maryland and part of Virginia. One big chunk of it was actually given back to Virginia--- that is now Arlington county and part of Alexandria--- in the mid-1800's for various reasons and most of what is now DC actually used to be part of Maryland.
106104
You may know that we have 50 states in the U.S.  Washington, D.C., is of course our capital city.  You are right that the "D.C." stands for District of Columbia.  However, the two - "Washington" and "District of Columbia" - are the same thing, geographically.\n\nThere are no other "districts" - everyplace else is a state.\n\nNot a great answer, I know, but something Americans (I hope) understand.  Hard to explain to a non-American.\n\nTry a couple of websites:\nwww.washington.org (tourism website)\nwww.dc.gov (local city government website)
175009
Delaware is correct.  \n\nNot only is DC wrong, but it came way late to the game, and it isn't even a flippin state, for crying out loud!  Did you just sleep through 13 years of school, or what?
579887
Yes they do, but the last admendment ot the constitution says it cannot take effect until they are re-elected or  replaced.  This way they may never get it!