Lesson Plan - DC Voting Rights Historical Timeline - Two Pages

1790: The site for the new capital district is selected. Combining land from Maryland and Virginia to form the District of Columbia, area residents continue to vote in, and even run for Congress from, their former states.

1801: Congress passes the Organic Acts of 1801, which first took away the vote from the people living in the District of Columbia.

1802: Congress grants the City of Washington its first municipal charter. Voters, defined as white males who pay taxes and have lived in the city for at least a year, receive the right to elect a twelve-member council. The president appoints the mayor.

1820: Congress changes the Charter of the City of Washington to allow the election of the mayor by resident voters.

1848: Congress approves new charter for the City of Washington allowing voters to elect Board of Assessors. Abolishes property qualifications for voting, extends voting rights to all white male voters who pay $1 yearly school tax.

1862: Congress abolishes slavery in the federal district.

1867: Congress grants black males the right to vote in local elections.

1878: Congress provides that the District of Columbia government be governed by three Presidential-appointed commissioners. Congress serves as the District's legislature.

1953: The U.S. Supreme Court rules that Congress may grant self-government to DC to the same extent as in the case of territories (District of Columbia v. Thompson).

1961: The 23rd Amendment to the U.S. Constitution is ratified, granting DC residents the right to vote in U.S. Presidential elections for the first time ever.

1967: President Lyndon Johnson won approval to abolish the 3-member commission and replace it with a single commissioner and a nine-member council, all appointed by the President. This has come to be viewed as a preparatory step toward self-government.

1968: District residents receive the right to elect a Board of Education.

1970: The U.S. House of Representatives, through the DC Election Act, restores the position of non-voting Delegate from the District of Columbia. The Honorable Walter Fauntroy is elected to the position in 1971.

1973: The Home Rule Act provides for an elected mayor and 13-member Council. Congress retains right to review and overturn all laws. District budget requires approval of Congress and President.

1974: DC holds a primary election, and on November 5, DC holds general elections for DC Mayor and the DC City Council. Walter E. Washington is elected DC's first mayor under the new system.

1978: Congress passes the DC Voting Rights Constitutional Amendment, which would give District residents voting representation in the House and the Senate. The amendment requires 38 states to ratify it before it becomes effective. Congress places a seven-year time limit on ratification.

1985: The DC Voting Rights Constitutional Amendment fails. The amendment only receives 16 of the required 38 states for ratification.

1993: The U.S. House of Representatives votes to allow the Delegate from the District of Columbia to vote on the floor of the House of Representatives in the Committee of the Whole. However, in cases where the votes of the Delegates are decisive, a second vote, in which the Delegates are not allowed to vote, is required. Previously, the Delegate had been permitted to vote only in House committees.

1995: On the first day of the new session of Congress, the District of Columbia's Delegate is removed from the official U.S. House of Representatives roster. Voting privileges, even in cases where the votes are non-decisive, are ended.

2000: A Federal appeals court rejects a case brought by residents of the District of Columbia to gain full voting representation in Congress. The U.S. Supreme Court declines to hear the case on appeal.

The city of Washington, DC, adopts a new license plate motto Taxation Without Representation to go on all newly printed license plates for vehicles.

2001: Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) and U.S. Senator Joseph Lieberman (D-CT) introduce the No Taxation Without Representation Act of 2002 in both chambers of Congress. The act says District residents do not have to pay federal income taxes until given full voting representation in Congress.

2003: DC voting rights groups, the DC City Council and Mayor Williams create and pass legislation that will bring the first-in-the-nation presidential primaries to Washington, DC on January 13, 2004. It is hoped that candidates will address the injustice of democracy denied as they campaign for president.

2005: The DC Fairness in Representation Act of 2005 (H.R. 2143) proposes giving the historically Democratic District of Columbia its first voting member in the U.S. House of Representatives ever, in addition to giving the traditionally Republican state of Utah an additional member. Utah's seat would be at-large until redistricting after the next U.S. Census in 2010.

2006: The DC Voting Rights Act of 2006 (H.R. 5388) addresses concerns that arose from the DC FAIR Act of 2005. Sponsored by Representative Tom Davis (R-VA) and Delegate Norton, the DC VRA moves out of the House Committee on Government Reform with a vote of 29-4 on May 18, 2006. The bipartisan bill goes to the House Judiciary Committee.

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