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- The District of Columbia retrocession is the act of returning some or all of the land that had been ceded to the federal government of the United States for the purpose of creating its federal district for the new national capital of the United States, the City of Washington. The land was originally ceded to the federal government by Virginia and Maryland in 1790. After moving through various stages of federal and state approval, the Virginia portion was eventually returned in March 1847. The Maryland portion still constitutes the District of Columbia today, but at various times some have proposed retroceding it, in part or in whole, to address issues related to the voting rights of residents of the District of Columbia. The creation of the District of Columbia was the result of the District clause of the Constitution, but it has remained controversial — opposed by some residents and those outside the District — ever since. As was designated by the 1790 Residence Act, the District originally consisted of 100 square miles (259 km2; 25,900 ha) of land, ceded by Maryland and Virginia, and straddling the Potomac. The 1801 Organic Act placed the areas under the control of the United States Congress and took away the right of residents to vote in federal elections. The portion west of the Potomac, ceded by Virginia, consisted of 31 square miles (80 km2; 8,029 ha) in two parts: the city of Alexandria, Virginia, at the extreme southern shore; and its rural hinterland, short-lived Alexandria County, D.C. After decades of debate about the disenfranchisement that came with district citizenship, and tensions related to congressional negligence, this portion of the district was returned to Virginia in 1847. The remaining district assumed its current boundaries and area of 68.34 square miles (177.00 km2; 17,699.98 ha) east of the Potomac. Subsequent proposals to return part or all of the remaining portion of the District of Columbia to the state of Maryland are cited as one way to provide full voting representation in Congress and return local control of the district to its residents. D.C. statehood advocates have noted that ceding D.C. to Maryland may not have the support of the government in Maryland. (en)
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