n Federalist 43, James Madison wrote that residents of his new country "will have had their voice in the election of the government which is to exercise authority over them," but it wouldn’t be so. In 1801, the District of Columbia was incorporated without the benefits of statehood, leaving it without congressional representation.
In 1978, when I was serving in the House of Representatives, we undertook a serious effort to fix that: With H.J. Res 554 – a constitutional amendment requiring a two-thirds vote for approval in both the House and Senate and ratification by 38 states within seven years of its passage – we sought to guarantee congressional representation for the District of Columbia. It was the 24th time since 1800 that legislation granting congressional representation for the district had been pursued.
As the House Judiciary Committee’s report accompanying the resolution said, the original disenfranchisement of the district appeared to be more a result of circumstances than of design, and no reasonable basis existed for its continuation.
At the time, the district’s non-voting delegate, Walter Fauntroy, told the House: “We want no more and no less than that to which all Americans are entitled and to do that we must be represented in both the House and Senate. Nothing more is needed; nothing less will satisfy the dictates of conscience.”