Standard History of The City of Washington by William Tindall

Author:William Tindall [Tindall, William]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Geschichte
Publisher: Jazzybee Verlag
Published: 2019-05-23T22:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER X.

Municipal Suffrage

The right to vote in the District of Columbia for President of the United States and other national offices existed at the time the territory embraced in the District was ceded to Congress, and was exercised by the qualified voters in the District in the Presidential election of November, 1800, and remained in force until the first Monday in December, 1800, when the exclusive jurisdiction of Congress over the District took effect.

The qualified voters in the portion derived from Maryland were at that time,

"All free men above 21 years of age having a freehold of 50 acres of land in the county in which they offer to vote, and residing therein, and all free men having property in this State above the value of £30 current money, and having resided in the county in which they offer to vote one whole year next preceding the election, shall have a right of suffrage, etc." (Constitution of Maryland).

When the District ceased to be a part of Maryland, its residents, no longer being residents of any county of Maryland, consequently lost the right to vote in the elections of that State.

The qualification of voters in the portion of the District derived from Virginia at the time of the cession was the possession of a certain amount of real property in the county in which the vote was cast. (Vol. 8, p. 306, Hening's Statutes at Large of Virginia). When that part of the District ceased to be under the jurisdiction of any county of Virginia, that right of suffrage in the District accordingly expired.

The citizens of the District of Columbia were subsequently vested with the right of suffrage in municipal matters, as hereinafter shown: but the residents of the portion of the District of Columbia, outside of the city of Washington and of Georgetown, had no right of suffrage, except at the special election to adopt a code of laws in 1858, from the first Monday of December, 1800, when the Jurisdiction of the United States over the District took effect, until the 20th of April, 1871, when they were vested with that function under the territorial Act of February 21, 1871, and possessed it until June 20, 1874, when the territorial form of government for the District was abolished.

With respect to the purpose of the Constitution in regard to local suffrage at the Seat of Government, the following opinions are of interest.

On a motion in the House of Representatives on December 31, 1800, to recommit a bill concerning the District of Columbia, Mr. Harper, in reply to an observation that the people of the District had continued for one hundred years to live happily under their respective State governments, and therefore it was not necessary for Congress to legislate at all on the subject, said:

"But the provision of the Constitution on this subject had not been made with this view. It was made to bestow dignity and independence on the Government of the Union. It was to protect it from

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