District of Columbia home rule is the District of Columbia residents' ability to govern their local affairs. As the federal capital, the Constitution grants the United States Congress exclusive jurisdiction over the District in "all cases whatsoever".
The United States Congress has ultimate authority over the District.
The John A. Wilson Building is home to the mayor and the 13 members of the Council of the District of Columbia.
Robert Brent, first mayor of the City of Washington
This button was used in a 1974 referendum campaign encouraging residents of the District of Columbia to vote for the Home Rule Charter.
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, which was moved from Philadelphia to what was then called the City of Washington in 1800. 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 returned in March 1847.
