Charles Scheppers
Jefferson City
Dear Editor:
There's talk about making most of Washington, D.C., the 51st state. A reason exists why the seat of the national government is larger than the few office buildings required for the three branches of government.
Under the Articles of Confederation, Congress was seated within the boundary of a state. The Continental Army surrounded Congress while in session to demand it be paid for its sacrifices during the American Revolutionary War. Congress was uncomfortable with this situation.
During the Constitutional Convention (1787) and its later ratification, Congress was granted exclusive jurisdiction over a landmass for protection of the national seat of government; this appears in Article I, Section 8, Clause 17. Maryland and Virginia ceded an area bounded 10 miles square in 1790.
In 1847, Congress gave up the portion of land ceded by Virginia, and that land rightfully went back into Virginia proper, allowed no longer necessary by Congress for its intended purpose.
In the later 1800s, Congress made use of the district's acreage when it feared the public would march on D.C. to protest the growing corruption of national officials, specifically over the presidential election of 1876. Sound familiar? Gun posts were set up as a precaution on the periphery of D.C. to repel the public. Read The United States Unmasked [1879], Gabriel Manigault, page 164.
Recently Congress made use of a perimeter for its protection, erecting razor fence complete with troops and military hardware. If Congress now believes it only needs a few square blocks for its protection, the unneeded land of D.C. should revert back to Maryland as Congress no longer deems it necessary for its intended purpose.
Democrats are promoting D.C. as a 51st state merely for political gain as that district consistently votes socialist. But the labels Democrat and Republican are meaningless descriptions of those political parties; they have in fact reversed themselves on policy over the years and are just two competing teams in corruption.
During the Civil War, the Republican Party promoted the split of Virginia into two states, Virginia and West Virginia. Western Virginia was sympathetic to the supposed Union cause, so Virginia's representation in the House was decreased and West Virginia brought its representatives and two new senators into the Republican Party. Sound familiar?
People in high positions of authority say the most ridiculous things, and the public hasn't figured out how to stop it.