district of columbia

2 definitions found

district of columbia - WordNet (r) 2.1 (2005) :

  District of Columbia
      n 1: the district occupied entirely by the city of Washington;
           chosen by George Washington as the site of the capital of
           the United States and created out of land ceded by Maryland
           and Virginia [syn: District of Columbia, D.C., DC]

district of columbia - Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856) :

  DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. The name of a district of country, ten miles square, 
  situate between the states of Maryland and Virginia, over which the national 
  government has exclusive jurisdiction. By the constitution, congress may " 
  exercise exclusive jurisdiction in all cases whatsoever, over such district, 
  not exceeding ten miles square, as may, by, cession of particular states, 
  and the acceptance of congress, become the seat of government of the United 
  States." In pursuance of this authority, the states of Maryland and 
  Virginia, ceded to the United States, a small territory on the banks of the 
  Potomac, and congress, by the Act of July 16, 1790, accepted the same for 
  the permanent seat of the government of the United States. The act provides 
  for the removal of the seat of government from the city of Philadelphia to 
  the District of Columbia, on the first Monday of December, 1800. It is also 
  provided, that the laws of the state, within such district, shall not be 
  affected by the acceptance, until the time fixed for the removal of the 
  government thereto, and until congress shall otherwise by law provide. 
       2. It seems that the District of Columbia, and the territorial 
  districts of the United States, are not states within the meaning of the 
  constitution, and of the judiciary act, so as to enable a citizen thereof to 
  sue a citizen of one of the states in the federal courts. 2 Cranch, 445; 1 
  Wheat, 91. 
       3. By the Act of July 11, 1846, congress retroceded the county of 
  Alexandria, part of the District of Columbia, to the state of Virginia.