By: Miriam Edelman
"D.C.” in Washington, D.C., has much more meaning than other postal state abbreviations. Many people from states may not say that they are from the two-digit postal abbreviation of their state, but some D.C. residents say they live in D.C.
Officially, D.C. stands for “District of Columbia. “Columbia” is derived from Christopher Columbus. During the American Revolution era, Columbia was a patriotic reference to the U.S. In 1791, the federal district was named Washington in honor of President George Washington, who had chosen the district’s location. Commissioners who oversaw the development of the new city, named the district the Territory of Columbia. In 1871, the District of Columbia Organic Act of 1871 changed the name of the Territory of Columbia to the District of Columbia; ended the governments of Georgetown, Washington City, and Washington County; and created a territorial Government. As a result of the Act, D.C. residents could no longer vote for Mayor. In addition, the Act resulted in the President’s appointing a Governor and a House of Delegates. D.C. residents voted for members of a new House of Delegates and a non-voting delegate to the House of Representatives.
D.C. is the two letter postal abbreviation of Washington, D.C. Before 1963, many states and Washington, D.C., had abbreviations, some of which were just two letters long. On July 1, 1963, the Post Office Department introduced the Zip Code. Since the majority of addressing equipment could have only 23 characters, state names had to be abbreviated. In October 1963, the Department finalized the currently-used postal abbreviations. The only modification that has been made since then was the change of Nebraska’s abbreviation from NB to NE. This change prevented confusion with New Brunswick in Canada.
If D.C. becomes a state, it would be named “Douglass Commonwealth” or “State of Washington, Douglass Commonwealth” after Frederick Douglass. Different websites say slightly different names. D.C. would be the state’s abbreviation.
Abolitionist Douglass was born as a slave in February 1818 in Maryland. Although slaves were not allowed to be taught to read and write, Douglass learned the alphabet when he was approximately 12 years old. He learned to read. After dressing as a sailor on a train to New York City in 1838, he began speaking against slavery. In 1845, he went overseas, staying in Ireland and Britain, so he would not become a slave again.
After British people bought Douglass’s freedom, he went back to the U.S. in 1847 as a free person. At the National Liberty Party Convention in New York in June 1848, Douglass received a vote for to be a candidate for the U.S. presidency. He created abolitionist newspapers, supported women’s rights, and advised Presidents on African-Americans. After the Civil War, Douglass was a political appointee. In 1872, he made history as the first African-American to be nominated for Vice President of the United States when he became the running mate of Victoria Woodhull on the Equal Rights ticket. However, he was nominated for Vice President without knowing or agreeing, and he never acknowledged this nomination. At the Republican Convention in Chicago in 1888, Douglass became the first African-American to have his name be put in nomination for President.
Late in his life, he was active with the District Suffrage Petition Association. He asked, “What have the people of the District done that they should be excluded from the privileges of the ballot box?” In 1895, he died. People can still visit his home, a National Historical Site, in Anacostia.
The naming of a potential new state after Douglass is not the first time Washington, D.C., has honored Douglass. Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC)’s bill resulted in the depiction of Douglas in D.C.’s first statue in the U.S. Capitol complex in 2013.
D.C. citizens had voted for Douglas to be the subject of that statue that the D.C. Commission for the Arts and Humanities commissioned in 2006. Prior to being placed in the Capitol Visitor Center’s Emancipation Hall in 2013, the statue was located at One Judiciary Square. As Norton’s office pointed out in its February 14, 2025, press release celebrating Douglass’ birthday, D.C. is “the only jurisdiction with a statue in the Capitol that is not a state.”
In a press release of Norton’s office on June 17, 2013, about the new Douglass statue, Norton said "Determined to take their rightful place in the Capitol, District residents selected and the D.C. government commissioned the Douglass statue nearly seven years ago." She added
Like every unveiling of a state statue, the ceremony on Wednesday is much appreciated because it is emblematic of our national citizenship and places D.C. in its rightful place, among the states. However, Frederick Douglass also deserves to be remembered for the part of his life, which is too little known, as an active D.C. resident deeply rooted in our city's daily life and particularly its aspirations for an independent local government and for congressional voting rights. With the Douglass statue, the District of Columbia goes into the Capitol alongside the 50 states, signifying our insistence, following his example, on the equal treatment with the states that we seek.
On June 19, 2013, government leaders spoke at a dedication ceremony for the new Douglass statue in Emancipation Hall. At that event, some leaders supported D.C. rights, including D.C. statehood:
- Norton – “Some may know of my strongly held views that DC residents must enjoy equal Congressional voting and self-government rights with other Americans. I must defer, however, to Mr. Douglass, whose fervor on this issue is unmatched by any I know or have heard on the subject. At a meeting on District suffrage in 1895, for example, Douglass spoke defiantly that he was present at the meeting, quote ‘to take sides’….Not withstanding,… he said the frowns nor the smiles of the present government. He called the residents of the District, and I'm quoting him ‘aliens, not citizens, but subjects,’ and said there was what he called plenty of taxation but no representation in the great questions of politics in the country. Mr. Douglass did not mince his words but spoke with fearless militancy in the voice of a local D.C. citizen at the height of his international celebrity. Today, perhaps, his most famous words ‘agitate, agitate, agitate,’ inspire the District's determination to become the 51st state” and “[H]e [Douglass] lent his stature as a world leader to his hometown and refused to temper his demand for Congressional voting rights and local self-government for the residents of the District of Columbia.”
- Then-Democratic Leader of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) – “It is appropriate that his statue would represent the District of Columbia for his advocacy of D.C. voting rights and his decision to spend the last years of his life at Cedar Hill in Washington. Today, the more than 600,000 citizens of Washington will still see will see a statue finally representing them in Emancipation Hall in the…Capitol, a tribute to him and again to the relentless leadership of Congresswoman Eleanar Holmes Norton. We know that a single statue is not enough. What… Frederick Douglas and so many of us want is full represent representation in the halls of Congress. As Frederick Douglas wrote of the people of D.C., quote they have nether voice nor vote, close quote, and it is incumbent upon all of us to write this wrong of history and to afford the District of Colombia the voice it deserves.”
- Then-Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) – “It's right and fitting that Frederick Douglas, this extraordinary man, this unflinching voice for freedom, this unyielding advocate for justice, should be honored with an enduring monument. It is just and proper that more than 600,000 American citizens who reside in the District of Columbia should finally have a statue representing them here in the United States Capitol. Washington, D.C., residents pay taxes just like those from Nevada, California, and any other state. Washington, D.C., residents have fought and died in every war every American war just like residents of Ohio [Note – Ohio is the state of then-Speaker of the House John Boehner (R-OH).], Kentucky [Note – Kentucky is the state of then-Republican Senate Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY).], or any other state, and Washington, D.C., residents deserve the same right to self-government and Congressional representation as residents of any other state. The District of Columbia deserves statehood,…and to show and to show how serious I am about this, I signed my name as a sponsor of this legislation yesterday in the United States Senate. Sponsoring legislation is one thing, but Congress should act to grant statehood to give 600,000 people the same privileges every other citizen has in this great country. This is just not some unique idea I came up with. This was a cause close to Frederick Douglass' heart. Although Mr. Douglass championed many causes, the abolition of slavery and women suffrage among them, he was also an unwavering advocate for equal representation for District of Columbia residents.” and “This is what he [Douglass] said: if he knows enough to pay taxes to support the government, he knows enough to vote. Taxation and representation should go together. If he knows enough to shoulder a musket and fight for the flag, he knows enough to vote, and ladies and gentlemen, it applies to women also. Nearly 150 years later, residents of District Columbia have gained the vote in presidential elections but still lack a voting representative in Congress. As Mr. Douglass said, the District is the one spot where there is no government for the people, of the people, and by the people. Its citizens submit to rulers whom they have no choice in selecting. They obey laws which they have no voice in making. There's no better historical figure to represent the District Columbia than Frederick Douglas, one of the first and finest voices of equality for its residents. Now, lawmakers should not only honor his legacy with the work of bronze but also an act of Congress.”
- Then-Vice President Joe Biden – “Over a century ago, Douglass asked a good question. He said what the people of the, what have the people of the District done that they should be excluded from…the privileges of the ballot box. Many District representatives and residents like Representative Norton can trace their families back to former slaves who entered this District seeking freedom and help build the city. We agree with, the President and I, with Senator Norton, with Representative Norton, and Frederick Douglas, and support home rule, budget autonomy, and the vote for the people of the District of Columbia.”
Recently, a D.C. resident at an event about D.C. described D.C. as standing for “Disenfranchised City.” As D.C. residents have no voting representation in the U.S. Congress and have only limited home rule, D.C residents are disenfranchised and are not full-class citizens. The only option to remedy this civil rights violation is D.C. statehood.
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