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D.c. StatehoodD.C. Statehood is the name of a political campaign intended to grant the District of Columbia the full privileges of a U.S. state, including full voting rights in the United States House of Representatives and United States Senate. It represents one extreme of a spectrum, the other extreme being the status quo before 1974 (when D.C. gained home rule and an elected mayor). In the District, this position has been carried by the D.C. Statehood Party, a minor party; it merged with the local Green Party affiliate to form the D.C. Statehood Green Party. The nearest this movement ever came to success was in 1978, when Congress passed the District of Columbia Voting Rights Amendment. Two years later in 1980, local citizens passed an initiative calling for a constitutional convention for a new state. In 1982, voters ratified the constitution of the state, which was to be called New Columbia. The drive for statehood stalled in 1985, however, when the D.C. Voting Rights Amendment failed because not enough states ratified the amendment within the seven-year span specified. Many alternative proposals to outright statehood have been proposed. It is possible that the state of Maryland could take back the land it ceded for the District, as Virginia took back the land it ceded in 1846 (present-day Arlington County). Such an action would require an act of Congress and approval from the District and the State of Maryland. This would make residents of the District residents of a State without granting the District statehood per se. Other suggestions include allowing voting rights in the House of Representatives, but not in the Senate, to reflect what some view as the uniquely non-state status of the District.
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