History

THE REPUBLICAN PARTY OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
A History of Civil Rights, Voting Representation & Self-Government Advocacy


Prepared by Nelson F. Rimensnyder, Historian
Member, Republican Committee of the District of Columbia
October 11, 2011

The Republican Party of the District of Columbia was established in 1855. Since that time, the Party, through its local Committee and candidates for office, has been a leading advocate for civil and voting rights for all residents of the Nation’s Capital.

At its 1855 organizational meeting, the DC Republican Committee issued its first platform advocating:
1) Abolition of slavery in the District of Columbia;
2) No extension of slavery in the territories; and
3) New states to be admitted to the Union only if slavery was specifically prohibited in the state constitution.

In 1862, Congress, at the urging of DC Republican leaders, Frederick Douglass and other abolitionists, abolished slavery in the District of Columbia. Douglass moved to the District in 1870 and served as a member of the DC Republican Committee until his death in 1895.

During the Reconstruction period of the 1870’s, both African American and white Republicans held office and served as members of the Assembly of the Territorial Government of the District of Columbia. Together, these Republicans succeeded in enacting some strong anti-discrimination legislation. However, after 1900 segregation again became customary in the District under the Commission form of government by “Jim Crow” appointees not answerable to the disenfranchised residents of the District. The anti-discrimination laws were no longer enforced and were, ultimately, forgotten.

But in the 1940’s and 50’s, black and white residents began to protest, picket and demonstrate against the injustices of segregation in public transportation, shops, theaters, hotels, restaurants, and other public accommodations. The old laws forbidding discrimination in the District were “discovered,” still on the books, after at least half a century of non-enforcement. They were ordered valid and enforceable by the U. S. Supreme Court in 1953 (DC v Thompson), thus ending segregation in public places in the Nation’s Capital.

DC Republican Party Platforms have consistently advocated local and national voting rights. The 1876 DC Party Platform said, “Taxation without representation is tyranny and the unjust disenfranchisement of the inhabitants of the District is contrary to the spirit of Republican Institutions…and we demand the immediate restoration by Congress of the ballot and suffrage in the District of Columbia.”

Frederick Douglass, a DC Republican Committee member, wrote in 1893, “Regarding their political rights, residents of the Nation’s Capital are not really citizens, but practically aliens in their own country.”

The DC Republican Party has been sending delegates to Presidential Nominating conventions since the first convention in 1856. These delegates have sought National Party Platform language supporting local and national voting rights for residents of the District of Columbia. At eight conventions, delegates have been successful in getting such language in the national platform. These platform planks recognized incremental and bipartisan proposals deemed capable of achievement. The vote for President (23rd Amendment, 1960-61), the authorization for a U. S. House Delegate (1971), and the DC Home Rule Act (1974) resulted from DC Republican Party endeavors supported by National Party Platforms.

The current DC Republican Party Platform has planks advocating support for voting representation, beginning with the House, budget and legislative autonomy for the District government, and an end to the practice of adding riders to the annual DC appropriation bill that limit local decision making.

DC Republican Committee research has identified 27 occasions since 1920 when DC Republican leaders have testified before committees of Congress in support of DC voting representation and local self government (some selected examples are available upon request). On behalf of DC voting representation, since 2000 alone, on numerous occasions, representatives of the DC Republican Party leadership have testified before committees of Congress, written letters to Republican Senators and House Members, and personally met with Republican Senators and House members and staff to urge support for voting representation and legislative and budget autonomy for the District of Columbia. These efforts have produced growing Republican congressional support for voting representation and increased self-government.

The current and historical voting representation position of the DC Republican Party was summarized by Betsy W. Werronen (then Chairman of the DC Republican Committee and currently National Republican Committeewoman from the District of Columbia) in testimony on July 19, 2002, before the U. S. House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform:

“The residents of the District of Columbia are citizens of the United States. We are entitled under the Constitution to the same rights and responsibilities as all other United States citizens. We accept our responsibilities, including the obligation to pay taxes just like all other citizens. We must have the right to voting representation in Congress just like all other citizens. It is the right thing to do. There is simply no defense for not granting this right. What precise form voting representation should take and by what means it should be achieved are questions to be answered by Congress.”