DC Statehood: a Chronology
New Year's Eve, 1970: Ad hoc statehood Committee applied to the board of elections for approval as a political party.
January-February, 1971: Committee formed to investigate the feasibility of statehood
January, 1971: Julius Hobson announced his candidacy as a nonvoting delegate to Congress on the Statehood Party ticket. (Statehood Call, February, 1972)
March 6, 1971: First "Statehood Day" takes place with series of community events to educate and inform public on statehood.
1971: The first of several unsuccessful statehood bills is introduced in Congress by Democrat Ronald Dellums and Republican Fred Schwengel
February 26, 1972: First convention of the DC Statehood Party
1974: Julius Hobson elected to the Council-at-Large seat running on the Statehood Party ticket
1977: After Hobson's death in 1977, Hilda Mason appointed and then elected as Council membe At-Large on the Statehood Party ticket
November 4, 1980: DC residents approve a statehood initiative
1981: DC Statehood Commission and the DC Compact Commission established
November 4, 1981: 45 delegates elected to a Constitutional Convention to serve 2-3 year terms.
1982: The DC Statehood Constitutional Convention officially opens with 45 delegates
May 27, 1982: New Columbia is officially chosen as the name for the new state
May 29, 1982: Statehood Convention adopts a constitution
November, 1982: DC voters approve the new constitution
1985: DC Voting Rights Amendment approved by Congress in 1978 to give the District two senators and a congressman; amendment dies after 13 state legislatures reject it.
February 1987: The DC City Council and Delegate Walter Fauntroy substitute DC Home Rule Charter for the 1982 approved constitution for submission to Congress.
June 1987: The House DC Committee votes to approve the DC Home Rule Charter submitted by Fauntroy which grants DC Statehood and full voting rights; however, the bill later dies in Congress
March, 1990: President Bush announces he is opposed to DC statehood.
November, 1990: DC elects a "shadow" statehood delegation to lobby Congress for admission as a state.
April 2, 1992: The House DC Committee again voted to make DC a state but the measure never reached the full House.
November 1993: DC Statehood Bill was defeated by a vote of 277 to 153 in Congress
