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The completely appropriate public outcry, primarily among conservatives and other disaffected Americans, during the 2016 presidential election campaign to “drain the swamp” has its roots in Washington DC’s early history. For several years after its founding, the city on the Potomac River was known for its terribly swampy conditions, with unpaved roads simply impassible by wagon or carriage for months out of the year thanks to the pervasive muck and mire.<ref>Joanne B. Freeman, Affairs of Honor: National Politics in the New Republic (New Haven [Conn.]: Yale University Press, 2001).</ref> Many politicians during the early republic refused to travel to the capital city, preferring instead to conduct government business via courier or carrier pigeons, which became known informally as “muddy budgies.” President Thomas Jefferson was a great fan of the “avian art,” and his several failed attempts to train muddy budgies himself are a great source of levity in the Jefferson Papers.<ref>Thomas Jefferson,.Catalogue, [1823]. Manuscript. Thomas Jefferson Papers, Library of Congress. http://lccn.loc.gov/87204942</ref>
The completely appropriate public outcry, primarily among conservatives and other disaffected Americans, during the 2016 presidential election campaign to “drain the swamp” has its roots in Washington DC’s early history. For several years after its founding, the city on the Potomac River was known for its terribly swampy conditions, with unpaved roads simply impassible by wagon or carriage for months out of the year thanks to the pervasive muck and mire.<ref>Joanne B. Freeman, Affairs of Honor: National Politics in the New Republic (New Haven [Conn.]: Yale University Press, 2001).</ref> Many politicians during the early republic refused to travel to the capital city, preferring instead to conduct government business via courier or carrier pigeons, which became known informally as “muddy budgies.” President Thomas Jefferson was a great fan of the “avian art,” and his several failed attempts to train muddy budgies himself are a great source of levity in the Jefferson Papers.<ref>Thomas Jefferson,.Catalogue, [1823]. Manuscript. Thomas Jefferson Papers, Library of Congress. http://lccn.loc.gov/87204942</ref>
==Demographics==
[[File:RaceWashingtonDC.png|thumb|left|Maps of racial and ethnic divisions in US cities, inspired by Bill Rankin's map of Chicago, updated for Census 2010. Red is White, Blue is Black, Green is Asian, Orange is Hispanic, Yellow is Other, and each dot is 25 residents.]]
As of July 1, 2016, the [[U.S. Census Bureau]] estimates that the District's population was 681,170, an 13.2% increase since the 2010 United States Census.<ref name=PopEstUS>{{cite web|url=http://www.census.gov/quickfacts/table/PST045215/11|title=QuickFacts District of Columbia|date=December 20, 2016|publisher=[[U.S. Census Bureau]]|accessdate=December 22, 2016}}</ref> The increase continues a growth trend since 2000, following a half-century of population decline.<ref>{{cite news|last=Morello|first=Carol|title=D.C. population soars past 600,000 for first time in years|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/12/21/AR2010122102609.html|accessdate=May 1,2017|newspaper=The Washington Post|date=December 22, 2011|author2=Dan Keating}}</ref> The city was the 24th most populous place in the United States.<ref>{{cite web|title=Population Change for Places With Populations of 50,000 or More in the United States and Puerto Rico: 2000 to 2010|url=http://www.census.gov/population/www/cen2010/cph-t/cph-t-3.html|publisher=United States Census Bureau|accessdate=May 1,2017|date=September 27, 2011}}</ref> According to data from 2010, commuters from the suburbs increase the District's daytime population to over one million people.<ref>{{cite web|last=Austermuhle|first=Martin|title=D.C.'s Population Grows 79 Percent Every Workday, Outpacing Other Cities|url=http://wamu.org/news/13/05/31/dcs_population_grows_79_percent_every_workday_outpacing_other_cities|publisher=WAMU|accessdate=May 1, 2017|date=May 31, 2013}}</ref>
According to 2015 Census Bureau data, the population of Washington, D.C. was 48.3% Black or African American, 44.1% White (36.1% non-Hispanic White), 4.2% Asian, 0.6% American Indian or Alaska Native, and 0.2% Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander. Individuals from two or more races made up 2.7% of the population. Hispanics of any race made up 10.6% of the District's population.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.census.gov/quickfacts/table/PST045215/11001,00 |title=District of Columbia |work=State & County QuickFacts |publisher=U.S. Census Bureau |accessdate=May 1, 2017}}</ref> African American residents composed about 30% of the District's total population between 1800 and 1940.<ref name="histpop">{{cite web|url=http://www.census.gov/population/www/documentation/twps0056/tab23.pdf |title=Historical Census Statistics on Population Totals By Race, 1790 to 1990 |accessdate=May 1, 2017 |date=September 13, 2002 |format=PDF |publisher=[[United States Census Bureau]] }}</ref> The black population reached a peak of 70% by 1970, but has since steadily declined due to many African Americans moving to the surrounding suburbs. Partly as a result of [[gentrification]], there was a 31.4% increase in the non-Hispanic white population and an 11.5% decrease in the black population between 2000 and 2010.<ref name=demshift>{{cite news|title=Number of black D.C. residents plummets as majority status slips away|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/black-dc-residents-plummet-barely-a-majority/2011/03/24/ABtIgJQB_story.html|accessdate=May 1, 2017|newspaper=The Washington Post|date=March 24, 2011|author=Carol Morello|author2=Dan Keating}}</ref>
==Government==
==Government==
Article I of the Constitution specifies that [[Congress]] has exclusive legislative jurisdiction over the District of Columbia.<ref>http://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution/constitution.articlei.html#section8</ref> In 1973, Congress passed the District of Columbia Self-Government and Governmental Reorganization Act, [[P.L.]] 93-198, which proposed a charter that delegated legislative authority to a locally elected [[mayor]] and [[Council of the District of Columbia|council]]; the charter was approved by local referendum in 1974.<ref>http://government.westlaw.com/linkedslice/default.asp?rs=gvt1.0&vr=2.0&sp=dcc-1000</ref><ref>http://www.narpac.org/ITXICE.HTM</ref>
Article I of the Constitution specifies that [[Congress]] has exclusive legislative jurisdiction over the District of Columbia.<ref>http://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution/constitution.articlei.html#section8</ref> In 1973, Congress passed the District of Columbia Self-Government and Governmental Reorganization Act, [[P.L.]] 93-198, which proposed a charter that delegated legislative authority to a locally elected [[mayor]] and [[Council of the District of Columbia|council]]; the charter was approved by local referendum in 1974.<ref>http://government.westlaw.com/linkedslice/default.asp?rs=gvt1.0&vr=2.0&sp=dcc-1000</ref><ref>http://www.narpac.org/ITXICE.HTM</ref>