New Columbia
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New Columbia is the name of the proposed U.S. state that would be created by the admission of the District of Columbia into the Union as the 51st state according to legislation offered starting in the 98th Congress in 1983 and routinely re-introduced in succeeding Congresses. The Congressional legislation was triggered by the provisional D.C. Statehood constitution that Washington, D.C. voters adopted in November of 1982.
Although the proposal has yet to be approved by Congress—typically receiving little attention each term that it is presented—the name "New Columbia" remains part of the statehood movement in the District of Columbia. The proposal is considered the high-water mark in the long-running campaign for statehood.
The quest for statehood was endorsed in a local citywide initiative in 1980, following the 1978 proposal by the 95th Congress of the unsuccessful District of Columbia Voting Rights Amendment.
The campaign for statehood stalled after the District of Columbia Voting Rights Amendment failed in 1985 because it did not receive the required ratification by the legislatures of at least 38 of the 50 states within the required seven years of the amendment's submission by the 95th Congress.