On this day, 164 years ago, Congress voted to allow the area we now know as Arlington to cede from the District of Columbia and become part of Virginia.
Technically, representation in Congress did not come immediately after the vote. It would take another year for the Virginia legislature to accept the retrocession. And not everybody was well-represented. Virginia was a slave state and Arlington would not benefit from the Compromise of 1850, which outlawed the slave trade in the District.
Amid a fascinating history lesson, our friends at We Love DC pose a thought-provoking question: Was the retrocession a good idea? For the District, the answer seems to be no.
Flickr pool photo by ameschen.