Editing Arlington County, Virginia (section)

===Residence Act===
{{Main|Residence Act}}
[[File:Map of the District of Columbia, 1835.jpg|thumb|An 1835 map of the [[Washington, D.C.|District of Columbia]], prior to the [[District of Columbia retrocession|retrocession]] of [[Alexandria County, Virginia|Alexandria County]]]]
Present-day Arlington County and most of present-day [[Alexandria, Virginia|Alexandria]] were ceded to the new [[Federal government of the United States|federal government]] by [[Virginia]]. On July 16, 1790, the [[United States Congress|Congress]] passed the [[Residence Act]], which authorized the relocation of the capital from [[Philadelphia]] to a location to be selected on the [[Potomac River]] by [[President of the United States|U.S. President]] [[George Washington]]. The Residence Act originally only allowed the President to select a location in [[Maryland]] as far east as the [[Anacostia River]]. President Washington, however, shifted the federal territory's borders to the southeast in order to include the existing town of Alexandria.

In 1791, [[United States Congress|Congress]], at Washington's request, amended the Residence Act to approve the new site, including the territory ceded by Virginia.<ref>{{cite book |last=Crew |first=Harvey W. |author2=William Bensing Webb|author3=John Wooldridge |title=Centennial History of the City of Washington, D. C. |publisher=United Brethren Publishing House |year=1892 |location=[[Dayton, Ohio]] |url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_5Q81AAAAIAAJ |pages=[https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_5Q81AAAAIAAJ/page/n96 89]–92 }}</ref> The amendment to the Residence Act prohibited the "erection of the public buildings otherwise than on the Maryland side of the River Potomac."<ref>(1) [[s:United States Statutes at Large/Volume 1/1st Congress/3rd Session/Chapter 17|United States Statutes at Large: Volume 1: 1st Congress: 3rd Session; Chapter 17> XVII.—An Act to amend "An act for establishing the temporary and permanent seat of the government of the United States"]]<br />(2) {{cite web|url=https://www.loc.gov/resource/rbpe.2170010p/|title=An ACT to amend "An act for establishing the TEMPORARY and PERMANENT SEAT of the GOVERNMENT of the United States.|work= Congress of the United States: at the third session, begun and held at the city of Philadelphia, on Monday the sixth of December, one thousand seven hundred and ninety|date=March 3, 1791|location=Philadelphia|publisher=Printed by Francis Childs and Johnn Swaine (1791)|access-date=October 16, 2020|quote=Provided, That nothing herein contained, shall authorize the erection of the public buildings otherwise than on the Maryland side of the river Potomac, as required by the aforesaid act.|via=[[Library of Congress]]}}</ref>

The initial shape of the federal district was a square, measuring {{convert|10|mi|km|}} on each side, totaling {{convert|100|sqmi|km2|}}. In 1791 and 1792, [[Andrew Ellicott]] and several assistants placed [[boundary markers of the original District of Columbia|boundary stones]] at every mile point. Fourteen of these markers were in Virginia, and many of the stones are still standing.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.boundarystones.org/ |title=Boundary Stones of Washington, D.C. |publisher=BoundaryStones.org |access-date=May 27, 2008 | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20080515194639/http://www.boundarystones.org/| archive-date= May 15, 2008 | url-status= live}}</ref>

When [[United States Congress|Congress]] arrived in the new capital from [[Philadelphia]], one of their first acts was to pass the [[District of Columbia Organic Act of 1801|Organic Act of 1801]], officially organizing the District of Columbia and placing the entire federal territory, including present-day Washington, D.C., [[Georgetown (Washington, D.C.)|Georgetown]], and [[Alexandria, Virginia|Alexandria]] under the exclusive control of Congress. The territory in the District was organized into two counties: the [[Washington County, D.C.|County of Washington]] to the east of the Potomac River and the County of Alexandria to the west. It included almost all of present-day Arlington County and part of present-day Alexandria.<ref>{{cite book |last=Crew |first=Harvey W. |author2=William Bensing Webb|author3=John Wooldridge |title=Centennial History of the City of Washington, D. C.|chapter=IV. Permanent Capital Site Selected|publisher=United Brethren Publishing House |year=1892 |location=[[Dayton, Ohio]] |url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_5Q81AAAAIAAJ |page=[https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_5Q81AAAAIAAJ/page/n110 103] }}</ref>

The Act established the borders of the area that eventually became Arlington, but the citizens in the District were no longer considered residents of Maryland or Virginia, which represented the end of their federal representation in Congress.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.abanet.org/poladv/letters/electionlaw/060914testimony_dcvoting.pdf |title=Statement on the subject of The District of Columbia Fair and Equal Voting Rights Act |access-date=July 10, 2008 |date=September 14, 2006 |publisher=[[American Bar Association]] | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20080725102618/http://www.abanet.org/poladv/letters/electionlaw/060914testimony_dcvoting.pdf| archive-date= July 25, 2008 | url-status= live}}</ref>