Supporting the citizens of the District of Columbia in their efforts to gain voting representation in the United States Congress.

WHEREAS, Philadelphia is the cradle of American democracy, from which sprang the Declaration of Independence, proclaiming the right of all people to participate in their own government; and the Constitution of the United States, the blueprint for the oldest and strongest democratic government in the world; and

WHEREAS, The people of the City of Philadelphia continue to uphold the principles of liberty and democracy, and to support the striving of others in pursuit of those ideas; and

WHEREAS, The more than one half million citizens of the District of Columbia are disenfranchised, and are unique in that they lack voting representation in the United States Congress, while proudly and willingly shouldering the full responsibilities of United States citizenship; and

WHEREAS, This disenfranchisement of the citizens of the Nation's Capital is contrary to the spirit of liberty and democracy, and absolutely in violation of the values on which the United States was founded; and

WHEREAS, The Council of the City of Philadelphia, and the people of the City it represents, hereby voice their support for the citizens of the District of Columbia, and for the principle that all American citizens shall elect and be represented by voting representatives in the national legislature; now therefore

RESOLVED, BY THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA, That the citizens of the District of Columbia, like citizens from any state, should have the right to elect representatives to both houses of the United States Congress.

RESOLVED, That this Council hereby encourages legislatures throughout this Commonwealth and the Nation, express support for the people of the District of Columbia in their campaign to right an historic wrong and realize fully the promise of American democracy.

End