Eisenhower Administrations - Changes in the U.S. Government
Changes in the U.S. Government
Alaska and Hawaii, both federal territories since the nineteenth century, were admitted to the Union as states in 1959, raising the number of states (and hence, the number of stars on the flag) to 50.
Another change during the Eisenhower years was passage of the Twenty-third Amendment, to permit residents of the District of Columbia to vote in national elections. When the District had been created, just after the American Revolution (1775–83), it was as a special political enclave. By the twentieth century, however, it had a large permanent population as well, and their inability to vote in presidential elections (because they were not residents of any state) seemed arbitrary and unjust. The draft amendment passed through Congress in June 1960 with Eisenhower's approval and rapidly won the assent of two-thirds of the states, being officially included in the Constitution on March 29, 1961.
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