Race, Democracy, and Empire: Delegates to Congress from DC and the Territories

Abstract

Both democracy and empire are central to American political development. Yet, the role of Congress—that organ of democratic politics—in the expansion of US empire is not well understood. This article explains how and why Congress institutionalized representation from Washington, DC and the US territories in the mid-twentieth century. We uncover the history of a puzzling position: the Congressional delegate, who is permitted to debate, but not vote. Drawing on extensive original archival research and quantitative analysis of legislative voting behavior, this article explicates how racial attitudes structured conflict over the delegate position. We highlight the centrality of racial ideas to the institutional- ization of American empire in the mid-twentieth century.