Wash Out Washington: The youth-led campaign to change the state’s name and flag

Wash Out Washington: The youth-led campaign to change the state’s name and flag

In 1853, Congress created the Washington Territory. Debate erupted over the name. Originally, our state was going to be called Columbia. Richard H. Stanton, a representative from Tennessee, argued that naming the territory Columbia would cause confusion over the nation’s capital on the opposite side of the country — the “D.C.” in Washington D.C. stands for District of Columbia. Representative Alexander Evans, who was from Maryland, predicted the…