After decades as part of the District of Columbia, Alexandria and Alexandria County (which included modern-day Arlington) were retroceded back to Virginia on July 9, 1846. Concerns over economic neglect, limited political representation, and the growing abolitionist movement in the federal district led local leaders to push for the change. Many Alexandrians feared that remaining in D.C. would threaten the city’s role in the domestic slave trade. Congress approved the retrocession, and Virginia formally accepted the territory, restoring Alexandria’s ties to the Commonwealth.