Q 01/05

What is the official name of Washington D.C.?

A) District of Columbia

B) Federal District of Washington

C) Columbia City

D) Washington Territory

Answer · why

A) District of Columbia

'Columbia' was a poetic name for the United States in the Revolutionary era, a nod to Christopher Columbus.

Q 02/05

All the land in present-day Washington, D.C. was originally given by which state?

A) Maryland

B) Virginia

C) Pennsylvania

D) Delaware

Answer · why

A) Maryland

Maryland: Virginia gave land too, but its share across the river was handed back in 1846, so today's district sits entirely on former Maryland soil.

Q 03/05

Which National Mall landmark stayed closed for nearly three years after a 2011 earthquake?

A) Washington Monument

B) Lincoln Memorial

C) Jefferson Memorial

D) World War II Memorial

Answer · why

A) Washington Monument

The Washington Monument took more than 150 cracks in the magnitude 5.8 quake of August 2011, and climbers roped down its faces to inspect the damage b...

Q 04/05

Whom did George Washington commission in 1791 to lay out the new federal city?

A) Pierre Charles L'Enfant

B) James Hoban

C) Andrew Ellicott

D) Benjamin Henry Latrobe

Answer · why

A) Pierre Charles L'Enfant

Pierre Charles L'Enfant, a French-born military engineer, drew the 1791 plan of grand avenues and ceremonial spaces; Andrew Ellicott finished the surv...

Q 05/05

In the Compromise of 1790, who backed a Potomac capital in return for federal takeover of state debts?

A) Benjamin Franklin

B) Alexander Hamilton

C) John Jay

D) Patrick Henry

Answer · why

B) Alexander Hamilton

Alexander Hamilton won Southern votes for his debt plan by backing the Potomac site, a deal Jefferson said was struck over dinner at his house; the Re...