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Building the Nation's Capital is a free printable Grade 3 to Grade 5 social studies worksheet on how Washington, D.C. was planned and grew from fields into a capital, aligned to C3 Framework indicator D2.Geo.5.3-5. It prints 6 questions with an answer key on its own sheet of paper, in 25 versions that each ask different questions, so no two students in the class work from the same page. Print it from the browser or download it as a PDF — no account, no email.

Set 18 of 25 · the same problems every time you open this link.

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Set 1 has all 25 in a single PDF. All 25 sets ask different questions.

Building the Nation's Capital

D2.Geo.5.3-5

NameDate

Read the information text and answer its questions, then circle the best answers.

1.Look at the source, then answer the questions.

L'Enfant's Plan for the Capital

An information text written for this worksheet. In 1790 Congress decided to build a new capital city beside the Potomac River. President George Washington chose the exact place and asked Pierre-Charles L'Enfant, a French-born engineer who had fought in the American Revolution, to design it. At the time the land was mostly farms, fields and woods. In 1791 L'Enfant drew a plan. He placed the Capitol, where Congress meets, on a hill, and the President's House about a mile and a half away, joined by a wide avenue. Streets ran north to south and east to west like a grid, and wide avenues crossed them on a slant, meeting at circles and squares. A long open park, now the National Mall, stretched west from the Capitol. Enslaved workers, as well as free workers, did much of the work of building the Capitol and the President's House. L'Enfant argued with the leaders in charge of the city and was dismissed in 1792, but the city was later built mostly on his plan.

  1. 1. Which river is the capital beside?
  2. 2. How do we know L'Enfant's plan still mattered after he was dismissed?
  3. 3. How did L'Enfant's streets run?
  4. 4. What was the land like before the city was built?
2.How has Washington, D.C. changed since 1791?
  • A.It grew from fields and woods into a large city
  • B.It moved to another river
  • C.It shrank into a small village
3.What did L'Enfant's wide avenues and circles give the city?
  • A.Open spaces and long views between important buildings
  • B.Only narrow, crowded alleys
  • C.A tall wall around the city
4.Why is Washington, D.C. not part of any state?
  • A.It was set up as a federal district for the national government
  • B.It belongs to Canada
  • C.No one lives there
5.Why did the United States build a new capital city in the 1790s?
  • A.To build a whaling port
  • B.To have one permanent home for the national government
  • C.To make a new state
6.In what year did Congress first meet in the new city of Washington?
  • A.1800
  • B.1865
  • C.1776

LessonPrint · D2.Geo.5.3-5 · Set 18 · free to copy for classroom use

Answer key — Building the Nation's Capital

Set 18. Prints on its own sheet.

  1. 1.1. The Potomac River. 2. The city was later built mostly on his plan. 3. North to south and east to west like a grid, with wide avenues crossing on a slant. 4. Mostly farms, fields and woods.
  2. 2.It grew from fields and woods into a large city
  3. 3.Open spaces and long views between important buildings
  4. 4.It was set up as a federal district for the national government
  5. 5.To have one permanent home for the national government
  6. 6.1800

Last reviewed 2026-09-05. Aligned to D2.Geo.5.3-5 of the C3 Framework for Social Studies State Standards.