Quick Google:

The District of Columbia Organic Act of 1871 is an Act of Congress that repealed the individual charters of the cities of Washington and Georgetown and established a new territorial government for the whole District of Columbia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/District_of_Columbia_Organic_Act_of_1871#:~:text=The%20District%20of%20Columbia%20Organic,the%20whole%20District%20of%20Columbia.

The intention was supposedly to clear up a homeless issue, and the shocking dirt roads that were in Washington and Georgetown. (sound familiar?) The District's government was incorporated. The claim was that running two towns, with two municipality organizations, was less efficient than incorporating and becoming a district (it will be cheaper they said).

The implied argument was: now they were a corporation, laws would apply differently:

In 1873, President Grant appointed an influential member of the board of public works, Alexander Robey Shepherd, to the post of governor. Shepherd authorized large-scale municipal projects, which greatly modernized Washington. In doing so however, the governor spent three times the money that had been budgeted for capital improvements, bankrupting the city. (oops)

In 1874, Congress replaced the District's quasi-elected territorial government with an appointed three-member Board of Commissioners. Direct rule by Congress continued until the 1973 passage of the District of Columbia Home Rule Act, a century later.

Not saying I agree, just opening the subject at a normie level.