First Inauguration of George Washington (1789) in New York

The first inauguration of George Washington took place on 30 April 1789, when he took the oath of office as the first President of the United States on the balcony of Federal Hall in New York City. The ceremony launched the executive branch created by the new Constitution and set precedents, from the inaugural address to the modest style of the presidency, that his successors still follow.

Background: a new government

The Constitutional Convention of 1787, over which Washington had presided, created the office of president. After the Constitution was ratified in 1788, the outgoing Confederation Congress set the timetable for the new government and chose New York City, its own meeting place, as the temporary capital.

Presidential electors were chosen in the states in late 1788 and early 1789, by popular vote in some and by the legislature in others. Only ten states took part: North Carolina and Rhode Island had not yet ratified, and New York’s legislature failed to agree on how to choose its electors. The electors cast their ballots on 4 February 1789.

The election of Washington

Washington, who had commanded the Continental Army and retired to his Virginia estate at Mount Vernon after the war, was the obvious choice. Each elector cast two votes, and Washington received one from every elector, 69 in all. John Adams of Massachusetts came second with 34 votes and became vice-president.

The new Congress was due to meet on 4 March 1789, but members arrived slowly. The House of Representatives reached a quorum only on 1 April and the Senate on 6 April, when the electoral votes were counted. Charles Thomson, the long-serving secretary of the Confederation Congress, rode to Mount Vernon and formally notified Washington of his election on 14 April.

The journey to New York

Washington left Mount Vernon on 16 April. He wrote that he set out with more anxious and painful feelings than he could express, aware of how much was expected of him. His week-long journey north turned into a triumphal procession, with welcoming committees, militia escorts and dinners in Alexandria, Baltimore and Wilmington.

In Philadelphia he rode under a decorated arch at Gray’s Ferry, and at Trenton, where he had won a famous victory in 1776, women and girls strewed flowers in his path beneath another arch. On 23 April he crossed from Elizabethtown, New Jersey, to Manhattan in a ceremonial barge rowed by thirteen oarsmen, landing amid cheering crowds, ringing bells and the firing of cannon.

The ceremony on 30 April

On the morning of 30 April a procession accompanied Washington from his residence on Cherry Street to Federal Hall, the former City Hall, which had been remodelled by the architect Pierre Charles L’Enfant to house Congress. Washington wore a plain brown suit of broadcloth made in Hartford, Connecticut, chosen to show support for American manufacturing, with a dress sword and white silk stockings.

At about one o’clock he stepped onto the second-floor balcony overlooking Wall Street and Broad Street, where a large crowd had gathered. Robert R. Livingston, Chancellor of New York, administered the oath prescribed in Article II of the Constitution, and Washington placed his hand on a Bible borrowed from St. John’s Lodge No. 1 of the Freemasons. Samuel Otis, the secretary of the Senate, held the Bible. Livingston then proclaimed Washington president, and the crowd answered with cheers and a thirteen-gun salute.

Washington returned to the Senate chamber and delivered the first inaugural address to members of both houses of Congress. Witnesses noted that he seemed nervous, his hands trembling as he read. The speech was short and modest. He spoke of his reluctance to leave retirement, offered thanks to Providence, encouraged Congress to consider amendments protecting the rights of citizens, and asked to receive no salary beyond his necessary expenses.

Afterwards Washington and members of Congress walked to St. Paul’s Chapel for a service of prayer, and in the evening the city was lit up with illuminations and fireworks.

Setting precedents

Washington was conscious that almost everything he did would become a precedent. The Constitution required only the oath; the inaugural address, the public ceremony and the religious service were his and Congress’s choices, and they shaped later inaugurations.

Congress also had to decide how to address the new president. The Senate, led by Vice-President Adams, debated grand titles such as “His Highness”, but the House preferred simplicity and the plain style “President of the United States” prevailed. Washington’s restraint, and his request to forgo a salary, signalled that the new office would be republican rather than royal. Congress nevertheless voted him a salary of 25,000 dollars a year, which he accepted.

Over the following months Congress created the departments of State, War and the Treasury, and Washington appointed Thomas Jefferson, Henry Knox and Alexander Hamilton to lead them. In September 1789 Congress also approved the amendments that became the Bill of Rights.

Key people

George Washington (1732–1799) was 57 when he took office. A Virginia planter and slaveholder who had led the Continental Army to victory, he had returned his commission to Congress in 1783, an act that won him a reputation for selflessness on both sides of the Atlantic. He served two terms and declined a third, retiring in 1797.

John Adams (1735–1826) of Massachusetts, a leading revolutionary and diplomat, took his place as presiding officer of the Senate on 21 April 1789, nine days before Washington’s inauguration, and formally took the oath of office in June. He found the office frustrating and later succeeded Washington as president.

Robert R. Livingston (1746–1813), Chancellor of New York, had served on the committee that drafted the Declaration of Independence. He later negotiated the Louisiana Purchase as minister to France.

Charles Thomson (1729–1824) had been secretary of Congress since 1774. Carrying the news to Mount Vernon was one of his last official duties before the old Congress gave way to the new government.

Myths and facts

Myth: Washington added the words “So help me God” to his oath. No account written at the time records this. The claim first appeared in print in the mid-nineteenth century, and historians consider it unproven, though it later became a custom.

Fact: the original Federal Hall no longer stands. The building was demolished in 1812. The present Federal Hall National Memorial on the site, built as a customs house and completed in 1842, has a bronze statue of Washington by John Quincy Adams Ward, unveiled in 1883, marking the place of the inauguration.

Timeline

• 1789, 4 February: Presidential electors cast their votes in the states.
• 1789, 4 March: The first Congress under the Constitution is due to convene in New York.
• 1789, 6 April: The Senate reaches a quorum and Congress counts the electoral votes.
• 1789, 14 April: Charles Thomson notifies Washington of his election at Mount Vernon.
• 1789, 16 April: Washington leaves Mount Vernon for New York.
• 1789, 23 April: Washington arrives in Manhattan by barge.
• 1789, 30 April: Washington takes the oath at Federal Hall and delivers his inaugural address.
• 1793, 4 March: Washington’s second inauguration takes place in Philadelphia.

Why it matters

Washington’s first inauguration marked the peaceful start of government under the Constitution. By choosing simplicity over pomp, he helped define the American presidency as an elected republican office, and later crises such as the Whiskey Rebellion would test the authority he began to build that day.