He privately addressed a joint session of Congress, asking for support and further promising to respect the Constitution. The first president then turned and entered the building, officially beginning his duties as the executive of the government. President Washington addressing a joint session of Congress following his inauguration on April 30, 1789. When the Lodge is not using it, the Washington Bible is on display at Federal Hall National Memorial. Bush, Carter, Eisenhower, and Harding also used the same Bible when they were inaugurated. The Bible used for the inaugural oath, printed in 1767, was the Altar Bible of St. Several of the Founding Fathers, including Washington, were Masons. Although much more formal, the traditional procession to the Capitol still continues today.Īlthough the Constitution does not require it, most presidents have sworn the oath of office with their right or left hands placed upon a Bible. A large crowd, including military units and other dignitaries, followed Washington's carriage on the short trek to Federal Hall, creating a large procession. People began to arrive at Washington's home on Cherry Street in the early light of April 30, 1789. Shortly after completing that project, L'Enfant began work on his most famous accomplishment, designing the new capital city of Washington, D.C. Pierre Charles L'Enfant remodeled the building in preparation for its new purpose and it was subsequently renamed Federal Hall. The building stood at the junction of Wall, Broad, and Nassau Streets, in the heart of the city's financial district. Leaders of the recently formed government decided to use the old City Hall building,originally constructed in the early 1700s, as the site for the new capitol. This print from 1789 shows George Washington's inauguration on the second floor balcony of the recently remodeled Federal Hall. President Washington arrived in New York on April 23, where he was greeted by Governor George Clinton and a large crowd he was inaugurated on April 30. As he traveled from Mount Vernon, Virginia, to New York, huge crowds of Americans greeted and cheered him along the way. On April 14, 1789, General George Washington received word that he had been unanimously elected president, and soon began his journey north. However, due to strong winter conditions in the northeast, the event was postponed until April. In 1788, the Confederation Congress scheduled the first inauguration for March of 1789. When the founders drafted the Constitution in the late 1780s, they decided that New York would serve as the new government's capital. for more than two hundred years, many people do not know the first inauguration took place in New York City. The inauguration itself also looked different, with the typical parade and inaugural balls giving way to safer virtual celebrations.Īlthough the inaugural ceremony has taken place in Washington, D.C. Held in Washington, D.C., the inaugural theme was “America United,” it “reflects the beginning of a new national journey that restores the soul of America, brings the country together.” President Biden was sworn in with his left hand on a family Bible from 1893. ”The public ceremony was held on the west front of the United States Capital Building in Washington, D.C. In George Washington's words, “The magnitude and difficulty of the trust to which the voice of my country called me, being sufficient to awaken in the wisest and most experienced of her citizens, a distrustful scrutiny into his qualifications, could not but overwhelm with despondence, one, who, inheriting inferior endowments from nature and unpracticed in the duties of civil administration, ought to be peculiarly conscious of his own deficiencies. Just 232 years earlier, the nation hailed George Washington as the first president of the United States of America when he was inaugurated at Federal Hall on April 30, 1789. It is also fitting that it marked an historic event of the first Asian-African American woman to attain the office of Vice President of the United States. It was our nation's 59th inaugural event. Biden, and Vice President, Kamala Harris. Janumarked the inauguration of the United States' 46th President, Joseph R. Official White House Photo by David Lienemann
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