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George Washington’s First Inauguration

Next week, Donald J. Trump’s second inauguration will take place. He will become our 47th president. I want to use this occasion to look at the first inauguration of an American president, George Washington, which took place on April 30, 1789.

The first Congress under the United States Constitution convened on March 4, 1789, at Federal Hall in New York City, the location of our country’s first capital. The Electoral College votes were counted on April 6, 1789, when a quorum was established, and George Washington was unanimously elected. He was notified on April 14, 1789, by Secretary of Congress, Charles Thomson, at Mount Vernon. Washington began his journey to New York two days later on April 16, 1789, stopping in many cities along his route. He arrived in New York on April 23, 1789, and the inauguration was held a week later.

The Constitution became effective on June 21, 1788, when New Hampshire became the ninth of the thirteen states to ratify it. For the first presidential election, electors were chosen separately in each state between December 15, 1788, and January 10, 1789, and the Electoral College convened on February 4, 1789. Ballots were cast by ten states for President and Vice President. New York failed to produce a slate of electors, and North Carolina and Rhode Island did not ratify the Constitution until after the Government was established.

John Adams received the second-highest number of votes and was elected the first Vice President. He obtained one vote less than a majority, and one vote less than all of the other ten candidates combined. His election was decisive but not as decisive as Washington’s. Though Adams was disappointed, it was a much better showing than his election as president eight years later when he prevailed over Jefferson by three votes.

Adams was notified of his election earlier than Washington since he lived in Braintree, Massachusetts, which is closer to New York than Virginia, Washington’s home state. He, therefore, had a shorter trip to New York, arriving on April 16, 1789, after leaving Massachusetts on April 13, 1789. Adams was sworn in as Vice President on April 21, 1789, by President John Langdon, Pro Tempore of the Senate. He was sworn in at Federal Hall without any pomp or circumstance and assumed his duties more than a week before we had a president. Interestingly, Washington did not include Adams in cabinet meetings because he considered him part of the legislative branch and wanted to maintain a separation between the different branches of government.

Immediately after Adams was sworn in, he became President of the Senate, and Langdon resigned. Note that Langdon would be elected to that position at additional times when the Vice President was absent from the Senate. After Adams was sworn in, he gave a short address. Later, on June 1, 1789, Congress passed its first law which provided the method of administering certain oaths of office, including the wording for the presidential oath. On June 3, 1789, John Langdon then administered that oath to Adams, who then administered it to eighteen senators, and Samuell A. Otis, the secretary of the Senate. George Washington’s oath on April 30, 1789, was deemed adequate. Washington was sworn in by Robert Livingston, the Chancellor of New York, the highest judicial officer in New York.

The Constitution did not state the date of the inauguration but a September 12, 1788, resolution by the last Congress convened under the Articles of Confederation voted that ‘the first Wednesday in March next be the time and the present seat of Congress the place for commencing proceedings under the said Constitution.’ That first Wednesday in March 1789 happened to be March 4. On March 1, 1792, Congress enacted legislation that made March 4 the regular Inauguration Date. The 20th Amendment to the Constitution in 1933 changed the Inauguration date to January 20 at noon. Understandably, it took time to convene the first House and Senate, so the March 4 date was missed for the first Congress. It also took time for Congress to assemble a quorum for that first vote.

On Monday, January 20, 2025, Donald Trump will be inaugurated as our 47th president and he will be one of 45 people to have held that office over 58 four-year terms. In addition to President Trump, President Grover Cleveland was elected to two non-consecutive terms.

I posted a previous blog about Washington’s first inauguration if you’d like to learn more.

Please stay tuned for my blog posts containing stock market charts which I typically post at the beginning of the new year. This year, I will be interspersing these blog posts with other topics I want to write about during this period.

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