For America250’s early-republic timeline, George Washington took the presidential oath on April 30, 1789.
The ceremony took place on the balcony of Federal Hall in New York City, then the national capital. Robert Livingston, chancellor of New York, administered the oath before a large public crowd. Washington then delivered his first inaugural address.
Washington had been elected in the first presidential election under the Constitution. The first presidential term technically began on March 4, 1789, but Congress lacked a quorum that day, delaying the certification of the electoral votes and the executive branch’s operations.
John Adams had already assumed the vice presidency on April 21. Washington’s ceremony therefore marked the formal beginning of the executive branch under the new constitutional government.