Federal Hall hosted the first United States Congress and George Washington’s 1789 inauguration.
The building stood on Wall Street in New York City, which served as the first national capital under the Constitution. Congress met there beginning in 1789, and Washington took the presidential oath on its balcony on April 30 of that year.
Federal Hall had earlier been New York’s City Hall. It was remodeled for the new federal government by architect Pierre Charles L’Enfant, who later helped plan Washington, D.C. The building also became associated with the Bill of Rights because Congress debated and approved those amendments there.
The original Federal Hall was demolished in 1812. The present Federal Hall National Memorial, completed in the nineteenth century, stands on the site and commemorates the building’s constitutional-era role. It is often confused with Independence Hall in Philadelphia, where the Declaration of Independence and Constitution are associated, or with Congress Hall, which hosted Congress in Philadelphia.