What building was the first U.S. capitol under the Constitution?

Federal Hall in New York City was the first capitol building of the United States under the Constitution.

The building stood on Wall Street and hosted the First United States Congress beginning in 1789. George Washington took the first presidential oath on its balcony on April 30, 1789. Congress also passed major early laws there, including the Judiciary Act of 1789 and the proposed Bill of Rights.

The original structure had previously served as New York’s city hall and had hosted the Stamp Act Congress in 1765. Architect Pierre Charles L’Enfant redesigned it before the federal government began operating under the Constitution. The building was therefore connected to both colonial resistance and the new national government.

The national capital moved from New York City to Philadelphia in 1790, and Federal Hall was later demolished. The current Federal Hall National Memorial occupies the site and commemorates the building’s role in the founding era. It is distinct from the Capitol in Washington, D.C., which was not yet built when the first Congress met.