George Washington took the presidential oath at Federal Hall during his first inauguration.
The ceremony occurred on April 30, 1789, in New York City. Federal Hall stood on Wall Street and served as the nation’s first Capitol under the Constitution. Washington took the oath on the building’s second-floor balcony before a large public crowd.
Robert R. Livingston, the Chancellor of New York, administered the oath. Vice President John Adams had already begun presiding over the Senate, and members of the new federal government gathered inside the building before Washington appeared on the balcony.
The inauguration came nearly two months after Washington’s presidential term officially began on March 4, 1789. Delays in counting electoral votes and arranging the new government made April 30 the practical date of the ceremony. Federal Hall was later demolished, but the site is commemorated by the Federal Hall National Memorial. Washington’s inauguration marked the first formal transfer of executive authority under the new Constitution.