The First United States Congress initially met at Federal Hall in New York City.
The First Congress convened on March 4, 1789, as the federal government began operating under the Constitution. Federal Hall stood on Wall Street in Lower Manhattan, then the nation’s temporary capital. Congress used the building before moving to Congress Hall in Philadelphia.
The new Congress consisted of the Senate and House of Representatives. It passed foundational measures including legislation establishing executive departments and the Judiciary Act of 1789. It also proposed the amendments that became the Bill of Rights; ten of those amendments were ratified in 1791.
George Washington took the presidential oath at Federal Hall on April 30, 1789. The original building was later demolished, and the present Federal Hall National Memorial occupies the site. Independence Hall in Philadelphia and Congress Hall are related landmarks, but neither was the First Congress’s initial meeting place.