New York City housed the first seat of the United States government under the Constitution.
Federal Hall, on Wall Street in Lower Manhattan, hosted the First Congress beginning on March 4, 1789. George Washington took the presidential oath there on April 30, becoming the first president inaugurated under the Constitution. The building also hosted the proposal of the Bill of Rights on September 25, 1789.
New York’s federal role followed an earlier history. The site had housed New York’s colonial city hall and later the Congress of the Confederation under the Articles of Confederation. Pierre Charles L’Enfant remodeled the building for the new national government, and it became known as Federal Hall.
The national capital moved to Philadelphia in 1790 under the Residence Act. The permanent capital later moved to Washington, D.C., in 1800. The original Federal Hall was demolished in 1812; the present Federal Hall National Memorial was built later as a customs house and stands on the same site.