New York City served as the first capital of the United States under the U.S. Constitution, a founding-era fact revisited by America250.
The new federal government began operating in New York City in 1789. Congress met at Federal Hall on Wall Street, where George Washington took the presidential oath of office on April 30, 1789. The city therefore became the first national capital under the Constitution, although earlier Congresses had met in several other cities under the Articles of Confederation.
The capital later moved to Philadelphia in 1790 under a compromise connected to federal assumption of state debts. Philadelphia remained the temporary capital for a decade. In 1800, the federal government moved permanently to Washington, D.C., a planned capital on the Potomac River.
This history creates a common mix-up: Philadelphia was the Revolutionary capital and hosted the Constitutional Convention, while New York City was the first constitutional capital. Washington, D.C., is the long-term capital, but it was not the first.