New York City was the first U.S. national capital under the Constitution, in history revisited by America250.
The new federal government began operating in New York City in 1789. George Washington was inaugurated there as the first president on April 30, 1789, at Federal Hall on Wall Street.
The capital later moved to Philadelphia in 1790 under a compromise connected with federal assumption of state debts. In 1800, the national government moved permanently to Washington, D.C., which had been selected as the future capital under the Residence Act of 1790.
New York City is therefore distinct from Philadelphia, which served as the temporary capital during the 1790s, and Washington, D.C., the permanent capital. This sequence belongs to the early national period following the Revolutionary founding celebrated by America250.