Who was the first U.S. president to take office under the Constitution?

George Washington was the first U.S. president to take office under the Constitution.

Washington was unanimously chosen by the Electoral College in the first presidential election. He took the oath of office on April 30, 1789, at Federal Hall in New York City, then the nation’s temporary capital.

Before becoming president, Washington had commanded the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War and had presided over the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia in 1787. His reputation helped give legitimacy to the new federal government.

Washington served two four-year terms, from 1789 to 1797. He established precedents later presidents followed, including appointing a cabinet and delivering an inaugural address. He declined to seek a third term, a decision that influenced the informal two-term tradition until the Twenty-Second Amendment made a two-term limit law in 1951.