Washington Departs for His Inauguration

Washington Departs for His Inauguration

On April 16, 1789, George Washington set out from his estate at Mount Vernon in Virginia. His destination was New York City, where he was to be inaugurated as the first president of the United States.

Washington's inauguration was the culmination of more than seven years of debate about the form of government best suited for the fledgling nation. The Treaty of Paris of 1783, which ended the Revolutionary War, ushered in a period of political turmoil. With the Articles of Confederation, under which the original 13 states were joined, the national government was almost totally dependent upon the good will of the individual states and had very little power of its own. Washington, pessimistic about the country's future, wrote on May 18, 1786, that “something must be done, or the fabric must fall, for it is certainly tottering.” At first he advocated amending the Articles of Confederation, but later, following the outbreak of Shays' Rebellion and virtual civil war in Massachusetts in 1786, he urged more radical reforms towards the formation of “an indissoluble union.”

The practical needs of the young nation inevitably drew Washington back into public affairs, although he had hoped to enjoy a private life at Mount Vernon after leading the Revolutionary forces to victory. As early as the spring of 1785 he opened his estate to delegates from Virginia and Maryland, whose discussions there resolved common problems concerning the navigation of the Potomac River. The meetings led to the larger Annapolis Convention in 1786, attended by delegates from five states. The report of these participants included a call for a convention “to render the Constitution of the Federal Government adequate to the exigencies of the Union.”

George Washington was chosen as one of Virginia's five delegates to the Constitutional Convention, which met in Philadelphia in May 1787. After a quorum had been obtained, he was unanimously elected the convention's president by the delegates from the 12 states represented (Rhode Island did not participate). In the four months during which he presided, Washington remained silent in the debate, but on the side he made it known that he desired the formation of a strong national government. Although he again expressed his wish to retire quietly from the public eye, he was the most capable leader to serve as the nation's chief executive under the new constitution, which was ratified by the states in 1788. Members of the electoral college, meeting on February 4, 1789, were unanimous in voting him as president. The election, however, was not yet official. The Constitution required that Congress convene and that the president of the Senate open the ballots in the presence of both the Senate and the House.

The Continental Congress had intended that the newly established government should convene on “the first Wednesday in March next,” namely March 4, 1789, at Federal Hall in New York City, which was the national capital at the time. By March 5, a mere handful of the legislators needed to count the presidential vote had assembled. A quorum still had not been reached by March 30.

Washington, awaiting the official decision, was in the meantime making careful preparations for his departure from Mount Vernon. Although he was one of the largest landowners in Virginia at the time, he was short on funds, and needed to borrow money to pay off his debts in Virginia and finance his relocation to New York. Forced to appeal to personal acquaintances since his credit was not judged good enough, Washington contacted “the most monied man I was acquainted with,” namely Charles Carroll of Carrollton, Maryland, who declined the request because of his own financial difficulties. At last Richard Conway, a wealthy resident of Alexandria, Virginia, responded favorably to the following letter sent by Washington on March 4, 1789:

Never till within these two years have I experienced the want of money. Short crops, and other causes not entirely within my control, make me feel it now very sensibly. To collect money without the invention of Suits seems impractical…and Land, which I have offered for sale, will not command cash at an undervalue, if at all. Under this statement, I am inclined to…borrow Money on Interest.

Conway at first lent Washington 500 English pounds at 6 percent interest, then extended a further loan of 100 pounds to cover his expenses on his trip to New York City.

On April 6, 1789, the necessary quorum was obtained and the electoral votes tallied. Charles Thomson, who had served as secretary of the Continental Congress, informed Washington of his unanimous election about noon on April 14, made a brief speech, and extended a letter from the president pro tempore of the Senate, which said in part: “Suffer me, Sir, to indulge the hope, that so auspicious a mark of public confidence will meet your approbation.” Washington accepted the appointment, stating “I shall therefore be in readiness to set out the day after tomorrow.” However, his personal sentiments about his decision were better reflected in the letter that he had written to Henry Knox shortly beforehand:

My movements to the chair of Government will be accompanied by feelings not unlike those of a culprit who is going to the place of his execution: so unwilling am I, in the evening of a life nearly consumed in public cares, to quit a peaceful abode for an Ocean of difficulties, without that competency of political skill, abilities and inclination which is necessary to manage the helm.…Integrity and firmness is all I can promise.

On April 16, 1789, Washington left his home. His progress from Virginia to New York was a triumphal procession far different from the “quiet entry devoid of ceremony” he had requested. Speeches, toasts, cannon shots, militia parades, banners, and archways decorated with laurel marked each step of the long and somewhat taxing journey. At Trenton, New Jersey, there were lengthy speeches and 13 young girls in white, flowered attire to represent the 13 states of the Union. This celebration made an especially vivid impact, offering as it did such a marked contrast with the icy crossing of the Delaware River that Washington's ragged troops had made at that very spot in 1776 during the darkest days of the Revolution.

On April 23, Washington embarked from Elizabeth Town, New Jersey, for New York City on an elaborate barge rowed by 13 pilots dressed in white smocks and black-fringed hats. It had been constructed for the event with funds donated by 46 prominent citizens. The 15-mile boat trip took the president-elect past Staten Island, through the Upper Bay and inner harbor to Murray's Wharf at the foot of Wall Street in Lower Manhattan. Washington later commented in his diary:

The display of boats which attended and joined us on this occasion, some with vocal and some with instrumental music on board; the decorations of the ships; the roar of cannon and the loud acclamations of the people, which rent the skies as I passed along the wharves, filled my mind with sensations as painful (considering the reverse of this scene, which may be the case after all my labors to do good) as they were pleasing.

At the landing, richly carpeted steps and crimson upholstered railings added to the effect. One spectator observed that “the General was obliged to wipe his eyes several times.” Once Washington had reached his new quarters at Cherry Street, dignitaries and former officers pressed forward to greet him. Later that evening, Governor George Clinton of New York gave a banquet in his honor.

The inauguration itself did not take place for another week. During the following days, members of Congress heatedly argued issues of etiquette and nomenclature. Finally the Senate, which had favored designating the chief executive as “His Highness the President of the United States of America and Protector of the Rights of the Same,” agreed to follow the House's simpler title of “The President of the United States.” In the meantime Washington reworked and polished his inaugural address, discarding a prepared 64-page speech and substituting instead a short text that, when read, lasted less than 20 minutes.

On the morning of April 30, inauguration day, Washington awoke at dawn to the thunder of 13 cannon shots and the ringing of church bells. At noon he donned a suit of brown broadcloth with silver buttons decorated with spread eagles, put on silver-buttoned shoes, and strapped on his dress sword. Washington proceeded to Federal Hall at Wall and Nassau Streets. A crimson canopy, a dais with an armchair, a small table, and a large Bible on a red pillow had been placed on the balcony of the Senate Chamber there. Robert R. Livingston, the chancellor of the state of New York, administered the presidential oath and then exclaimed: “Long live George Washington, President of the United States!” President Washington retired inside the Senate Chamber to read to Congress his inaugural address in a voice described as “deep, a little tremulous.” After the ceremony, he attended a service at St. Paul's Chapel on Broadway and was then escorted to his place of residence to rest before the evening receptions and fireworks.

The president resided at Cherry Street until February 23, 1790. The government changed the location of the capital to Philadelphia in 1790, and Washington took the oath of office for his second term in that city on March 4, 1793.