March to September 1789
The first government
The old Congress sets the first Wednesday in March 1789 for the new government to begin, in New York. The first Congress reaches a quorum in April and counts the electoral votes. Washington is chosen president by every elector, and John Adams, with 34 of 69 votes, becomes vice-president.
Washington leaves Mount Vernon on 16 April and travels through Baltimore, Philadelphia and Trenton to New York, arriving on 23 April. On 30 April he takes the oath on the balcony of Federal Hall on Wall Street. North Carolina and Rhode Island remain outside the new Union.
The inauguration of George Washington at Federal Hall, 30 April 1789, painting by Ramon de Elorriaga, about 1898Wikimedia Commons, Ramon Elorriaga, Public domain (Ramon Elorriaga - Inauguration of George Washington.jpg)
Federal Hall in New York with Washington taking the oath on the balcony, engraving by Amos Doolittle, 1790Wikimedia Commons, Amos Doolittle, Public domain (Federal Hall, N.Y. 1789 ppmsca.15703.jpg)
Congress creates the Department of Foreign Affairs, soon renamed State, on 27 July, the War Department on 7 August and the Treasury on 2 September. The Judiciary Act of 24 September sets up the federal courts. On 25 September Congress approves twelve amendments and sends them to the states.
Sources
- Pauline Maier, Ratification: The People Debate the Constitution, 1787–1788 (2010).
- Gordon S. Wood, The Creation of the American Republic, 1776–1787 (1969).
- Ron Chernow, Washington: A Life (2010).
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