The afore-mentioned renovation of Federal Hall was complete by the time the First Congress met to certify the results of the first presidential election. This 1790 copperplate engraving depicts George Washington’s swearing in on a crowded balcony, members of Congress looking on. His term began April 30, 1789.

Though the facade was new, the site was familiar to all participants, as the failed Confederation Congress had been meeting in this building, which was New York’s old city hall, for several years. New York City continued as the temporary capital for one more year, until the government moved to Philadelphia, where it would remain for the next decade.

The old city hall is nearly unrecognizable, its scale and structure a canvas for Peter L’Enfant’s showy neoclassical style.

This item is in the collection of the National Park Service,
a reminder of that agency’s enormous role
in preserving precious artifacts
critical to our understanding of the early United States.