Description:

George Washington
Boston, MA, May 9, 1879
George Washington's First Inaugural Address Delivered on April 30, 1789 at Federal Hall in New York
Newspaper

Independent Chronicle and Universal Advertiser. Boston: Adams and Nourse. May 8, 1789. Four pages, 12" x 19.375". An early printing of George Washington's first inaugural address delivered to Congress at Federal Hall in New York City (then the capital of the United States) appears on page 2, with additional reporting of the procession and a reception at Trenton (p. 3). The original subscriber's name is written in period ink along the top, "P. Carleton." Previously bound, resulting in some loss along the gutter not affecting any text. Scattered foxing and gently toned. A great commemoration marking the start of the U.S. federal government under the new Constitution and leadership of the Father of Our Country!

Washington's First Inaugural Address set a tone of humility, reverence, and civic virtue for the new Republic. Washington emphasized his reluctance to assume power, his deep gratitude for the trust placed in him, and the need for reliance on Providence to guide the nation. He stressed the importance of unity and warned against the dangers of faction and prejudice. The stability of the Constitution and the success of the new government would depend upon the virtue, morality, and patriotism of both leaders and citizens. The address is exemplary of Washington's role as a unifying figure whose example would shape the young republic.

The address reads in part: "Among the vicissitudes incident to life, no event could have filled me with greater anxieties than that of which the notification was transmitted by your order…On the one hand, I was summoned by my country, whose voice I can never hear but with veneration and love, from a retreat which I had chosen with the fondest predilection, and in my flattering hopes with an immutable decision as the asylum of my declining years…

By the article establishing the Executive Department, it is made the duty of the President ‘to recommend to your consideration, such measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient.' The circumstances under which I now meet you, will acquit me from entering into that subject farther than to refer to the Great Constitutional Charter under which you are assembled; and which defining your powers, designates the objects to which your attention is to be given…

In these honourable qualification, I behold the surest pledges, that as on one side, no local prejudices or attachments, will misdirect the comprehensive and equal eye which ought to watch over this great assemblage of communities and interests: so on another, that the foundations of our national policy will be laid in the pure and immutable principles of private morality; and the pre-eminence of a free government be exemplified by all the attributes which can win the affections of its citizens, and command the respect of the world…"

Coverage of the ceremony includes a description of Washington's procession including the order of the participants and his swearing in by Robert R. Livingston, Chancellor of New York.

This item comes with a Certificate from John Reznikoff, a premier authenticator for both major 3rd party authentication services, PSA and JSA (James Spence Authentications), as well as numerous auction houses.

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  • Dimensions: 12" x 19.375"
  • Medium: Newspaper

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