“Long live George Washington,

“President of the United States;” which was answered by an immense concourse of citizens, assembled on the occasion, by the loudest plaudit and acclamation that love and veneration ever inspired.  His Excellency then made a speech to both Houses, and then proceeded, attended by Congress, to St. Paul’s Church, where Divine Service was performed by the Right Rev. Samuel Provost, after which His Excellency was conducted in form to his own house.  In the evening a most magnificent and brilliant display of fireworks was exhibited at the Fort, under the direction of Colonel Beuman.  The houses of the French and Spanish Ministers were illuminated in a superb and elegant manner; a number of beautiful transparent paintings were exhibited, which did infinite credit to the parties concerned in the design and execution.

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April 30.  We have had this day one of those impressive sights which dignify and adorn human nature.  At nine o’clock all the churches were opened—­and the people, in prodigious numbers, thronged these sacred temples—­and, with one voice, put up their prayers to Almighty God for the safety of the President.

At twelve the procession moved to the Federal State House, where in the gallery fronting Broad Street, in the presence of an immense concourse, His Excellency took the oath, the book being placed on a velvet cushion.  The Chancellor then proclaimed him President—­and in a moment the air trembled with the shouts of the citizens, and the roar of artillery.  His Excellency, with that greatness of soul—­that dignity and calmness, which are his characteristics—­then bowed to his “fellow-citizens”—­who again huzzaed.

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From “History of the Arts of Design in America,” by William Dunlap: 

Major L’Enfant was a native of France; he was employed to rebuild after a design of his own the old New York City Hall in Wall Street, fronting Broad Street; making therefrom the Federal Hall of that day (1789).  The new building was for the accommodation of Congress; and in the balcony upon which the Senate Chamber opened, the first President of the United States was inaugurated.  A ceremony which I witnessed, and which for its simplicity, the persons concerned in it, the effect produced upon my country and the world, in giving stability to the Federal Constitution, by calling Washington to administer its blessings, remains on my mind unrivaled by any scene witnessed, through a long life, either in Europe or America.

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From Dunlap’s “School History of New York”: 

In 1789, I saw Washington divested of the garb of war, place his hand on the Bible, and swear to support that Constitution under which I have since lived happily half a century.  Between the pillars of the old City Hall, in Wall Street, as altered for the reception of the Federal Congress, in view of thousands who filled Broad Street as far as the eye could extend its view, and every avenue within sight of the building, the man of the people’s choice was announced to them, as the first President of the United States of America.