Federal Hall United States

Legendary

It was at this location that George Washington was sworn in as the nation’s first president.

Photo by Wendel Fisher

A bronze statue of George Washington stands on the steps here, marking the spot where he was sworn in as president. But the building behind him isn't the one he stood on.

That building was torn down in 1812. The one you see today wasn't finished until 1842, more than 50 years after the inauguration.

The story starts much earlier. New York City built its City Hall on this spot between 1699 and 1703, using stones from the old city wall.

It was a busy place. The building held a courtroom, a public library, a firehouse, and a jail on the upper floors.

In 1735, a newspaper printer named John Peter Zenger was tried here for insulting the British governor. The jury found him not guilty because what he had printed was true, an early victory for freedom of the press.

Thirty years later, Britain passed a tax called the Stamp Act on all paper documents in the colonies. Delegates from nine colonies gathered in this building in October 1765 to object.

They wrote a formal message to Parliament and to King George III. Their argument was simple: no taxation without representation, meaning they shouldn't be taxed by a government they had no say in.

It was one of the first times the colonies acted together against British rule. Ten years later, the American Revolution began.

After the war, the building took on an even bigger role. The architect Pierre Charles L'Enfant remodeled it, and it was renamed Federal Hall.

On April 30, 1789, George Washington stepped onto the balcony and took the oath of office as the first president of the United States. The First Congress met inside and wrote the Bill of Rights that same year.

The capital moved to Philadelphia just a year later. Today the site is a national memorial run by the National Park Service.

Stand on the steps beside the Washington statue and look out over Wall Street. Go inside to see the actual stone slab Washington stood on during his inauguration. Walk through the exhibits on the Zenger trial and the Bill of Rights, both written into history right here.