Enlightenment · North America · Politics

1789

Washington's Inauguration

April 30, 1789

On Wall Street's Federal Hall balcony, George Washington - in a brown American-made suit and gripping a Bible - took the oath. 'So help me God,' he reportedly added. The streets below filled with cheering New Yorkers. A republic had a chief executive who could, if he wished, refuse to become a king.

More from 1789 Enlightenment

In context

Also in 1789 (6 other events on record)

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Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen · Europe · Politics
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Women's March on Versailles · Europe · Politics
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Before and after in North America

Before: June 21, 1788: U.S. Constitution Ratified
After: 1790: Nootka Crisis

Before and after in Politics

Before: November 1788: Onset of George III's Madness
After: July 14, 1790: Festival of the Federation

Era

Enlightenment (1651–1800), one of 696 events from that era on Saeculum.