On Inauguration Day β January 20 β I always think thereβs no better time to recommit to the spirit of the man who held the president’s office first.
George Washington, the man who invented the inauguration speech, crafted an address that speaks to what unites Americans.
Washington took office in a precarious moment. The previous government, the Articles of Confederation, had failed and nothing guaranteed there would be a second president if Washington faltered. Washingtonβs words as he assumed office announced his goal: a nation unified despite its deep disagreements.
His inauguration took place in New York City, then the countryβs capital, on April 30, 1789. Congress, though supposed to meet in early March to certify the results of the presidential election, couldnβt muster a quorum until April. The delay revealed the indifference of the new representatives and senators toward the new government. Rhode Island and North Carolina didnβt send any representatives at all. They hadnβt ratified the Constitution yet.
The sole required part of a presidentβs inauguration is to recite a specific oath of office. But over the spring, as Washington saw he would be elected president, he decided he should also give a public address.
According to the Constitution, the sole required part of a presidentβs inauguration is to recite a specific oath of office. But over the spring, as Washington saw he would be elected president, he decided he should also give a public address.
Washingtonβs speech followed his taking the oath, which he completed publicly while standing on the second-floor balcony of Federal Hall on Wall Street. As the crowd cheered and huzzahed its acclaim, he repaired inside to address Congress.
The speech itself was brief. A mere 1,400 words, it might have taken less than 10 minutes to deliver. The speech advocated no specific policies. But what Washington lacked in innovative ideas, he made up for in his vision of the nationβs destiny.
βAmong the vicissitudes incident to life,β , βno event could have filled me with greater anxietiesβ than learning he would become president. He felt unequal to the task, he said, but he could not resist being βsummoned by my country, whose voice I can never hear but with veneration and love.β Washington, who hungered for fame as much as any renowned leader, played coy, but with a purpose: He signaled that he was not ambitious for power as famous men often were or as liberty-loving Americans feared.
Fortunately for our democracy, he demonstrated that America and its president would be something different.
Washington continued with an exhortation to unity. But he didnβt lecture his audience or shame people for their disagreements. He didnβt offer sappy bromides that no rough-and-tumble politician believes. Instead, he recalled the shared sacrifice of the revolution and what he saw as Godβs providential care for guiding the United States, his words turning his listenersβ minds to what theyβd accomplished together and to the beliefs they shared.
βNo people can be bound to acknowledge and adore the invisible hand, which conducts the affairs of men more than the people of the United States,β the president said. βEvery step, by which they have advanced to the character of an independent nation, seems to have been distinguished by some token of providential agency.β
Washington didnβt need to state the implications outright: Just as the nation had achieved its independence together, it could launch the new government together.
After a brief allusion to a Bill of Rights and his promise to accept no salary but only reimbursement for his expenses, Washington closed by once more invoking βthe benign parent of the human race.β He called for divine blessing on officials whose βenlarged viewsβ along with βtemperate consultationsβ would frame βthe wise measures on which the success of this government must depend.β
Thatβs the spirit presidents should always emulate: a humble symbol of unity. Washingtonβs words are a reminder of what the American people have accomplished, his manner serious but hopeful.
Itβs a difficult task. A president is a political figure, and politics means making choices that anger some people. But presidents should speak β especially on Inauguration Day β with devotion to the country, including the people who didnβt vote for them.
David Head is an associate lecturer of history at ΒιΆΉΤ΄΄. He can be reached at David.Head@ucf.edu.
TheΒ ΒιΆΉΤ΄΄ ForumΒ is a weekly series of opinion columns from faculty, staff and students who serve on a panel for a year. A new column is posted each Wednesday on ΒιΆΉΤ΄΄ Today and then broadcast on WΒιΆΉΤ΄΄-FM (89.9) between 7:50 and 8 a.m. Sunday. Opinions expressed are those of the columnists, and are not necessarily shared by the ΒιΆΉΤ΄΄.
