Travel
The first presidential term started on March 4, 1789. Following the ratification of the Constitution by the required nine states, that date had been set by the Congress of the Confederation for the beginning of the operations of the new government under the Constitution of the United States. On that date, the House of Representatives and the Senate assembled, but both convened without a quorum. The House of Representatives first achieved a quorum on April 1, when it elected its officers. The Senate first achieved a quorum and elected its officers on April 6. Also on April 6 the House and Senate met in joint session, and the electoral votes were counted. Washington and Adams were respectively declared elected president and vice president, and the results of the count were subsequently published in the journals of Congress.
It was 5 p.m. at Mount Vernon on April 14, 1789, when Washington received official notification that he had been unanimously selected by the Electoral College to be the nation's first president. The letter had been sent by Senator John Langdon of New Hampshire, the first president pro tempore of the United States Senate, who had presided over the counting of the electoral votes. Washington replied immediately, and set off in the morning two days later, accompanied by David Humphreys and a Mr. Thomson, who was the Messenger appointed by the Senate, that delivered to General Washington the letter containing the news of his election.
On his way to New York City Washington passed through Alexandria, Georgetown, present-day Washington D.C., and Baltimore, arriving to an elaborate welcome at Gray's Ferry in Philadelphia just after noon on April 20. He left early the next morning for another welcome awaiting him in Trenton. On April 23 he took a small barge with 13 pilots through the Kill Van Kull tidal strait into the Upper New York Bay, and from there the city. A variety of boats surrounded him during the voyage, and Washington's approach was greeted by a series of cannon fire, first a thirteen gun salute by the Spanish warship Galveston, then by the North Carolina, and finally by other artillery. Thousands had gathered on the waterfront to see him arrive.
Washington landed at Murray's Wharf (at the foot of Wall Street), where he was greeted by New York Governor George Clinton as well as other congressmen and citizens. A plaque now marks the landing site. They proceeded through the streets to what would be Washington's new official residence, 3 Cherry Street.
Read more about this topic: First Inauguration Of George Washington
Famous quotes containing the word travel:
“Roads are made for horses and men of business. I do not travel in them much.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“The uses of travel are occasional, and short; but the best fruit it finds, when it finds it, is conversation; and this is a main function of life.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“I pity the man who can travel from Dan to Beersheba, and cry, ‘Tis all barren—and so it is; and so is all the world to him who will not cultivate the fruits it offers.”
—Laurence Sterne (1713–1768)