George Washington Papers

Second Inaugural Address, 4 March 1793

Second Inaugural Address

[Philadelphia, 4 March 1793]

Fellow-Citizens:

I am again called upon, by the voice of my country, to execute the functions of its Chief Magistrate.1 When the occasion proper for it shall arrive, I shall endeavour to express the high sense I entertain of this distinguished honor, and of the confidence which has been reposed in me by the people of United America.

Previous to the execution of any official act of the President, the Constitution requires an oath of office. This oath I am now about to take, and in your presence; that if it shall be found, during my administration of the Government, I have in any instance, violated, willingly or knowingly, the injunction thereof, I may (besides incurring Constitutional punishment) be subject to the upbraidings of all who are now witnesses of the present solemn ceremony.2

Printed copy, Annals of Congress description begins Joseph Gales, Sr., comp. The Debates and Proceedings in the Congress of the United States; with an Appendix, Containing Important State Papers and Public Documents, and All the Laws of a Public Nature. 42 vols. Washington, D.C., 1834–56. description ends , 2d Cong., 2d sess., 667–68; copy, printed in JPP, description begins Dorothy Twohig, ed. The Journal of the Proceedings of the President, 1793–1797. Charlottesville, Va., 1981. description ends 80.

1After a count in the U.S. Senate chambers on 13 Feb. 1793 of the votes of the electoral college, John Adams declared GW “unanimously elected” to a second term as president (Annals of Congress description begins Joseph Gales, Sr., comp. The Debates and Proceedings in the Congress of the United States; with an Appendix, Containing Important State Papers and Public Documents, and All the Laws of a Public Nature. 42 vols. Washington, D.C., 1834–56. description ends , 2d Cong., 2d sess., 645–46).

2GW took the oath of office in a simple ceremony in the Senate chambers at noon on Monday, 4 Mar. (ibid., 666–68; see also JPP description begins Dorothy Twohig, ed. The Journal of the Proceedings of the President, 1793–1797. Charlottesville, Va., 1981. description ends , 80). The Pennsylvania Gazette (Philadelphia) reported on 6 Mar. that GW had retired after taking the oath “as he had come, without pomp or ceremony; but on his departure from the House, the people could no longer refrain obeying the genuine dictates of their hearts, and they saluted him with three cheers.” See also the report of 6 Mar. in the Gazette of the United States (Philadelphia). For the discussion about the proper method of administering the oath of office that preceded this event, see GW’s Conversation with a Joint Committee of Congress, 9 Feb., and Cabinet Opinion, 28 Feb., and notes 1, 3.

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