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On this day in New York · March 4, 1789

The First Congress Gavels In at Federal Hall

The brand-new United States government was supposed to open for business on Wall Street this morning, except almost nobody showed up.

The facts

Date
March 4, 1789
Location
Federal Hall, Wall Street, Manhattan
House quorum reached
April 1, 1789
Senate quorum reached
April 6, 1789
First Speaker of the House
Frederick Muhlenberg of Pennsylvania

March 4, 1789 was the date the old Confederation Congress had picked, back in September 1788, for the new constitutional government to take over. The place was Federal Hall, the former New York City Hall on Wall Street, freshly rebuilt by the French engineer Pierre Charles L'Enfant into a proper seat of national power. The Senate convened there that day, and the House tried to as well, but the new Congress had a bad case of stage fright: of 81 members entitled to be there, only 22 actually turned up, so nothing could get done. Roads in early 1789 were mud and worse, and representatives from as far as Georgia and New Hampshire were still making the slow trip to Manhattan. The House did not scrape together a quorum until April 1, the Senate not until April 6, nearly a full month late.

In their words

The day in the words of the people who were there. Every quote is verbatim, and every source links out so you can check it.

  1. Of its 81 members, only 22 showed up for the first session.

    National Constitution Center, on the First Congress's opening day at Federal Hall

    Source: National Constitution Center

  2. The 1st Congress met there beginning on March 4, 1789.

    Wikipedia, on Federal Hall

    Source: Wikipedia

Why it still matters

The Constitution had been ratified, but a document is just paper until a government actually sits down and runs it. That empty-room start on Wall Street, more than a no-show quorum than a triumphant launch, was the moment the United States federal government actually opened for business, and it set the template for New York briefly serving as the nation's first capital.

Sources

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