Federal Hall: The Birthplace of American Government

Why is it significant?

Walk up the broad stone steps of Federal Hall National Memorial at the corner of Wall and Nassau Streets and stand beside the monumental bronze statue of George Washington. You are standing on the most hallowed political ground in American history.

Key Facts

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Walk up the broad stone steps of Federal Hall National Memorial at the corner of Wall and Nassau Streets and stand beside the monumental bronze statue of George Washington. You are standing on the most hallowed political ground in American history. On this exact spot stood the original eighteenth-century Federal Hall, which served as the first official Capitol building of the United States under the newly ratified Constitution.

On April thirtieth, seventeen eighty-nine, on an open balcony facing Wall Street, George Washington stepped forward, placed his hand on a Masonic Bible, and took the sacred oath of office as the first President of the United States. A roar of cheers erupted from the dense crowds packed into the street below, followed by thirteen artillery salutes from the harbor.

Inside these halls, the First United States Congress gathered to invent the working institutions of the federal republic. Here, James Madison drafted the Bill of Rights, guaranteeing freedom of speech, assembly, and religion. Here, the Supreme Court was first established, and Alexander Hamilton was confirmed as the nation's first Secretary of the Treasury.

The original building was demolished in eighteen twelve when the capital moved, and this Greek Revival customs palace with its Doric marble columns arose in eighteen forty-two. Step inside the rotunda and look at the stone slab on display: it is the very balcony stone on which Washington stood when he swore to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States.