Manuscript/Mixed Material Journal of William Maclay, April 30, 1789, [original journal].

Title

• Journal of William Maclay, April 30, 1789, [original journal].

Names

• Maclay, William, 1737-1804 (Author)

Created / Published

• April 30, 1789

Headings

• -  Washington, George, 1732-1799
• -  Diary entry

Genre

• Diary entry.

Notes

• -  William Maclay, a senator from Pennsylvania, kept a daily journal of the Senate sessions of the first Congress, 1789-91. On April 30, 1789, the inauguration day of George Washington, Maclay describes, in his usual, rather cynical style, the Senate debate on how the newly elected president should be received at Federal Hall in New York City. He also comments on the president-elect's entry into the Senate, his mode of dress--a brown suit, the swearing-in ceremony on the balcony at Federal Hall, and the procession afterward to nearby St. Paul's Church for prayers. See transcription of Maclay's journal on this Web site. See also the Letter from George Washington to Henry Knox, April 10, 1789 on this Web site. It is a single page letter, copied out in a secretary's hand in a letterbook, concerning the brown suit that Washington wore to his first inauguration in 1789.
• -  Journal of William Maclay, April 30, 1789, [original journal].
• -  Forms part of William Maclay journals and note, 1789-1791; for additional information, see: http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.mss/eadmss.ms009173
• -  Original document scanned in 1999-2000 for the former American Memory presentation “I Do Solemnly Swear”: Presidential Inaugurations (retired 2016).

Source Collection

• William Maclay journals and note, 1789-1791

Repository

• Manuscript Division

Online Format

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