Inaugural Address (1793)

by George Washington
  • March 04, 1793
Image: George Washington, painted by Rembrandt Peale, 1795. National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution; transfer from the National Gallery of Art; gift of the A.W. Mellon Educational and Charitable Trust, 1942. NPG.65.59.

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American Founding

George Washington, Inaugural Address Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/201088

Fellow-citizens:

I AM again called upon, by the voice of my country to execute the functions of its Chief Magistrate. When the occasion proper for it shall arrive, I shall endeavor 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 should 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.

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