INAUGURATION DAY: 1793-1933
Washington, D.C. (JFK+50) George Washington was inaugurated for his second term on March 4, 1793. 34 more presidential inaugurations would be held on the 4th of March with the last coming for FDR's first inaugural in 1933.
The Constitution Center describes March 4th as "a forgotten huge day in American history." According to the Center, the Confederation Congress chose March 4, 1789 as the date for the transfer of government under the new Constitution of the United States. On that day, the 1st Congress met in New York City where James Madison of Virginia presented the Bill of Rights.
There were a few inauguration dates switched to March 5th when March 4th fell on a Sunday and, of course, some POTUS were sworn in on alternate dates due to the deaths of their predecessors. The March 4th date was changed to January 20th with passage of the 20th Amendment in 1933. The date of the start of the new Congress was also switched to January 3rd.
Following is a list of the inaugurations held on March 4th...
George Washington 1793
John Adams 1797
Thomas Jefferson 1801-1805
James Madison 1809-1813
James Monroe 1817-1821
John Q. Adams 1825
Andrew Jackson 1829-1833
Martin Van Buren 1837
William H. Harrison 1841
James K. Polk 1845
Zachary Taylor 1849
Franklin Pierce 1853
James Buchanan 1857
Abraham Lincoln 1861-1865
Ulysses S. Grant 1869-1873
Rutherford B. Hayes 1877
James A. Garfield 1881
Grover Cleveland 1885-1893
Benjamin Harrison 1889
William McKinley 1897-1901
Theodore Roosevelt 1905
William H. Taft 1909
Woodrow Wilson 1913
Warren Harding 1921
Calvin Coolidge 1925
Herbert Hoover 1929
Franklin D. Roosevelt 1933
SOURCE
"March 4: A forgotten huge day in American history," Constitution Daily, March 4, 2013, www.constitutioncenter.org/
Grandstand Ticket to Inaugural Parade
for President Herbert Hoover
March 4, 1929
Presidential Inaugural Committee
by Centpacrr
commons.wikimedia.org
