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"I pray Heaven to bestow the best of Blessings on this House and all that shall hereafter inhabit it," Adams wrote to first lady Abigail, who had yet to arrive, on his second night in the new executive mansion. Biden assumed office on Jan. 20, 2021 with Kamala Harris as his vice president, making Harris the first female vice president in U.S. history, as well as the first Black American and first Asian American vice president. Excise Tax on Whiskey 1791This measure levied a federal tax on domestic and imported alcohol, earmarked to offset a portion of the federal government’s recent assumption of state debts. On August 18, 1790, congregants of the Touro Synagogue of Newport, Rhode Island, warmly welcomed George Washington to both their place of worship and their city.
Ten Facts About Washington’s Presidency
According to the official White House web page, it’s home to 28 fireplaces, eight staircases, three elevators, 412 doors and 147 windows—and has a kitchen equipped to serve full dinner for up to 140 guests, or hors d'oeuvres for 1,000-plus visitors. The White House is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave., in Washington, D.C., perhaps the nation's most famous address. Empowered by the Residence Act of 1790, President George Washington chose the exact spot for the 10-square-mile capital, on the Potomac River's east bank and near the Capitol building. Builders laid the White House cornerstone on October 13, 1792, with the Capitol cornerstone following soon after on August 18, 1793. James Hoban, an Irish immigrant and architect hand-picked by President George Washington, designed the original building. After the British set fire to it in 1814, during the War of 1812, Hoban led the effort to rebuild the structure.
George H. W. Bush (1989–
Originally, the building was meant for the State Department and other offices, but expanding duties of the White House led more and more White House functions to be moved into the building. In 1949, the entire building was formally given to the Executive Office of the President. Like both the White House and Naval Observatory, the EEOB is also on the National Registry of Historic Places, having received the honor in 1969. The second floor contains the private living apartments of the first family, as well as a kitchen. Some of these rooms are used for official entertaining, but most are reserved for private use. Rooms found on the second floor include the Center Hall, East Sitting Hall, Lincoln Bedroom, Lincoln Sitting Room, President's Dining Room, Queens' Bedroom, Queens' Sitting Room, Treaty Room, West Sitting Hall, and Yellow Oval Room.
Entrance Hall and Grand Staircase
Dickens was not the only foreign visitor to be disappointed with the White House. The interior was redecorated during various presidential administrations and modern conveniences were regularly added, including a refrigerator in 1845, gas lighting in 1849, and electric lighting in 1891. Ever since Theodore Roosevelt moved his workspace from the residence to the newly built West Wing in 1902, the two-story West Wing has been home to the U.S. presidential offices.
Also on This Day in History November 1
During the Kennedy administration, Rachel Lambert “Bunny” Mellon redesigned the White House gardens, including the famed Rose Garden outside the West Wing. The East Garden, also redesigned by Mellon, was later named in honor of Jacqueline Kennedy. First lady Michelle Obama added a 1,100-square-foot vegetable garden on the south grounds in 2009. The White House’s attic was converted into a third floor during the Coolidge administration, and over the years, it has hosted a music room for President Clinton and a bedroom suite for Melania Trump. There is also a solarium, added by Grace Coolidge, with panoramic views of the Mall.
Washington’s Farewell Address is one of the most celebrated documents in American history.
The U.S. government didn't own slaves, according to the National Archives, but it did pay slave owners to hire them to help build the White House. According to the White House Historical Association, Washington, D.C.’s city commissioners originally planned to spirit workers from Europe for the construction, which started in 1792 and took eight years to complete. Running water was added to the mansion in 1833, including a pump to get water to the second floor. The 1840s saw additions of natural gas to the White House, providing centralized heat and replacing candles with gas lights.
William J. Clinton - The White House
William J. Clinton.
Posted: Fri, 15 Dec 2017 14:49:37 GMT [source]
Congress also allocated $800 in 1800 for the stately full-length portrait of George Washington by Gilbert Stuart that had been moved into the house before John Adams arrived. Days of thanksgiving were celebrated since the beginning of European settlement in North America. In 1789, President Washington formalized the holiday by issuing a proclamation designating November 26 as a national day of thanksgiving. Washington declared that the day sprung from the Almighty’s care of Americans both during and after the Revolution. The proclamation was distributed to state governors, requesting that they announce and observe the day within their states. Newspapers subsequently published the proclamation and celebrations were held throughout the United States.
The West Wing also houses the Situation Room, the Cabinet Room, the Press Room, and offices for advisors and the chief of staff. Additional offices for the president’s staff are located in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building. The vice president has an office in the West Wing, as well as the ceremonial office in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building. In addition to the Presidential Bedroom Suite, the second floor includes historic spaces, such as the Queens’ Bedroom, the Treaty Room, the Yellow Oval Room, the Center Hall, and the East and West Sitting Rooms. The White House has undergone many renovations throughout its history, starting with Thomas Jefferson, who, along with architect Benjamin Henry Latrobe, added the East and West Colonnades, which now link the East and West Wings with the Executive Residence.
5 When Adams became the first American minister to Great Britain in 1785, Mrs. Adams welcomed the changes in style. She observed that English meals were simpler, dress not very important, and English gardens admirable. At their London home on Grosvenor Square, the dining room provided space for 16 at dinner and a library was used by Adams as his office. "As Jefferson was being sworn in on March 4, 1801, John Adams was already on his way back to Massachusetts, where he and Abigail lived out the rest of their days at their family farm," wrote History.com. The first family was not impressed by what WhiteHouse.gov called the "damp, unfinished rooms" of the mansion, built into a still swampy riverside, as workers scurried about to put the final touches on construction. Construction of the executive mansion, in the heart of the newly planned capital District of Columbia, began eight years earlier with the laying of its cornerstone on Oct. 13, 1792.
John Adams, the Founding Father whose intellect, passion and political philosophy fueled American independence and gave shape to constitutional governments now found around the world, became the first president to live in the White House on this day in history, Nov. 1, 1800. By 1794 the Whiskey Rebellion threatened the stability of the new United States and challenged the authority of the democratically-elected federal government. By the time the militia reached Pittsburgh, the rebels had dispersed and could not be found. Two men, John Mitchell and Philip Weigel, were found guilty of treason, though both were pardoned by President Washington.
Although the name “White House” was commonly used from about the same time (because the mansion’s white-gray sandstone contrasted strikingly with the red brick of nearby buildings), it did not become the official name of the building until 1901, when it was adopted by Pres. However, the first president George Washington did not live in the White House. The entire city of Washington DC did not exist in 1789, when Washington took office. Unlike most nations, the United States specifically created a federal city that existed independently, outside of any state, to be the national capital.
Following his inauguration in March 1801, Jefferson became the second president to reside in the executive mansion. In keeping with his ardent republicanism, he opened the house to public visitation each morning, a tradition that was continued (during peacetime) by all his successors. He personally drew up landscaping plans and had two earthen mounds installed on the south lawn to remind him of his beloved Virginia Piedmont.
The mansion was known by various names until officially changed to the White House by President Theodore Roosevelt on Oct. 12, 1901. "Constructed of white-gray sandstone that contrasted sharply with the red brick used in nearby buildings, the President’s House, also known as the Executive Mansion, was called the White House as early as 1812," reported the Library of Congress. The month-long election of 1800, which Adams would lose to personal friend and political rival Thomas Jefferson, had begun a day earlier. Since 1896, the United States Senate has commemorated Washington’s birthday with an annual reading of the Farewell Address, all 7,641 words, by a selected sitting senator. At the conclusion of the reading, the chosen senator signs and writes his or her thoughts on the significance of the address in the pages of a leather-bound book that is maintained by the Secretary of the Senate.
"Often presidents are not there in the first few weeks of their terms if they succeeded a president who died in office," said Treese. During the summer of 1800, as Mrs. Adams considered whether she would go to Washington City, she began to think about the furnishings for the new President's House, which was so much larger than the Philadelphia house. New carpets, window curtains, and looking glasses were needed, and she expressed her desire for a "superior" tea set, table china and table and bed linens. Influencing her plans was the uncertainty of the forthcoming election that would determine whether Adams would be reelected and whether they would remain in the house for four more years. Paris was the center of fashion, but the Adamses also imported goods from England while in France. "Everything which will bear the name of elegant," said Mrs. Adams, came from England.
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