19TH INAUGURAL CEREMONIES
PRESIDENT
ABRAHAM
LINCOLN
March 4, 1861
VICE PRESIDENT
HANNIBAL
HAMLIN
March 4, 1861
ABOUT THE SWEARING-IN CEREMONIES
Abraham Lincoln was sworn-in as the 16th President of the United States. Hannibal Hamlin was sworn-in as the 15th Vice President of the United States during a separate ceremony held on March 2, 1861.
Location:
East Portico, U.S. Capitol
Washington, D.C.
Weather:
Rain until mid-morning and then sunny and mild in the afternoon.
Bible Used:
Bible purchased by William Thomas Carroll, Clerk of the Supreme Court, opened at random. It is almost identical to James Buchanan’s 1857 Bible.
FACTS, FIRSTS & PRECEDENTS
Lincoln’s procession to the Capitol was surrounded by heavily armed calvary and infantry, providing an unprecedented amount of protection for the President-elect as the nation stood on the brink of war.
VICE PRESIDENTIAL OATH OF OFFICE
Administered to Hannibal Hamlin
by outgoing Vice President John Breckenridge
in the Senate Chamber on March 2, 1861
INAUGURAL ADDRESS
“It is seventy-two years since the first inauguration of a President under our National Constitution. During that period fifteen different and greatly distinguished citizens have in succession administered the executive branch of the Government. They have conducted it through many perils, and generally with great success. Yet, with all this scope of precedent, I now enter upon the same task for the brief constitutional term of four years under great and peculiar difficulty.”
President Abraham Lincoln
PRESIDENTIAL OATH OF OFFICE
Administered to Abraham Lincoln
by the Honorable Roger B. Taney,
Chief Justice of the United States