8TH INAUGURAL CEREMONIES
PRESIDENT
JAMES
MONROE
March 4, 1817
VICE PRESIDENT
DANIEL D.
TOMPKINS
March 4, 1817
ABOUT THE SWEARING-IN CEREMONIES
James Monroe was sworn-in as the 5th President of the United States, and Daniel D. Tompkins was sworn-in as the 6th Vice President of the United States.
Location:
The Front, Old Brick Capitol (current site of the U.S. Supreme Court building)
Washington, D.C.
Weather:
Warm and sunny. Estimated noon temperature of 50°F.
FACTS, FIRSTS, AND PRECEDENTS
First president to take the oath of office and deliver the Inaugural Address outdoors; ceremony took place on platform in front of the temporary Brick Capitol (where Supreme Court now stands). The original plan for Madison’s second Inauguration called for a ceremony in the House Chamber of the temporary Capitol, but when a small feud ensued between the Senate and the House of Representatives over which chairs would be used in the House chamber, the venue changed to an outdoor platform in front of the building.
VICE PRESIDENTIAL OATH OF OFFICE
Administered to Daniel D. Tompkins
by the Honorable John Gaillard,
Senate President pro tempore
INAUGURAL ADDRESS
“From the commencement of our Revolution to the present day almost forty years have elapsed, and from the establishment of this Constitution twenty-eight. Through this whole term the Government has been what may emphatically be called self-government. And what has been the effect? To whatever object we turn our attention, whether it relates to our foreign or domestic concerns, we find abundant cause to felicitate ourselves in the excellence of our institutions. During a period fraught with difficulties and marked by very extraordinary events the United States have flourished beyond example. Their citizens individually have been happy and the nation prosperous.”
President James Monroe
PRESIDENTIAL OATH OF OFFICE
Administered to James Monroe
by the Honorable John Marshall,
Chief Justice of the United States