Mr. Adams Goes to Washington
On June 3, 1800 (213 years ago today) President John Adams moved to Washington, DC. He was the first President to live in what later became the capital of the United States.
You're probably thinking that John and Abigail moved to the White House. Well he did, but not on June 3rd. Unfortunately, what would later become the White House, (then called the President's Mansion or the President's House) was not yet finished, so Adams moved into temporary digs at Tunnicliffe's City Hotel near the also half-finished Capitol building.
The final site for the nation's capital had been chosen by George Washington in 1790, early on in Washington's presidency. Construction on the President's House began in 1792, but was not completed until late 1800. In his Pulitzer Prize winning biography of Adams, historian David McCullough wrote that when Adams first arrived in Washington on June 3 he wrote to his wife Abigail (who was at their home in Quincy, Massachusetts) that he was pleased with the new site for the federal government and had explored the soon-to-be President's House with satisfaction. He expressed weariness, however, at being unsettled. Adams wrote "Oh! That I could have a home! Rolling, rolling, rolling, till I am very nearly rolling into the bosom of Mother Earth." It wasn't until November 1, shortly before election day in 1800, that Adams finally moved into his official residence, with the plaster and paint still drying and the building surrounded by weeds.
Abigail Adams arrived in Washington later that month and was the first first lady to take up hostess duties in what would become the White House. She gamely accepted the new building's lack of amenities, writing to a friend that she had to hang her washing in what would become known as the East Room.
John and Abigail did not live long in the new presidential residence. Adams was defeated in the election of 1800 by Thomas Jefferson, who became the second occupant and the first widower to live in the mansion.
You're probably thinking that John and Abigail moved to the White House. Well he did, but not on June 3rd. Unfortunately, what would later become the White House, (then called the President's Mansion or the President's House) was not yet finished, so Adams moved into temporary digs at Tunnicliffe's City Hotel near the also half-finished Capitol building.
The final site for the nation's capital had been chosen by George Washington in 1790, early on in Washington's presidency. Construction on the President's House began in 1792, but was not completed until late 1800. In his Pulitzer Prize winning biography of Adams, historian David McCullough wrote that when Adams first arrived in Washington on June 3 he wrote to his wife Abigail (who was at their home in Quincy, Massachusetts) that he was pleased with the new site for the federal government and had explored the soon-to-be President's House with satisfaction. He expressed weariness, however, at being unsettled. Adams wrote "Oh! That I could have a home! Rolling, rolling, rolling, till I am very nearly rolling into the bosom of Mother Earth." It wasn't until November 1, shortly before election day in 1800, that Adams finally moved into his official residence, with the plaster and paint still drying and the building surrounded by weeds.
Abigail Adams arrived in Washington later that month and was the first first lady to take up hostess duties in what would become the White House. She gamely accepted the new building's lack of amenities, writing to a friend that she had to hang her washing in what would become known as the East Room.
John and Abigail did not live long in the new presidential residence. Adams was defeated in the election of 1800 by Thomas Jefferson, who became the second occupant and the first widower to live in the mansion.