Events from the year 1789 in the United States. The Articles of Confederation, the agreement under which the nation's government had been operating since 1781, was superseded by the Constitution in March of this year.
Incumbents
Federal government
Articles of Confederation (through March 3): 10th Confederation Congress United States Constitution (beginning from March 4): President: George Washington (no political party-Virginia) Vice President: John Adams (no political party-Massachusetts) Chief Justice: John Jay (New York) (starting October 19) Speaker of the House of Representatives: Frederick Muhlenberg (starting April 1) Congress: 1st United States Congress (starting March 4)
Events
January–March
January 7 – The 1789 United States presidential elections and House of Representatives elections are held. January 21 – William Hill Brown's anonymous sentimental epistolary novel The Power of Sympathy: or, The Triumph of Nature, usually considered the first American novel, is published in Boston. January 23 – Georgetown University is founded in what would become Washington, D.C., becoming the first Catholic college in the United States. February 4 – George Washington is unanimously elected the first president of the United States by the United States Electoral College. March 4 – At Federal Hall in New York City, the 1st United States Congress meets and declares the new United States Constitution to be in effect. March 29 – Thomas Collins, President of Delaware, dies in office.
April–June
April 1 – At Federal Hall, the United States House of Representatives attains its first quorum and elects Frederick Muhlenberg of Pennsylvania as its first Speaker of the House. April 6 – At Federal Hall, the United States Senate attains its first quorum and elects Senator John Langdon as its first president pro tempore; the first joint session of Congress is held on that same date, and the electoral votes of the first presidential election are formally counted. General George Washington is declared President-elect, and John Adams is declared Vice President-elect. April 21 John Adams takes office as Vice-President of the United States and begins to preside the sessions of the United States Senate. George Washington's reception at Trenton is hosted by the Ladies of Trenton as he journeys to New York City for his first inauguration. April 30 – George Washington is sworn in at Federal Hall in New York City, beginning his term as the first president of the United States.
July–September
July – Charles Thomson resigned as secretary of Congress and hands over the Great Seal, bringing an end to the Articles of Confederation. July 4 – Congress passes its first tax on 30 different items at 8.5% with discount to American ships over foreign ones. July 27 – The first U.S. federal government agency under the new Constitution, the Department of Foreign Affairs (later renamed the Department of State), is established following the month-long Decision of 1789, the first significant construction on the meaning of the U.S. Constitution in Congress. August 7 – The United States Department of War is established. September 2 – The United States Department of the Treasury is established. September 15 – The Department of Foreign Affairs is officially renamed the Department of State. September 24 – The Judiciary Act of 1789 establishes the federal judiciary and the United States Marshals Service. September 25 – The United States Congress proposes a set of 12 amendments for ratification by the states. Ratification for 10 of these proposals is completed on December 15, 1791, creating the United States Bill of Rights. September 29 – The U.S. Department of War establishes the nation's first regular army, with a strength of several hundred men.
October–December
November 6 – Pope Pius VI appoints John Carroll the first Roman Catholic bishop in the United States. November 20 – New Jersey ratifies the United States Bill of Rights, the first state to do so. November 21 – North Carolina ratifies the United States Constitution and becomes the 12th U.S. state (see History of North Carolina). November 26 – A national Thanksgiving Day is observed in the United States as recommended by President George Washington and approved by Congress. December 11 – The University of North Carolina, the oldest public university in the United States, is founded.