30Days30Poets: John Greenleaf Whittier’s “The Vow of Washington”
On April 30, 1789, George Washington, standing on the balcony of Federal Hall on Wall Street in New York, took his oath of office as the first President of the United States. Today’s poem, composed by John Greenleaf Whittier, was read on April 30, 1889, at the centennial celebration of Washington’s first taking the oath of presidential office.