Adams Moves to Washington: Capital Established Amid Construction

President John Adams moved into the new federal capital of Washington, D.C., on November 1, 1800, becoming the first president to reside in what was still mostly a construction site carved out of Maryland swampland. The White House, designed by Irish-born architect James Hoban and modeled on Leinster House in Dublin, was technically standing but far from complete. Only about six rooms were habitable. The plaster was still wet on the walls, and Abigail Adams famously used the unfinished East Room to hang laundry. The city itself was barely a city. Pennsylvania Avenue was a muddy track through stumps and construction debris. Government buildings were scattered across a landscape that was more mosquito-infested bottomland than national capital. Members of Congress complained bitterly about the lack of housing, the absence of basic amenities, and the distance between the Capitol and the executive residence. Adams had moved from the temporary capital in Philadelphia, which was a functioning city with paved streets, theaters, and a social infrastructure that Washington entirely lacked. He lived in the White House for only four months. He lost the presidential election to Thomas Jefferson in November 1800 and left Washington in March 1801 before Jefferson's inauguration, declining to attend the ceremony. He never returned to the city. His brief residency established the White House as the executive residence, a tradition that every subsequent president has continued. His prayer for the house, written in a letter to Abigail, was later carved into the mantel of the State Dining Room by Franklin Roosevelt: "May none but honest and wise Men ever rule under this roof."