Home
/
RELIGION & LIBERTY ONLINE
/
5 facts about Inauguration Day
5 facts about Inauguration Day
Jan 30, 2026 5:49 AM

Tomorrow is Inauguration Day, a day of ceremonies to mark the peaceful transition of federal executive power within the United States government.

Here are five facts should know about the most important date (after Election Day) on the political calendar:

1. Inauguration Day used to be held on March 4. That was the original date (March 4, 1789) when the Confederation Congress, which operated under the Articles of Confederation, handed off power to the new constitutional government. When the new Constitution changed the opening day of Congress to the first Monday in December (Article I, Section 4), March 4 was chosen as the last day of the two-year legislative session. Because elections were held in November, this created an extended lame-duck session. The Twentieth Amendment changed the date of inauguration to noon on the 20th day of January.

2. The Constitution (Article II, Section 1, Clause 8) outlined the exact wording for the oath the president must take during the inauguration: “I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my Ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.” No one knows for sure who began the tradition of adding on the end, “So help me God” (some claim it was George Washington, though there is pelling evidence to support that position). Since the Constitution doesn’t specify the wording of the oath for the Vice President,who is also the president of the U.S. Senate, he or she takes the same oath as senators.

3. George Washington started the practice of swearing-in with the ing president’s left hand on a Bible (which he borrowed from a Masons lodge). Washington also started the tradition of kissing the Bible after the oath. That tradition was followed by most every president until Dwight Eisenhower, who said a prayer instead of kissing the Bible. Theodore Roosevelt did not use a Bible and both John Quincy Adams and Franklin Pierce swore on a book of law. Lyndon B. Johnson was sworn in on a Catholic missal found on Air Force One even though he was a Protestant. Harry Truman, Dwight Eisenhower, Richard Nixon, and Barack Obama each swore the oath on two Bibles, as will Donald Trump.

4. Since 1937, every inauguration has included at least two prayers given by members of the clergy (Baptists have given a prayer 14 times; Catholics 12 times). The last official inaugural event also includes prayer: the National Prayer Service (January 21) at the Washington National Cathedral.

5. Following the inaugural ceremony at the U.S. Capitol, the outgoing President and First Lady leave to begin their post-presidential lives. As the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies notes:

In the early 20th century, a new tradition evolved whereby the outgoing president quietly left the Capitol immediately following the inaugural ceremony. In 1909, after congratulating President Howard Taft, former President Theodore Roosevelt left the Capitol for Union Station, where he took a train to his home in New York. In 1921, an ailing President Wilson panied President-elect Harding to the Capitol, but was too ill to remain during the ceremony. Outgoing Presidents Coolidge and Hoover also left the Capitol for Union Station where they traveled home by train. Outgoing Presidents Truman, Eisenhower, and Johnson left the Capitol by Car. Johnson and his family drove to Andrews Air Force Base where they boarded Air Force One for the trip home to Texas. . . . Since Gerald Ford’s departure in 1977, the former President and First Lady have left the Capitol grounds by helicopter (weather permitting).

Comments
Welcome to mreligion comments! Please keep conversations courteous and on-topic. To fosterproductive and respectful conversations, you may see comments from our Community Managers.
Sign up to post
Sort by
Show More Comments
RELIGION & LIBERTY ONLINE
Sam Brownback hosts first-ever State Department summit on religious liberty
The fight for religious liberty has intensified in America, whether among retail giants,restaurant chains,bakers and florists,nuns, or other imminent obstructionson the path paved byObergefell vs. Hodges. Meanwhile, intense religious persecution continues to grow around the globe. The appointment of Justice Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court gave room for optimism here at home. More recently, given the recent changes in the State Department — namely, the appointment of CIA director Mike Pompeo as secretary of state and the confirmation of...
Why farm subsidies hurt small farmers
Have you ever listened to a classical symphony and thought the music needed more distortion? Or have you ever read a newspaper and believed it would have been improved if it had more disinformation? Most of us don’t appreciate distortion in our music or disinformation in our news. Yet far too many do favor distortion and disinformation when es to pricing. Prices signal information in markets. A “market” is a summary term for a variety of voluntary exchange for modities...
Why we need virtue education
“The wider culture needs virtue education, because a free society relies on certain bedrock moral principles being inculcated and incarnated,” says Josh Herring in this week’s Acton Commentary. We need business men, doctors, lawyers, plumbers, electricians, and grocers who act with the honesty which allows the free market to thrive. Virtue, character, ethics – these things matter profoundly, and it is one of the tasks of education to transfer the system of values from one generation to the next. And...
New Issue of the Journal of Markets & Morality (Vol. 21, No. 1)
The newest issue of the Journal of Markets & Morality has been published online and print copies are ing. This issue is a theme issue on “The Role of Religion in a Free Society,” with guest editors Richard Epstein and Mario Rizzo of New York University School of Law, and Michael McConnell of Stanford Law School. Contributions range from legal analyses to theoretical forays to fascinating case studies all centered on the question of the nature, limits, role, and rights...
Whether welfare recipients should work is a question of values
Should people who receive welfare benefits from the government be required to work? There are at least two ways to consider that question. The first is from the perspective of technical economics. Do work requirements lead to higher rates of employment for welfare beneficiaries? Does a lack of such requirements discourage work? The second is a matter of moral philosophy. Michael R. Strain argues that it’s the latter approach that should be our starting point when considering welfare policy: Whom...
The bright side of the trade war with China?
This year marks the 40th anniversary of one of the most consequential anti-poverty programs in human history. Now, there is evidence that its spillover effects may lift millions more out of dire need. In 1978, 18 farmers from the Chinese village of Xiaogang secretly signed “the document that changed the world.” Madsen Pirie of the Adam Smith Institute writes: A few years earlier they had seen 67 of their 120 population starve to death in the “Great Leap Forward” Now...
The U.S. is far more religious than other wealthy nations
Some countries are rich and some countries are religious. But the U.S. is the only country that has higher-than-average levels of both prayer and wealth, according to a new study by Pew Research. In 101 other countries surveyed that have a gross domestic product of more than $30,000 per person, fewer than 40 percent of adults say they pray every day.As the survey notes,more than half of American adults (55 percent) say they pray pared with 25 percent in Canada,...
Welfare states cultivate the sin of sloth
Alfred Tennyson wrote, “In the Spring a young man’s fancy lightly turns to thoughts of love.” But each summer“in Mediterranean countries, the youth seemto be haunted by the same pressing question: ‘Will i get a proper job?'”writes Mihail Neamtu at Acton’sReligion & Liberty Transatlantic website. Neamtu, a public intellectual from Romania, writes in his penetrating essay: In Greece, unemployment stands at 42.9 percent; in Spain, unemployment is 35 percent; in Italy, it is more than 30 percent. Compared to the...
Radio Free Acton: Interview with a Venezuelan dissident; Jared Meyer on the sharing economy
In this episode of Radio Free Acton, Noah Gould, summer intern at Acton, interviews Javier Avila, a Venezuelan dissident who speaks of both the bleak and hopeful future he sees for the resistance against tyrannical government in Venezuela. Then, another Acton summer intern, Jenna Suchyta, talks to Jared Meyer, senior fellow at the Foundation for Government Accountability, about the sharing economy. Check out these additional resources on this week’s podcast topics: Read “Venezuela: Latin America’s socialist nightmare” by Noah Gould...
Unemployment as economic-spiritual indicator — July 2018 report
Series Note: Jobs are one of the most important aspects of a morally functioning economy. They help us serve the needs of our neighbors and lead to human flourishing both for the individual and munities. Conversely, not having a job can adversely affect spiritual and psychological well-being of individuals and families. Because unemployment is a spiritual problem, Christians in America need to understand and be aware of the monthly data on employment. Each month highlight the latest numbers we need...
Related Classification
Copyright 2023-2026 - www.mreligion.com All Rights Reserved