Home
/
RELIGION & LIBERTY ONLINE
/
5 facts about Inauguration Day
5 facts about Inauguration Day
Dec 31, 2025 10:27 PM

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
Sen. Tim Scott’s message of redemption resonates
Our weakened state, due to original sin, does not mean that we are wicked, evil, or insignificant. It means that we have a wound—a particular kind of wound that demands a particular kind of medicine. Read More… In his first address to a joint session of Congress, President Biden offered a renewed vision of America, claiming a revitalizing economy, a growing distribution of vaccinations, and efforts to end injustice against race and gender identity. His e through hollow as many...
Examining the moral basis of Pope Francis’ pleas for financial regulation – and the morality of ‘speculation’
As Pope Francis recognizes, speculation is part-and-parcel of the modern economic world. He also plainly believes that it is subject to the demands of morality and justice. The question thus es: How do we judge whether any act of speculation is right and just, or wrong and unjust? Read More… In his Prayer Intentions for May 2021, Pope Francis is asking that Catholics pray for strict regulation of financial markets to protect the poor. But is strict government oversight what...
Beyond nationalism and globalism: Jesus points to another kingdom
In our era of hyper-partisanship, often we think of political divides in simple terms of Republicans versus Democrats, or progressives versus conservatives. Nevertheless, even today there are some divides that cut across party lines. One such divide is that between nationalists and “globalists” or “imperialists” (both pejorative terms given by nationalists to those who support greater international cooperation). On the right, former President Donald Trump opposed many international trade relationships and generally called for an “America first” approach to foreign...
Why capitalism is worth conserving
Capitalism is worth conserving not because free markets are a “necessary tool” for economic growth, but because economic freedom honors the dignity and creative capacity of the human person. Read More… Amid the waves of populism and protectionism sweeping across the American Right, capitalism has e a favorite target of many prominent conservatives, blamed for the decline of religion, the demise of the family, and the erosion of civil society. Whether the e from politicians like Josh Hawley or pundits...
The ‘man of public spirit’: Politics as art, not science
Politicians have given us many occasions to be critical of their actions. Politics, like all sausage making, is rarely palatable. Nevertheless, Aristotle observed that man is by nature a political animal, drawn into association with others in order to satisfy inherently social needs. Politics need not take the form of what Ambrose Bierce calls it in The Devil’s Dictionary: “a strife of interests masquerading as a contest of principles.” Of course, thinking about politics clearly and constructively is often made...
Why a baby boom would be good for the environment
If it is true that we face unprecedented and unforeseen challenges when es to environmental catastrophe and deprivation, don’t we need more creativity, more ingenuity and more initiative to pioneer a proper path forward? These are features of civilization e from having more humans. Read More… It’s e fashionable for doomsday prophets to predict that “overpopulation” will lead to mass starvation and environmental catastrophe. Now, however, with humanity facing a global crash in birthrates, many experts are rightly changing their...
How global leaders used COVID-19 to restrict religious liberty
From violating burial rites to blame-shifting toward religious minorities to anti-Semitic conspiracy theories, the pandemic has served as a precursor to all sorts of anti-religious mischief. A new report from the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedoms shows how religious freedoms have been curtailed across the world. Read More… COVID-19 has posed unique challenges to religious liberty across the United States, spurring politicians to impose public health measures that restricted in-person worship services. Globally, the situation has often been much...
America is crossing economic Rubicon of government management
If anyone had any lingering doubts about where American economic policy is heading over the next fouryears, those should have been removed by President Joe Biden’s proposed $6 trillion budget for 2022. Whatever Congress does with this proposal, there’s no doubt that government is now viewed by leading policymakers and, judging from recent surveys, by millions of Americans as the primary engine that should be driving the economy. Whether it is the disinterest in the implications of America’s public debt...
Biden’s ‘stimulus’ for a growing economy is all about central control
President Biden wants to pump nearly $2 trillion more into the U.S. economy under the guise of “economic stimulus.” But the country’s economy has already been growing for months, proving that American politicians have adopted the term “stimulus” for a new regime of spending programs that drive up debt needlessly, taking a page out of Xi Jinping playbook. Read More… Proposals for “economic stimulus”, the use of monetary or fiscal policy to stimulate the economy, have e a permanent fixture...
Finding meaning in work: Christian vocation means working with ‘holy intent’
For those who are lost and looking for meaning in a fragmented world – constantly torn between idols of work and leisure, with little left in between – “the power of holy intent” orients our hearts and hands beyond ourselves. It focuses our worship on the Worker and Creator who made us in his image and likeness. It reminds us that, whether we recognize it or not, he is the one we are truly working for. Read More… America’s new...
Related Classification
Copyright 2023-2025 - www.mreligion.com All Rights Reserved