(Click on a head in the painting to view the identity.)

The inauguration of George Washington as our first President embodied a fulfillment of Masonic and American ideals.

As Americans and as Masons, we all have heard details, read stories, or seen illustrations about George Washington, some clearly mythic and hard to believe. One, for instance, is the incredible popularity enjoyed by Washington throughout his life. These days, when a 60% public approval rating is seldom within the grasp of any public figure, Washington was revered by nearly 100% of all Americans. In addition, his reputation had spread worldwide, and he was widely admired as a paragon of noble character and civic service. Nowhere was this more evident than at his inauguration as our nation's first President.
Imagine the situation. On April 30, 1789, when Washington was sworn in as Chief Executive and Commander in Chief of the United States, our country had just emerged from the trauma and upheaval of the American Revolution. The Electoral College, despite heated disputes on nearly every subject, still elected Washington as America's first President without a single dissenting vote. Many books written at the time lavish praise on Washington for the qualities he incorporated in his family, religious, military, and civic life.
Bro. Washington's first inaugural speech was only six minutes long, the shortest in history, yet it exemplifies his humble reluctance to accept so high an office. At the same time, it shows his determination to serve the new country to the best of his ability. I am convinced the philosophical concepts revealed to Washington during his youthful initiation into Masonry served him well during this period of time and throughout his life.
During this bicentennial year of his passing on December 14, 1799, it is appropriate that we remember his legacy to our nation by celebrating the moment in history when he assumed for the first time the most important office the American people can offer. Thus, the Supreme Council commissioned me to paint "George Washington's Inauguration as the 1st President of the United States, Apr. 30, 1789." This is a companion piece to an earlier painting, "George Washington Laying the Cornerstone of the United States Capitol, Sept. 18, 1793." I completed the latter painting for the Supreme Council, 33°, in 1993 to commemorate the bicentennial of that great event. Both paintings now hang in the George Washington Memorial Banquet Hall in the House of the Temple in Washington, D.C.*
In creating the inauguration painting, I placed the viewer on the balcony as a close witness of this momentous occasion. There is well-documented evidence from the time that describes the presence of everyone portrayed in this painting, except for the two women located on the left of the painting (pictured on the previous page with historical figures numbered). I chose to place these women there because the inspiration for the composition of this painting was derived from an etching dated 1805, the earliest illustration of the event I found. The 1805 etching shows a woman seated on the balcony. And on further research, I discovered that women were often at these types of events without being recognized in written records.
The actual size and scale of the balcony are derived from many sketches of Federal Hall in New York City, where the inauguration took place, and from the drawing of the wrought iron fence from the blacksmith who fabricated it. The architecture seen from the balcony is distinctly Dutch because Federal Hall district of New York City, first called New Amsterdam, was built by the Dutch.
If you look closely at the window in the building across from Federal Hall, you will see a Revolutionary War Veteran celebrating this great occasion. He represents the throngs of people from all walks of life—rich and poor, Native American and European, American Military and Revolutionary War Veterans—who wildly celebrated this inauguration as a great victory for America and humankind.
Although I would have enjoyed showing the viewer this interesting crowd of early Americans in the painting, I opted to focus on the historical figures participating in the ceremony. Their images, unfortunately, block our view of the people below. The portraits of the 12 men, eight of whom were Masons, were painted from historical portraits of these men. They have been transposed to make them appear natural within the setting of this ceremony. From left to right on page five, they are:

1. Frederick William von Steuben, a Mason, was an army officer and aide-de-camp to Frederick the Great of Prussia. Von Steuben became a Major General during the Revolution and was known as the "drill master of the Continental Army."

2. John Jay, right and in the foreground, then Secretary of State, later became a Supreme Court Justice.

3. John Adams was the first Vice President and became the second President of the United States .

4. Henry Lee, a Mason, was known as "Light Horse Harry Lee" because of his brilliant cavalry operations in the Revolutionary War. He was also the father of General Robert E. Lee.

5. Robert R. Livingston, a Mason, was Chancellor of the State of New York and Grand Master of New York Masons from 1784 to 1800. He is to Lee's right, by the railing.

6. Samuel Otis, Secretary of the Senate, holds the Bible from St. John's Lodge No. 1, New York City.

7. George Washington, a Mason, stands with his right hand placed on the Bible.

8. Morgan Lewis, a Mason, was Grand Marshall during this ceremony and later became a Major General in the War of 1812. He was elected Grand Master of New York Masons in 1830.

9. Frederick A. C. Muhlenberg, a Mason, appears in a gold-colored coat. Born in Pennsylvania, he was educated in Germany as a Lutheran clergyman and was the elected Speaker of the House of Representatives.

10. Arthur St. Clair, a Mason, is dressed in military uniform. He was born in Scotland and came to America with the British Army in 1757 only to become a Major General in the Continental Army. At the time of the inauguration, he was the Governor of the Northwest Territory.

11. George Clinton, next to St. Clair, was Governor of New York at the time of the inauguration.

12. Henry Knox, a Mason, was a close adviser to Washington and a Major General and Chief of Artillery in the Revolutionary Army. He is to the far right in the painting and was Secretary of War at the time of Washington's first inauguration.

George Washington became the first President with the same reluctance and timidity that many Masons experience as they take on responsibilities within Masonry. But as he solemnly and sincerely swore the oath of office and kissed the Holy Bible on the historic day of his inauguration, his feelings, expressed by a passage from his inaugural speech, characterize this great man and Mason: "There is no truth more thoroughly established than that there exists in the economy and course of nature an indissoluble union between virtue and happiness; between duty and advantage."
Clearly, when George Washington was unanimously elected the first President of the United States, the American people were recognizing in him an embodiment of great American and Masonic ideals.

John D. Melius is a member of Potomac Lodge No. 5 in Washington, D.C., and the Scottish Rite Bodies of Washington, D.C., where he is Wise Master in the 18th Degree. He holds a B.A. and M.F.A. in Fine Arts from the University of Maryland where he taught art for ten years.