President’s House

On this site stood President George Washington’s executive mansion. When Philadelphia was the temporary capital of the federal government in the 1790s, America’s first chief executive, his family, and enslaved servants lived here. Like the White House today, the president’s residence also served as his office. From this location Washington ran the government, conducted foreign policy, approved or vetoed congressional legislation. Here on January 1, 1795, Washington issued a Thanksgiving Proclamation stating: “it is... our duty as a people, with devout reverence and affectionate gratitude, to acknowledge our many and great obligations to Almighty God and to implore him to continue and confirm the blessings we experience.”