Each president recites the following oath, in accordance with Article II, Section I of the U.S. Constitution:
“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.”

It’s not just about the President being elected.  It’s about celebrating the American idea, the democratic process, and American history. 

    The Innaugural  Ceremony has been in existence since George Washington was first sworn in on April 30, 1789, on the Balcony of Federal Hall, in New York City, administered by Robert Livingston, Chancellor of the State of New York.   The innauguration was delayed from March 4th due to harsh winter conditions making  travel difficult.   It wasn’t until April 6th that enough congressmen arrived in New York to count the electors’ votes and announce George Washington’s election to the presidency.   The second inauguration took place in Philadelphia, on March 4, 1789 in Senate Chamber of Congress Hall.  The President and Vice President were inaugurated on March 4th, of the year after their election from 1789 to 1933.   March 4th was chosen because it took weeks to collect and count the votes, and then weeks by coach or horse for the president-elect to get to the capital. The commencement date of the presidential term of office was changed by the 20th Amendment, ratified in 1933 and effective in 1937, to January 20.
     The first inaugural dinners were solitary and simple affairs.  Since Martha Washington hadn’t arrived from Mt. Vernon, George Washington dined alone in New York.  John Adams, the second president,  celebrated his inaugural dinner alone and at a boarding house.  Thomas Jefferson, the third president of the United States, also celebrated his inaugural dinner at a boarding house, but with thirty guests.    The fourth president of the United States, James Madison, broke with his predecessors’  tradition and celebrated his inauguration with a midnight ball for 400.  The menu has since been lost, but rumour has it that that a new “fancy dish” was served known as ice cream.  Subsequent presidents have celebrated more elaborately, most of them featuring a festive meal.

     The history of the inaugural dinners range from Lincoln’s food fight, to Andrew Jackson’s riot to James Buchanan’s bachelor dinner whose   guests were served 400 gallons of oysters, 500 quarts of chicken salad, 500 quarts of jellies, 1,200 quarts of ice cream, eight rounds of beef, 75 hams, 60 saddles of mutton and four of venison.  

   After several inaugural “plain” dinners,  Harry S. Truman brought back the full-scale inaugural ball and dinner. His 1949 party at the Barkley Club offered a six-course meal complete with American wine pairings for each course. The menu included green turtle soup, baked asparagus tips, mixed green salad with knob celery, and fonds d’artichaut.

     At President Clinton’s inaugural dinners in 1993, the menus featured folksy American food — a “cross between a state dinner at the White House and a traditional Arkansas Raccoon Supper,” as one observer pointed out. The wines were the finest America had to offer.

     What’s on the 44th President’s current menu ?   The inaugural dinner has a decidedly Lincoln flair.  The dinner is being served in honor of Lincoln’s bicentennial birthday.   The dinner, which follows the swearing-in,  consists of three courses, starting with a seafood stew, supposedly a favorite of Lincoln’s, followed by “a brace of American birds” — pheasant and duck served with sour cherry chutney and molasses sweet potatoes, inspired by Lincoln’s childhood on the Kentucky- Indiana frontier. Dessert will be apple-cinnamon sponge cake and sweet cream  and paired with Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Noir.