A lot has been written about George Washington’s 1789 inauguration and whether he actual said “So help me God” at the conclusion of his oath. John Bell of Boston 1775 has a great piece on the inauguration. And so does Ben Edwards of Teach History.
In 1854, Rufus Wilmot Griswold first published The Republican Court; or American Society in the Days of Washington, which was the first time a source suggested Washington finished his oath with “So help me God.” As Boston 1775 asks, “Did it really take two-thirds of a century for a significant detail of a well-attended public ceremony to be described in print?”
What is perhaps more interesting is the fact that Griswold only used one eyewitness source in his entire focus on Washington’s inauguration. That firsthand account was a letter from an unidentified person. The same extract of the letter first appeared in the May 13, 1789 issue of The Gazette of the United States. Read Griswold’s only eyewitness source below. “One of the most august and interesting spectacle ever exhibited on this globe.”
Not a whole lot of concrete detail in that report, is there? And considering that the writer is so clearly “under an awful and religious persuasion,” it’s curious that there are no mentions of any religious aspects of the inaugural ceremony aside from Washington swearing on a “sacred volume.”
Unfortunately this is an anonymous and emotionally engaged source, but at least a contemporaneous report from someone claiming to be within eye- and ear shot of the event. I think if he had actually heard the “so help me” words he would have reported it; instead he reports only the “fervency” of the oath recital, and the kiss. Forensically, saying “it seemed…to be a solemn appeal to Heaven…” rules out that our reporter heard an explicit appeal by the oath taker for divine help. Kissing the book, whether motivated by religious or freemasonry practice, is a gesture of respect and affection, and alone doesn’t support the notion of an appeal for help. It is, of curse, still possible that GW said the words and witnesses other than our reporter heard them, leading to their conclusion reported here as it “seemed” to them to have occurred.