The History
From 1790 to 1800, the city of Philadelphia was the new nation’s capital and the President’s House , home to Presidents George Washington and John Adams, served as America’s first executive mansion.
Presidents Washington and Adams both lived on this site during their terms.
The forefathers fought hard to attain freedom for “We the People” but in one of our nation’s great paradoxes, President George Washington brought at least nine enslaved Africans from his Mount Vernon home to live and work in the President’s House, which stood just one block from Independence Hall .
President’s House: Freedom and Slavery in the Making of a New Nation commemorates the site of the executive mansion of the first two United States presidents and reveals the long-obscured glimpse into the lives of the enslaved Africans who toiled at the house during Washington’s presidency.
