The First White House
When you read “The White House” what is the first thing that comes to mind? When considering the idea of The White House, many would consider the presidential mansion to be a testament to the executive branch of the United States. A location where the President calls home, signs bills into laws, and has done so since the foundation of our country. However, the White House as we know it was not occupied until John Adams, the second president of the United States took residency in 1800. So where did George Washington stay during his tenure as the first President?
Before there was ever a Washington DC, the Continental Congress took to the city of Philadelphia. It was here in the city of brotherly love, that the US Constitution was created and adopted at Independence Hall. One block further was a mansion that was built in 1767 by a widow known as Mary Masters. In the next decade, the city of Philadelphia would be under the control of the British Military and the white mansion of Mary Masters under the control of British General William Howe. In 1778, the British military would retreat from Philadelphia and the mansion fell under the control of the eventual turncoat Benedict Arnold. In 1781 the mansion caught on fire and would eventually be bought by lesser-known founding father Robert Morris. In the years to follow, the city of Philadelphia would become the de facto capital of the newly formed United States. With George Washington elected president, a home was needed to house the weary leader. It was then that the first Presidential home was adopted, a three-story brick home once owned by the grandson of Pennsylvania’s founder, William Penn.
The history of the first white house does not end with a perpetual changing of hands. While George Washington took to the office of President, he brought along 8 of his slaves from his home in Mount Vernon. These actions took place while the state of Pennsylvania was working on being the first state to abolish slavery in the country. While the building no longer stands today, the location of the first Presidential Home is marked by an open-air museum next to Independence Hall. Visitors can see the remains of the home’s foundation and walls that commemorate the locations of the home’s original walls. Although the first White house is not often thought about, the original presidential home stands as a testament to the history of the United States, before and after its inception. It once stood as a home for the ultra-wealthy of Pennsylvania, the tyranny of the British Empire, a traitor, a founding father, the first President, and ended a home that housed slavery. However, like slavery, the home no longer stands and is nothing but a memory.
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