It's Monday, January 20th, inauguration day in the United States of America.

I'm Albert Moller, and this is the briefing, a daily analysis of news and events from a Christian worldview.

Going back to the ratification of the U.S. Constitution, the Office of president was held out as the union of the roles of

head of government and head of state. But there was no precedent for an office like that of the

president of the United States, and there was no way of anticipating exactly how someone

should enter upon that office. And so the Constitution requires that an oath of office be given,

and that's about it. But as is the case in so much of the history of the American presidency,

what we know as the inauguration goes back to the inauguration of the first president of the United States,

George Washington. Washington was so instrumental in the

nation's founding that the office of president was basically designed around him. What Washington did,

most of his successors have emulated. And so much of it is now formalized that many people assume

there is something like an inaugural ceremony in the Constitution of the United

States. No, there's an oath of office. The ceremony was developed over time. The first presidential

inauguration was held on April the 30th of 1789. George Washington was inaugurated as the first

president of the United States. And as the nation has often said about

itself, it represented a new order of the ages. But why a formal inauguration? Why doesn't a president

just somewhere in private take the oath of office and then go into the Oval Office and get on with

the task? Well, it is because nationhood requires a certain

formality. It is because an office of this stature requires a certain ceremony. And democracy

requires dignity. Going back to 1789, there was no precedent for someone like a head of

government and head of state,

united in one office, democratically elected by the people. What did exist was the monarchies

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