“How do you like our new Constitution?” Thomas Jefferson wrote to John Adams in mid-November 1787. Jefferson mostly wanted to vent. The two-month-old document left him reeling, especially in its provisions for a new chief executive. The American president, grumbled Jefferson, “seems a bad edition of a Polish king.”

The chief justice of the Supreme Court traditionally reads the oath of office to the incoming president, but the vice president has more flexibility.

Donald Trump will be sworn into office on Monday, which is also Martin Luther King Jr. Day. See the schedule of events.

On March 4, 1801, John Adams rose before dawn. It was his last day as president, and he was leaving Washington in defeat. Adams had no intention of staying for the inauguration of Thomas Jefferson ...