John Phillips is inaugurated as the first mayor of Boston.

The ceremony takes place at Faneuil Hall. Under the new city charter, the mayor is elected to a one-year term, serves as ex officio chairman of the Board of Aldermen, but has no power to appoint or remove officials, no veto over municipal legislation, and no administrative control except for his veto in the Board of Aldermen and the power to appoint committees. The powers of the mayor are changed in 1855.*