We have become used to the grand spectacle of presidents being inaugurated on the steps of the US Capitol, but outdoor inaugurations were actually a rarity in the early years of the nation.

The tradition in the early 1800s was for presidents to take the oath of office inside the Capitol, before members of Congress and other invited guests. But that changed in 1817, when the inauguration of James Monroe was moved outdoors thanks to a lively argument about chairs. That's right, chairs.

A large crowd assembled on a Washington street to witness Monroe's inauguration. And 12 years later, when Andrew Jackson took the oath of office for the first time, the first large inaugural ceremony was held on the steps of the Capitol. As befits Jackson, and his followers, it was a raucous affair. And large outdoor inaugurations became an American tradition.

Image: James Monroe/Library of Congress

Many inaugural addresses of the 19th century are minefields of platitudes and patriotic bombast, and I wouldn't recommend that anyone read them all. But a few stand out for being nicely written. And one, Lincoln's second inaugural address, is a masterpiece of American literature.

Benjamin Harrison, the grandson of the president who gave the worst inaugural address in history, actually gave a pretty good speech decades later when he was sworn in. And when "Old Hickory" came to town he gave a brief speech that marked the beginning of a new era in America. And then there were two brilliant writers who also happened to be presidents, Thomas Jefferson and Abraham Lincoln.

Read about the Five Best Inaugural Addresses of the 1800s, and get a sense of what new presidents wanted to tell the nation in times both dire and exhilarating.

Image: Abraham Lincoln, photographed by Alexander Gardner in early 1865/Library of Congress

The speeches delivered by men who have just become President of the United States can be soaring and inspiring. But some of them, particularly in the 19th century, have been real clunkers. I've been reading inaugural addresses and I've picked out my nominees for the five worst in the 1800s.

Of course, I really only had to pick four, thanks to William Henry Harrison. "Old Tippecanoe" went way beyond the call of duty to ensure that his calamitous speech would always be remembered as the worst ever.

One surprise for me was that a president who had given what's widely considered one of the best inaugural speeches also gave one of the worst. And one of the smartest presidents may have been sabotaged by his own brainpower.

Read about, if you dare, the Five Worst Inaugural Addresses of the 1800s. Coming soon: the Five Best.

Image: William Henry Harrison/Library of Congress

In early January 1831, a research ship dispatched by the British Admiralty had just left England, to which it wouldn't return for nearly five years. Aboard was an unusual "gentleman passenger," a 22-year-old with a Cambridge education and a keen interest in geology.

Charles Darwin had left England aboard H.M.S. Beagle on December 27, 1831. During his years circling the globe he would visit South America, the Galapagos Islands, Tahiti, New Zealand, Australia, and the southern tip of Africa. His observations, carefully recorded in notebooks and journals, would influence his thinking and writing, which in turn would influence all of science.

Image: Charles Darwin/Library of Congress