#congress225

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225th Anniversary of the First Congress: We’ll be posting documents and stories highlighting the establishment of the new government under the Constitution through March 2016.

On June 30, 1790, President George Washington forwarded Congress copies of Rhode Island's ratification of Articles One and Three through Twelve of the Bill of Rights.

Rhode Island was the 9th state to ratify amendments to the Constitution on June 7, 1790. The Bill of Rights officially became part of the Constitution on December 15, 1791 when three-fourths of the states ratified articles three through twelve.

Letter from President George Washington Transmitting Copies of Rhode Island's Ratification of the Bill of Rights, 6/30/1790, SEN1A-E2, Records of the U.S. Senate

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225th Anniversary of the First Congress: We’ll be posting documents and stories highlighting the establishment of the new government under the Constitution through March 2016.

On June 30, 1790, the Senate agreed not to reconsider bills that it had already passed. It retained the power to contest specific articles in a bill once it was sent to the House. The First Congress often had to devise details of procedure, since they had no precedents and the Constitution did not specify such rules. The Secretary of the Senate noted this agreement in his own journal.

Secretary of Senate Journal on Reconsideration of Bills, 6/30/1790, Records of the U.S. Senate

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225th Anniversary of the First Congress: We’ll be posting documents and stories highlighting the establishment of the new government under the Constitution through March 2016.

On June 23, 1790, the House debated a bill to regulate trade with Indian tribes. The bill stated that all persons conducting trade with Indian tribes must obtain a government license and adhere to all “rules and regulations as the President shall proscribe.” The bill also banned any sale of lands to Indian tribes or nations without a public treaty.

On July 22, 1790, the Indian Trade Act was signed into law.

An Act to Regulate Trade and Intercourse with the Indian Tribes, 6/23/1790, SEN1A-C1, Records of the U.S. Senate

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225th Anniversary of the First Congress: We’ll be posting documents and stories highlighting the establishment of the new government under the Constitution through March 2016.

On June 23, 1790, Representative Elbridge Gerry issued a report to the House of Representatives, listing the books that he thought were necessary to have for reference by Congress and the executive departments. The report proposed that Congress should appropriate one thousand dollars to assemble a library, and five hundred dollars each subsequent year, until Congress obtained an “adequate” book collection. The library would spare members of Congress from “trespassing too much on the indulgence of their friends” by frequently borrowing these necessary texts. The report was tabled.

In 1800, Congress established the Library of Congress as part of a bill transferring the national capital from Philadelphia to Washington, DC. The Library of Congress was originally housed in the new Capitol building.

Report on a Catalogue of Books Necessary for the use of Congress, 6/23/1790, SEN1A-B1, Records of the U.S. Senate

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225th Anniversary of the First Congress: We’ll be posting documents and stories highlighting the establishment of the new government under the Constitution through March 2016.

The House of Representatives passed this bill to establish the Post Office and post roads on June 21, 1790. The bill proposed establishing post routes from Maine to Georgia, creating a General Post Office at the nation’s capital, and placing a Postmaster General in charge of the office and its finances. It also criminalized obstructing the mail and mandated that those convicted of robbing the mail “shall suffer death.”

The regulations governing the Post Office were controversial. For example, the House wanted printers to be able to mail newspapers free of charge, but the Senate disagreed. The Senate suggested twenty-nine amendments to the bill, and the two houses met in a conference committee in July.

These efforts to compromise failed. On August 4, 1790, Congress passed an act continuing the temporary post office, which had been in operation since September of 1789. The Post Office Act eventually passed almost two years later, on February 20, 1792.

A Bill to Establish the Post-Office & Post-Roads within the United States, 6/21/1790, SEN1A-C1, Records of the U.S. Senate

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225th Anniversary of the First Congress: We’ll be posting documents and stories highlighting the establishment of the new government under the Constitution through March 2016.

On June 11, 1790, the House voted 53 to 6 in favor of this resolution to adjourn from New York City and hold its next session in the town of Baltimore, Maryland. The proposal was part of an ongoing struggle in Congress to find a temporary and permanent capital.

Proponents of Baltimore argued that the capital belonged “in the heart of the union.” Those voting against Baltimore believed the resolution was simply a political maneuver. They thought it would divide the representatives who supported Philadelphia, so the government would remain in New York.

The Senate, however, never considered this resolution. The dispute over a capital was finally resolved with the passage of the Residence Act, which moved Congress to Philadelphia for ten years and became law on July 16, 1790.

Resolution to adjourn the 2nd session, and to hold the 3rd session in Baltimore, 6/11/1790, SEN1A-J2, Records of the U.S. Senate

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225th Anniversary of the First Congress: We’ll be posting documents and stories highlighting the establishment of the new government under the Constitution through March 2016.

In May of 1790, indebted Revolutionary War veteran Stephen Moore petitioned Congress to purchase his 1,617 acre tract of land at West Point, New York. During the War, the Continental Army built intensive fortifications on his land to help defend the Hudson River. Moore first asked Congress for compensation for damages to his property in 1779.

Congress forwarded Moore’s petition to Secretary of Treasury Alexander Hamilton, asking for his opinion on the purchase. On June 10, Hamilton returned with a report arguing for the purchase of West Point to establish a permanent military post there. Hamilton believed this purchase was “expedient and necessary,” as guarding the Hudson River was essential to the “public safety.”

On July 5, 1790, the President signed into law an act authorizing the purchase of West Point. Today, West Point houses the United States Military Academy for training army officers.

Read more on Prologue: Pieces of History.

Report of the Secretary of the Treasury on the petition of Stephen Moore advocating the retention by the U.S. of West Point as a military post, 6/10/1790, HR1A-D2, Records of the U.S. House of Representatives

[congressarchives]

225th Anniversary of the First Congress: We’ll be posting documents and stories highlighting the establishment of the new government under the Constitution through March 2016.

At the start of the First Congress, the question of where the permanent capital would be located was highly contested. Although the Constitution mandated a seat of the Federal Government, it had not specified an exact location. Congress, over the course of its first year, had considered more than a dozen potential locations. On May 31, 1790 a bill to determine the permanent seat of Congress and the Government of the United States (the Residence Act) was introduced in the Senate. Instead of proposing a location, a blank space was left on the bill to be filled in with the proposed location when one was agreed upon.

Read more at Prologue: Pieces of History.

A Bill to Determine the Permanent Seat of Congress and the Government of the United States (the Residence Act), 5/31/1790, SEN1A-B1, Records of the U.S. Senate