Page images
PDF
EPUB

I.

one of Virginia, were given to John Jay; the six Mary- CHAPTER land votes to Robert H. Harrison, formerly Washington's secretary, and then chief justice of that state; the 1789. six South Carolina votes to John Rutledge; two votes of Pennsylvania, and one each of Virginia and South Carolina, to John Hancock; three of Virginia to George Clinton; two of Connecticut to Samuel Huntington, late President of Congress, and now governor of that state; one of the Georgia votes to General Lincoln, and four others to three citizens of that state who did not enjoy a Continental reputation. John Adams received the entire vote of Massachusetts and New Hampshire, five votes out of seven in Connecticut, one in New Jersey, eight out of ten in Pennsylvania, and five out of ten in Virginia-thirty-four in all; not a majority, but sufficient, as the Constitution then stood, being the second highest number, to make him vice-president. Adams had lately returned from a nine years' diplomatic residence abroad, the latter part of the time as minister to England, a station from which he had been tacitly recalled by the expiration of the three years to which, by a resolution of the Continental Congress, all diplomatic appointments had been limited. England having appointed no minister to America, it had not been thought proper to continue the mission.

The notification of the president and vice-president elect was intrusted by the House to the Senate, and two special messengers were dispatched for that purpose, provided with formal certificates of the result of the vote, and letters of congratulation drawn up by a committee and signed by Langdon. A joint committee of the two houses was also appointed to prepare an appropriate reception. During the absence of the messengers, the two houses busied themselves upon rules and orders of proceeding,

CHAPTER to draft which they appointed their separate committees,

I. and also a joint committee on the choice of a chaplain

1789. and on rules to govern the two houses in cases of conference. The rules adopted on the reports of these committees, though since modified in some particulars, still continue to form the basis of congressional action. The powers to preserve order given to the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House, and those relating to the course of debate and decorum of conduct, were the same which had been in force in the Continental Congress, and which prevailed in all the state legislative assemblies.

In the Senate, committees were to be chosen by ballot, a practice still kept up; in the House, their appointment was to be by the speaker, unless they were to consist of more than three members, in which case the appointment was to be by ballot. This rule lasted, however, only for the session; at the commencement of the next session it was modified into the shape which it still retains, the appointment of all committees being given to the speaker, except when otherwise expressly ordered. The rules of the House provided for a single standing committee one on elections-the beginning of a system since so extended as to exercise almost complete control over the business of the House. This, however, was a work of time; no other standing committees were added till several sessions afterward, and for many years the number was limited to four or five.

In the House, bills could only be introduced by committees to whom the subject-matter had been referred. Every bill was required to receive three readings on three different days. It was made a standing order of the day for the House to resolve itself into committee of the whole on the state of the Union, for the consideration and free

discussion of such bills or motions as might be committed CHAPTER

I.

to it, the speaker in that case to leave the chair, having first appointed a chairman to preside; but no vote or pro- 1789. ceeding in committee of the whole was to be binding unless subsequently confirmed by the House.

In the Senate, every member had the right of introducing bills. The use of formal committees of the whole was not adopted; but all bills, on their second reading, were to be freely discussed, as if in committee of the whole. Both houses adopted the practice, borrowed from the British Parliament, of founding bills upon resolutions discussed in committee of the whole and adopted by the House, the principal discussion being thus made to precede the introduction of the bill-a method since, in a great measure, superseded by the practice of referring every new proposition to one or other of the numerous standing committees. The previous question, as a means of stopping debate, was hardly known in the early Congresses. A refusal to order the previous question was considered equivalent to a dismissal of the subject, for which purpose that motion was occasionally employed.

Some difference arose as to the method of communicating bills from one house to the other. The Senate proposed to send theirs by their secretary, and that bills from the House be brought up by two members of that body, to be received by the senators standing. The House refused to consent to any such distinction, and the Senate finally agreed to receive bills by such messengers as the House might appoint.

[ocr errors]

In case of amendments to bills proposed by one house and disagreed to by the other, but still insisted upon, committees of conference were to be appointed at the request of either house, for the purpose of arranging the difference.

While on their passage between the two houses, bills

CHAPTER were to be engrossed on paper. After their passage, they I. were to be enrolled on parchment, and after the correct1789. ness of the enrollment had been verified and reported

upon by a joint standing committee appointed for that purpose, they were to be signed first by the Speaker of the House and then by the President of the Senate, and afterward the same joint committee were to present them to the president for his signature, the day of presentation, as reported by the committee, to be entered on the journals of both houses.

In addition to its clerk, who had the making up of the journal, under the superintendence of the speaker, the House appointed a sergeant-at-arms as its executive officer for the arrest of absent or disorderly members, or other persons who might infringe the dignity of the House; also a door-keeper, with assistants, and a messenger. The Senate had a secretary, corresponding to the clerk of the House, a door-keeper, and a messenger. Two chaplains were to be chosen, of different denominations, one by the Senate, the other by the House, to interchange weekly. The House sat with open doors, the public were admitted to hear the debates, and reporters were accommodated with seats on the floor. The Senate imitated the example of the Continental Congress, transacting all its business with closed doors, a practice continued for several sessions, till public opinion compelled its abandonment.

Having received official notification of his election, after the honor of an entertainment from Governor Hancock, Vice-president Adams departed for New York, under the escort of a troop of horse. He was attended in like manner through Connecticut, and, by order of Governor Clinton, was received at the New York line in a similar way. From King's Bridge, at the upper end of

I.

York Island, he was attended into the city by the joint CHAPTER committee of arrangements of the two houses, by a numerous concourse of citizens, and by several companies 1789. of the city militia. Introduced into the Senate Chamber

[ocr errors]

by a committee appointed for that purpose, and conduct- April 21. ed to the chair by Langdon, he addressed the Senate in a short but characteristic inaugural speech. "Invited to this respectable situation by the suffrages of our fellow-citizens, according to the Constitution, I have thought it my duty cheerfully and readily to accept it. Unaccustomed to refuse any public service, however dangerous to my reputation or disproportional to my talents, it would have been inconsistent to have adopted any other maxim of conduct at this time, when the prosperity of the country and the liberties of the people require perhaps as much as ever the attention of those who possess any share of the public confidence."

After some very high compliments to the senators and to the president elect, and some apologies for himself, as having, though not wholly without experience in public assemblies, been more accustomed to take a share in their debates than to preside over their deliberations, he concluded as follows: "A trust of the greatest magnitude is committed to this legislature, and the eyes of the world are upon you. Your country expects from the results of your deliberations, in concurrence with the other branches of government, consideration abroad and contentment at home-prosperity, order, justice, peace, and liberty; and may God Almighty's providence assist you to answer their just expectations!"

The messenger selected to inform Washington of his election was Charles Thompson, who had filled the place of secretary to the Continental Congress during the whole period of its existence. Having arrived at Mount Ver

« PreviousContinue »