States House of Representatives. As the post of sergeant at arms was expanded, the Senate created an assistant doorkeeper to regulate access to the Senate's galleries. For many years in the 19th century this post was held by Isaac Bassett. First hired by Senator Daniel Webster in 1831 as a page at the age of 12, Bassett continued in service as a Senate messenger and then assistant doorkeeper until his death in 1895. One of Bassett's more unusual assignments was to turn back the hands of the clock at the end of Senate sessions; this allowed the senators additional time to conclude their business even though the time allotted for the session had officially expired.

While the sergeant at arms supervised doorkeepers, pages, and police, the Senate elected a secretary of the Senate to maintain its journals, handle its financial disbursements, and procure its supplies. Samuel A. Otis, the first secretary, hired scribes to record Senate proceedings; purchased the ink, quills, and parchments necessary; paid salaries to the senators (six dollars for each day the Senate was in session) and their staff; and reimbursed the members for their travels. Secretary Otis also had the honor of holding the Bible for George Washington's first inauguration as president. For 25 years, Samuel Otis performed as secretary, never missing a day that the Senate was in session. Upon his death in 1814, senators wore black arm bands for a month of mourning.

The Senate's first chaplain had been an ardent patriot during the American Revolution and was the bishop of New York's Trinity Church, located a few blocks from Federal Hall where Congress was meeting. Samuel Provoost served as chaplain until the Senate moved to Philadelphia in 1790. The Senate and House agreed that they would each appoint chaplains from different denominations; from 1789 until 1808, the Senate elected Episcopalian chaplains, while the House elected Presbyterians, Methodists, and Baptists. When Congress moved to Washington, there were few churches in the new capital city. During the early 19th century, Senate and House chaplains. alternated holding Sunday church services in the House of Representatives chamber. Occasional criticism was raised concerning the separation of church and state, but in 1854 the House Judiciary Committee declared the chaplaincy consistent with the Constitution, adding that "there never was a deliberative body that so eminently needed the fervent prayer of righteous men as the Congress of the United States."

Article II, Section 1

Each House may determine the Rules of its Proceedings, punish its Members for disorderly Behaviour, and, with the Concurrence of two thirds, expel a Member

Each House shall keep a Journal of its Proceedings, and from time to time publish the same, excepting such Parts as may in their Judgment require Secrecy.

The President of the Senate shall, in the Presence of the Senate and House of Representatives, open all the Certificates, and the Votes shall then be counted. The Person having the greatest Number of Votes shall be the President [of the United States].

ment. Two days later the Senate added a 20th rule dealing with the introduction of petitions and memorials. Since 1789, there have been only seven general revisions of the Senate's rules, the most recent having occurred in 1979.

During the Senate's first century, the vice president officiated regularly as president of the Senate, and therefore played a considerable role in interpreting the rules and establishing precedents. When Thomas Jefferson became vice president in 1797, he found that because there were so few rules, senators referred all disputes over the rules, or issues which the rules did not cover, to the presiding officer. "This places under the direction of the President [of the Senate] a very extensive field of decision, and one which, irregularly exercised, would have a powerful effect on the proceedings," Jefferson realized. Feeling uncertain in his knowledge of legislative procedure after two decades in executive and diplomatic activities, Jefferson set about collecting and collating the rules and procedures of the Senate and of the British Parliament, whose activities strongly influenced the first American legislators. From this study, Jefferson compiled A Manual of Parliamentary Practice. For the Use of the Senate of the United States, for himself and for his successors.

Jefferson concluded that it was less important that rules be rational than that there be rules to go by. What was needed was uniformity of proceedings, subject neither to the caprice of the presiding officer nor to the carping of the members. It was fundamental that “order, decency and regularity, be preserved in a dignified public body." And indeed, the Senate has from its earliest years won notice for the dignity of its debates and proceedings. Alexis de Tocqueville in Democracy in America compared the Senate favorably to the "vulgar demeanor" of the House of Representatives, praising the senators as “eloquent advocates, distinguished generals, wise magistrates, and statesmen of note." A decade later, Charles Dickens visited the Capitol and wrote, “the Senate is a dignified and decorous body, and its proceedings are conducted with much gravity and order." The formal parliamentary language and procedures have lasted into the 20th century, as senators continue to address the presiding officer rather than each other, and avoid personal pronouns by identifying both allies and adversaries as "the distinguished senator from" or "my honorable colleague."