CHAPTER to draft which they appointed their separate committees, 1. and also a joint committee on the choice of a chaplain 1789. and on rules to govern the two houses in cases of con

ference. 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.

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 L. 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 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

CHAPTER non in company with two gentlemen of Alexandria, he I. executed his commission in a formal speech, to which 1789. Washington made an equally formal reply, declaring his April 16. acceptance of the office, and his readiness to leave within two days to enter upon it.

From the moment it had become certain that the Constitution was to go into effect, Washington had been very warmly pressed by numerous correspondents not to decline that post for which he was so singularly qualified by the choice and the confidence of the entire nation. The general expectation that he would be president had contributed not a little to calm down the excitement against the new Constitution, and to give to its friends so decided a predominance in the choice of members of the first Congress. Fortunate, indeed, it was for the nation to possess at this crisis of its fate a man not only fit to fill the office of president, but one in whose fitness the whole people were agreed.

Washington desired to proceed to New York in the most private manner, but the flow of veneration and gratitude could not be suppressed. Having been entertained at a public dinner by his neighbors of Alexandria, he was welcomed to Maryland by a collection of citizens assembled at Georgetown. At the frontier of Pennsyl vania he was met by a large escort, headed by Mifflin, recently elected president of that state, to whom it thus again fell to be the instrument of paying honors to the man he had once wronged. A magnificent reception and a splendid entertainment were prepared at Philadelphia, where the Executive Council, the trustees of the University, the judges of the Supreme Court, the officers of the Cincinnati, and the mayor and common council of the city, hastened to wait on the president elect with their congratulations.