Senate Journal of the First Congress

2014 marks the 225th anniversary of the First Congress of the United States.  What was arguably the most important Congress in U.S. history met for the first time in the spring of 1789. To this new legislature fell the responsibility of passing laws needed to implement a brand new system of government, defining the rules and procedures of the House and Senate, and establishing the precedents that set constitutional government in motion.

The First Congress opened on March 4, 1789 in New York City. However, when the representatives and senators gathered that day, there were not enough members of either body to constitute a quorum. Elected members were delayed by bad roads and harsh weather. Some states had not yet held elections, while others had not yet determined the winning candidates when the First Congress convened. The House finally reached a quorum on April 1, and the Senate followed on April 6.

One of the first duties of the new legislative body was to meet jointly and count the electoral ballots for President and Vice President of the United States. This page of the first Senate Journal shows the results of that election: George Washington of Virginia was unanimously elected President, and John Adams of Massachusetts, who finished second in the balloting, was elected Vice President. Three states did not have their votes counted. Rhode Island and North Carolina had not yet ratified the new Constitution and therefore could not vote for the president and New York’s legislature failed to decide before the voting deadline.

Download a high-resolution version of this document from the National Archives’ Online Public Access Database.

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