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Origins & Development of the United States Senate
The framers of the United States Constitution deliberated at length over the Senate's role in the new federal government. Since that time, the Senate has evolved into a complex legislative body, while remaining true to its constitutional origins.
Original Ledger Found
"Probably the oldest book of consecutive accounts kept by government officers," noted an 1885 newspaper article, "is a time-worn volume kept in the office of General Anson G. McCook, secretary of the senate." Marked S-1, this financial ledger records nearly a century of salary and mileage payments to senators, from 1790 to 1881. McCook, recognizing the ledger's importance, had it restored and rebound in 1884. Future employees were not so careful. In the early 1960s, S-1 and nearly sixty other financial ledgers were stored in the basement of the Capitol, and then forgotten. Rediscovered in late 2002, this collection is a unique treasure of Senate history. S-1 has been digitized by the Library of Congress and is now available online.
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This Week in Senate History
December 5, 1927
Senate Democratic Leader Joseph T. Robinson (AR) began the tradition under which the party floor leader occupies the front-row, center-aisle desk in the Senate chamber. Republican leader Charles McNary (OR) initiated this practice for his party in 1937.
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December 6, 1790
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Congress Hall
The Senate met for the first time in its new quarters on the second floor of Philadelphia's Congress Hall, having moved from its previous chamber in New York City's Federal Hall. The national government remained in Philadelphia until 1800, when it relocated to Washington, DC.
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December 7, 1829
The Senate appointed its first page, nine-year-old Grafton Hanson, grandson of Sergeant at Arms Mountjoy Bayly.
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December 9, 1858
The Senate Democratic Caucus took the extraordinary step of removing Senator Stephen Douglas (IL) as chairman of the influential Committee on Territories. This action grew out of Douglas' disagreements with President James Buchanan over the organization of the Kansas territory. After his reelection in 1858, following his much publicized debates with Abraham Lincoln, he was seen as an even greater threat to the Buchanan administration. Consequently, Buchanan's allies in the Senate successfully separated Douglas from his Senate power base, the Committee on Territories. Only one other senator, Charles Sumner (Foreign Relations, 1871), has ever been stripped of a chairmanship against his will.
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December 10, 1816
In a move toward greater institutional efficiency, the Senate created its first "standing," or permanent, legislative committees. Previously, the Senate had relied on temporary committees that went out of business after the legislation they were responsible for had been disposed of. Among the first eleven standing committees, those that survive today include Finance, Foreign Relations, and Judiciary.
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December 11, 1833
In 1833, the question of whether the Bank of the United States should be rechartered sharply divided the Senate. Pro-bank forces, led by Henry Clay of Kentucky (pictured) held a majority over the allies of President Andrew Jackson, who steadfastly opposed recharter. Clay's forces adopted a resolution on December 11 directing the president to turn over a bank document that he had read to his cabinet. Jackson refused, claiming the Senate lacked the constitutional authority "to require of me an account of any communication, either verbally or in writing, made to the heads of departments acting as a cabinet council." In frustration, the Senate responded to this claim of executive privilege by "censuring" the president -- the only time in Senate history that the body has taken such an action.
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