111th Congress, 2nd Session
Splendid Hall
Artifacts of the House Chamber
The Constantine Furniture
After the Capitol was burned in 1814 during the War of 1812, the building was gutted and all new furnishings were required. Four years later, funds were secured for the furnishing of the rebuilt Hall. Under the direction of Speaker Henry Clay, an advertisement was placed in the leading newspapers of Baltimore, Philadelphia and New York in search of a cabinetmaker who could supply “…chairs and tables…made out of the best St. Domingo mahogany, well seasoned, strong, neat and plain; without any superfluous ornament…” A New York cabinetmaker named Thomas Constantine was chosen for the contract. The Benton desk and the Constantine chair are surviving examples of the simple, well-made mahogany furniture that was in use in the old Hall of the House from 1818 until new furniture was made for the renovation in 1857. The furniture made by Thomas Constantine was sold at auction on June 28, 1858.
The House Chamber Desk
This desk was used by Thomas Hart Benton of Missouri, who also served 30 years in the Senate. He sat in this single-drawer version of the Constantine desk, in the front row, when he served in the House during the 33rd Congress (1853 – 1855). It has a bowed hexagonal shape to allow for the curved seating rows in the old Hall. All the Member desks had unusual shapes like this example, and some had two or three drawers. Benton’s desk was sold in the 1858 auction for $6.25. It was acquired by the American Antiquarian Society in 1886, who gave the desk as a gift to the Capitol in 1981.
The House Chamber Chair
In addition to being made of fine mahogany without superfluous ornament, the chairs for the Hall were to be straight-backed, with splay feet in back, turned legs in front, on brass castors, with “… the bottoms and backs of the chairs…stuffed with hair and covered with the best hair cloth.” This chair, which was given as a gift to the U.S. House Collection in 2004, has been conserved to maintain the original intended appearance of the Member chairs.
The Mace
The Mace of the U.S. House of Representatives is among the oldest and most important symbols of our nation’s government.
In one of its first resolutions, the U.S. House of Representatives of the 1st Federal Congress (April 14, 1789) established the Office of the Sergeant at Arms. The first Speaker of the House, Frederick Muhlenburg of Pennsylvania, approved the Mace as the proper symbol of the Sergeant at Arms in carrying out the duties of this office. The tradition of using a symbolic mace to represent authority originally derives from Medieval Europe, and was also a well established tradition in the North American colonial legislative bodies.
Following tradition, the House’s Mace adheres to the basic design of the weapon it shares its name with, a long shaft with a heavy, round implement on top. The Mace of the U.S. House of Representatives, however, adds nuance and meaning to this basic form. The shaft, which is made up of thirteen ebony rods, representing the original states in the union, bound together with intertwining silver bands, recalls ancient Roman fasces. The fasces were a symbol of authority in Rome, with its bound rods symbolizing the strength of unity. Atop the ebony rods rests a cast-silver globe, surmounted by an eagle with spread wings. The continents are etched into the globe, with North America facing front. The eagle, the national bird, is cast in solid silver.
The Speaker’s Letter Ordering the Mace
Three maces have been used by the House of Representatives since its inception. The arrival of the original is undocumented, but it is known to be in use not long after the 1789 resolution to establish the Sergeant at Arms. The first mace was destroyed in 1814. Between the destruction of the Capitol in 1814 and the receipt of the current Mace in 1841, a wooden mace was used. The current Mace was “presented and qualified” on December 29, 1841, and was made by silversmith William Adams. A letter, to Adams from Speaker John White, in which the Speaker specified that the new Mace should be “similar to the one destroyed in the year 1814,” is pictured here.
The Mace in the House Chamber
Each day when the House of Representatives is called to order, the Sergeant at Arms or the Deputy Sergeant at Arms carries the Mace into the House Chamber and places it on its green marble pedestal on the Rostrum, to the right of the Speaker.
The Mace remains in place while the House is in session, allowing Members and visitors to easily determine whether the House is in session or in committee. The lower level of the marble pedestal is used when the House is resolved into the Committee of the Whole for the President’s State of the Union address.
The Mace Used to Restore Order
In accordance with the Rules of the House, on the rare occasions when a Member becomes unruly, the Sergeant at Arms, on order of the Speaker, removes the Mace from its pedestal and presents it before the offenders, thereby restoring order. Although there is no official history of the disciplinary use of the Mace, incidents of unrest often appeared in the press.
Congressional Pugilists
The first known instance of the presentation of a mace (the first mace, which was destroyed in 1814) took place in Congress Hall in Philadelphia, on January 30, 1798. A brawl erupted between Matthew Lyon of Vermont and Roger Griswold of Connecticut, involving an attack with tongs from the fireplace. The confrontation led to a resolution to expel Lyon. The contemporary engraving Congressional Pugilists comically illustrated the event.
The Ceremony of the Mace, 1877
The mid-19th century was a contentious time in House, with high tensions between North and South, as well as eruptions of temper among the frontier Members. The wood engraving pictured here from Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Weekly depicts the occasion of an extensive disruption in proceedings that took place on the evening of January 31, 1877, when the House met for a special session to hear a report on the election in Florida. Contentions between the parties flared and great confusion ensued. Speaker Samuel Randall was unable to stop the Members from running from desk to desk, while conducting loud conversations. The Sergeant at Arms was ordered to present the Mace, and did so, to little avail – the wide-spread ruckus in the Chamber was such that even the presentation of the Mace was insufficient to quell it. In such a case, the rule is that unresponsive Members are to be arrested. However in this case since the disorderly were too numerous for each to be presented with the Mace, no less arrested, the Speaker decided to adjourn the session.
The Mace at Presidential Inaugurations
Presidential inaugurations are held in the meeting place of Congress, with the Congress officially in attendance. The House of Representatives and the Senate arrive at the ceremony as separate bodies and take seats of honor behind the podium. The Sergeant at Arms or his Deputy, carrying the Mace, heads the procession of the Members of the House of Representatives and stands behind them, holding the Mace, throughout the ceremony.
House Chamber Desk, Thomas Constantine Cabinet Shop, 1819, mahoganyCollection of the U.S. House of Representatives
House Chamber Chair, Thomas Constantine Cabinet Shop, 1819, mahoganyCollection of the U.S. House of Representatives
The Mace in the House ChamberImage courtesy of the U.S. House of Representatives
Letter from Speaker John White to William Adams Records of the Accounting Officers of the Department of the Treasury, National Archives and Records Administration
Congressional Pugilists etching on wove paper, 1798Collection of the U.S. House of Representatives
“The Ceremony of the Mace–The Sergeant at Arms of the House of Representatives on the Night of January 31st, Giving Preliminary Warning to Disorderly Members” Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Weekly wood engraving, 1877, Collection of the U.S. House of Representatives
