First Congress Unit

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First Congress graphicUnit Introduction

By July of 1788, eleven of the 13 states that comprised the infant "united States" of America had ratified the country’s recently written second plan of government. Despite the fact that North Carolina and Rhode Island were still holding out, Article VII of the Constitution required only 9 states approval before it went into effect. Eager to launch the new ship of state, the first federal elections began in September and did not end until December of 1790 when the last of the 13 states to ratify – Rhode Island - sent its lone representative to Federal Hall in New York. By the time Benjamin Bourn arrived, Congress had already completed the first of its three sessions. Yet, he was still in time to participate in the greater part of the federal legislature’s most critical work.

Although the proceedings of the First Federal Congress (FFC) were scheduled to begin in New York on March 4, 1789, the ongoing ratification debates and difficulties of travel to the "present" capital prevented a quorum from being reached for five weeks. When the first Congress adjourned in March of 1791, the sixty-five representatives and 26 senators found themselves in a new, temporary capital – Philadelphia. The change in location symbolized the new direction in which the FFC had steered the nation.

The first Postmaster of the United States, Samuel Osgood, once suggested that the work of the FFC compared to that of "a second convention." In the final analysis, his analogy is probably not exaggerated. The FFC gave practical meaning to the brilliantly conceived but frequently ambiguous phrases of the United States Constitution and passed legislation that allowed the "federal ship Union" to remain afloat in the stormy waters of the late 18th Century. Indeed, future Supreme Court Justice James Iredell’s prediction that "[T]he first session of Congress will probably be the most important of any for many years" now seems remarkably accurate. (Bickford & Bowling, 5).

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For more information, contact Fran O’Malley (302-831-8443).