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| Title |
U.S. Congress |
| Number |
52987 |
| Size |
Folio |
| Date |
1789 |
| Place |
[Philadelphia] |
| Category |
Presidential |
| Price |
$12,000.00 |
A scarce 1st Edition printing of the official daily record of the First Session of Congress, in which Washington was elected the nation's first President and crucial Constitutional amendments were debated, along with other vital matters at hand.
Journal of the House of Representatives of the United States. New York: Printed by Francis Childs and John Swaine, 1789. Folio, modern tan cloth, ivory printed spine label, later endpapers, uncut. Rare first edition, first printing of the official daily record of the first session of Congress, in which Washington was elected the nation’s first President, crucial amendments to the Constitution were debated, and Congress established the Foreign Affairs (State) Department, the Treasury and the War Department, covering sessions from March 4th to September 18, 1789, one of 700 copies printed, intended only for distribution to members of government. Printing includes Washington's Inaugural Address.
The first session of America’s first Congress was to convene in New York on March 4, 1789, but as seen here in the Journal’s early entries, a sufficient number did not assemble until Wednesday, April 1st. At his home in Virginia, George Washington awaited word that the “House of Representatives had achieved a quorum… and had organized,” for once the electors’ ballots had been counted, Washington expected news of his almost certain election as the nation’s first President (Freeman, 559). For it was apparent that Washington “gave the entire government the sanction and authority no one else could have” (Smith, Constitution, 290). Finally, as seen here in the entry for Monday, April 6th, the vote was taken and James Madison was directed to communicate a message to the Senate stating “notifications of the election of the President and Vice-President of the United States” had been made, awarding Washington a clear majority with 69 votes and appointing John Adams his Vice-President. Leaving Mount Vernon for New York, Washington delivered his Inaugural Address to Congress on April 30th and the nation’s business could begin. Printed here in the entry for the next day, his elegant speech expresses a desire to avoid overt recommendations to the Congress and to trust instead in the “talents, the rectitude and the patriotism” of the membership. The speech is most telling, however, in that “the one specific suggestion Washington made was that Congress should decide to what extent it should advocate constitutional amendments in order to meet objectives and relieve ‘inquietude.’… He added reflections that bespoke both his caution and his political judgment” in gently reminding the assembled members that “a reverence for the characteristic rights of freedom and a regard for the public harmony will sufficiently influence your deliberations on the question of how far the former can be impregnably fortified, or the latter be safely and advantageously promoted” (Freeman, 566).
Given that the country’s concerns over these “rights of freedom” had played such a contested and fundamental role in ratification debates, Madison and others “felt strongly that the good faith of the new government required the immediate attention be given to those amendments, essentially constituting a Bill of Rights, which the states had pressed for most strongly… This would do more, Madison argued, to reconcile the doubters and dissenters to the new government than any other measures Congress might adopt” (Smith, Constitution, 287-88). Debate over the number and scope of these amendments soon appeared unending, however, with passionate contests reflected in entries such as that for August 21st, in which a vote was taken on the subject of 17 initially framed amendments, including the fourth amendment, securing Americans rights to “freedom of speech, and of the press, and the right of the people peaceably to assemble… and to apply to the government for redress of grievances.” Yet the issue of establishing a Bill of Rights was not the only preoccupation of this landmark first session of the first Congress. Reflected here are records of debates over procedure, laws of taxation and commerce, the establishment of a court system, the need for departments overseeing the treasury and military, and the subject of relations between Indian tribes and the newly formed government, such as that covered in successive messages by Washington to the Congress on the 7th and 10th of August. The First Congress ran from March 4 to September 29, 1789. This is the first Journal of proceedings in the U.S. House of Representatives, recording the minutes of floor action, votes and matters under debate, kept in accordance with Article I, Section Five of the Constitution. One of only 700 copies, as ordered by a resolution passed May 28th and recorded here, wherein it was directed that “seven hundred copies of the journals be printed, and distributed to the executive and judicial, and heads of departments of the government of the United States.” This left “none for public purchase” (Powell, 85). Publishers Francis Childs and John Swaine were the first to secure governmental contracts for both the Acts of Congress and the Journals. Without final 10 leaves, including index pages clxv-clxxvii, a partial entry for September 18, and entries for nine remaining sessions from September 19-29. Evans 22208. Sabin 15554.
Restoration to title page, occasional archival tape repair to three early leaves, slight dampstaining to margins of several final leaves, archival tissue restoration to page 145. An extremely good, highly desirable important document in American history.
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