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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
September 19, 1814
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Blodgett's Hotel
The Senate convened in the Patent Office building, also known as Blodgett's Hotel, for the first time following the burning of the Capitol by British troops during the War of 1812.
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September 20, 1881
Chester A. Arthur's succession to the presidency after the death of President James A. Garfield removed the vice president from the Senate at a time when his tie-breaking vote was of special importance. For the first time in its history, the body stood equally divided between Republicans and Democrats, although two independent members helped shape institutional decisions.
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September 21, 1837
Vice President Richard Mentor Johnson, who owned a tavern in Kentucky, directed the superintendent of public buildings to ensure compliance with a recent congressional resolution that "no spirituous liquors shall be offered for sale, or exhibited, within the Capitol, or in the public grounds adjacent thereto."
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September 22, 1950
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Alben Barkley (D-KY)
As part of a reconstruction project that gutted the chamber it had occupied since 1859, the Senate donated the presiding officer's historic desk -- which had been first used by a vice president from Kentucky -- to Vice President Alben W. Barkley, also a Kentuckian, for display in a Kentucky museum.
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September 25, 1789
The Senate approved twelve amendments to the Constitution. Ten of the twelve amendments were subsequently ratified and are known as the "Bill of Rights." An eleventh amendment, regarding compensation of members, waited more than two centuries before being ratified as the Twenty-seventh Amendment on May 7, 1992.
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