First Meeting of the First Congress

First Meeting of the First Congress

On March 4, 1789, the first session of the First Congress began. It was the first convening of the United States Congress pursuant to the Constitution.

Congress has its origins in the Continental Congress of the American Revolution. During the postwar period of the Articles of Confederation (1781–1787), what little national government there was, was vested in the Congress. However, the Articles of Confederation proved to be a weak and ineffective form of government, so at the urging of George Washington and other leaders a Constitutional Convention met in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on May 25, 1787, to reform the system. The convention soon went beyond its original mandate to simply revise the Articles of Confederation and crafted an entirely new form of government in the Constitution of the United States.

The Constitution provided for a stronger federal government, consisting of the executive (the presidency), the judiciary (the Supreme Court and a federal court system), and the legislature (Congress). Congress consists of two branches, the Senate and the House of Representatives. Senators are elected for six-year terms, and Representatives are elected for two-year terms. Thus, every two years there is a congressional election. Since the first congressional election was in November 1788, the Congress that convened afterwards on March 4, 1789, was the First Congress. Two years later the Second Congress met; four years later the Third Congress met; and so forth until 144 years later when the 73rd Congress met on March 4, 1933. During that Congress, the 20th Amendment to the Constitution took effect, which provides that Congress meets on January 3 rather than March 4. Then, the 74th Congress met on January 3, 1935; two years later the 75th Congress met; and so forth to the present day.

The Constitution was just the beginning of the process of building a national government. When the First Congress met, most of the senators and representatives were absent, still en route to the temporary national capital of New York City. President George Washington had not even been inaugurated yet. Nevertheless, during its term the First Congress was able to create the building blocks of the federal bureaucracy, establishing such key agencies as the departments of State, Treasury, and War. In addition, the First Congress approved the Bill of Rights and sent it to the states for ratification.