From their inaugural sessions, both the United States House and Senate have kept journals of their proceedings, as required by the Constitution, to record the minutes of floor action. House and Senate Journals, Series I, 1789-1817, chronicles matters considered on the floor, votes and other actions taken, as well as excerpts from executive department communications and member responses. To create this digital edition, Readex has used the original printings of the House and Senate Journals, rather than the Gales and Seaton reprints from the 1820s.
A variety of historically significant topics
The historically rich House and Senate Journals document important issues, events, organizations and people, including the Constitutional Convention, the Bill of Rights and Constitutional Amendments, Alexander Hamilton and the Fugitive Slave Act. Capturing the U.S. government in its infancy, these fully searchable publications also cover such subjects as:
- Cotton industry
- Northwest Ordinance
- Cabinet Departments
- Ohio territory
- Treaty of Greenville
- Judiciary Act
- French Revolution
- Tariff Acts
- Tobacco and smoking
- Thomas Paine
- Jay Treaty
- United States Navy
- Alien and Sedition Acts
- Franco-American Convention
- Public Land Act
- Impeachment of William Blount
- Post-Revolution British-American relations
America’s Historical Government Publications
As an essential part of America’s Historical Government Publications, House and Senate Journals is cross-searchable in full-text with American State Papers, House and Senate Journals, and the U.S. Congressional Serial Set. Additionally, these four collections are also cross-searchable with all other Archive of Americana collections, offering unprecedented depth for research on nearly any topic in American history.