Documentary History of the First Federal Congress

Calendar

June 4, 1789

House: Baldwin, from the committee appointed May 21 (Baldwin, Vining, Livermore, Madison, Benson, Burke, Fitzsimons, Boudinot, Wadsworth, Gerry, and Cadwalader),1 presented a bill to establish an executive department, to be denominated the treasury department, which was read.
Senate:

June 5, 1789

House: Read; committed to COWH.
Senate:

June 9, 1789

House: Postponed as order of the day.
Senate:

June 10, 1789

House: On a motion by Smith (S.C.), postponed until June 16.2
Senate:

June 16-24, 1789

House: Postponed as order of the day.
Senate:

June 25, 1789

House: Debated and amended 3 in COWH.
Senate:

June 26-27, 1789

House: Postponed as order of the day.
Senate:

June 29, 1789

House: Debated and amended4 in COWH.
Senate:

June 30, 1789

House: Debated and amended in COWH; amendments agreed to by House.
Senate:

July 1, 1789

House: Debated and amended; motion by Gerry to recommit disagreed to.5
Senate:

July 2, 1789

House: Read; blanks filled; agreed to as An act to establish the treasury department.
Senate: Received.

July 6, 1789

House:
Senate: Read; second reading scheduled.6

July 13-20, 1789

House:
Senate: Postponed.

July 21, 1789

House:
Senate: Read and postponed to July 22.

July 22-28, 1789

House:
Senate: Postponed.

July 29-30, 1789

House:
Senate: Debated

July 31, 1789

House:
Senate: Read; amendments disagreed to; bill agreed to with amendments.

Aug. 3-5, 1789

House: Senate amendments considered; all agreed to except one.
Senate:

Aug. 5, 1789

House:
Senate: Amendment insisted on.

Aug. 10, 1789

House: Conference committee appointed (Madison, Boudinot, and Fitzsimons) on a motion by Vining.7
Senate: Conference committee appointed (Johnson, Lee, and Strong).

Aug. 14, 1789

House:
Senate: Johnson reported inability of conference committee to reach agreement.

Aug. 22, 1789

House: Madison reported inability of conference committee to reach agreement.8
Senate:

Aug. 24, 1789

House: Conference committee report considered; on motion by Vining,9 House adhered to disagreement.
Senate:

Aug. 25, 1789

House:
Senate: Receded from amendment disagreed to by House, by a recorded vote of 10-1010, with the vice president casting the deciding vote.

Aug. 27, 1789

House: Signed by speaker.
Senate:

Aug. 28, 1789

House:
Senate: Signed by vice president.

Sept. 2, 1789

House: Signed by president.
Senate:

House Bills, Senate Records, National Archives. Senate amendments are printed in the Senate Legislative Journal , p. 101, and were noted on the engrossed bill by Otis or filed with the bill. Unless otherwise noted, the House agreed to the Senate amendments on August 3.

1. Debate on the question of establishing executive departments and the appointment of the committee to prepare a bill or bills to establish executive departments are calendared with the Foreign Affairs Act [HR-8].

2. The [New York] Daily Advertiser, June 11.

3. The [New York] Daily Advertiser, June 26, 27.

4. The [New York] Daily Advertiser, June 30.

5. The [New York] Daily Advertiser, July 2.

6. According to Thomas Greenleaf's account in the Records of the Secretary: Concerning printing, SR, DNA, 80 copies of this bill were printed on July 10.

7. The New York Daily Gazette, Aug. 11.

8. Gazette of the United States, Aug. 26; The Congressional Register, Aug. 22. The House of Representatives Journal for this date records no action on this bill.

9. Gazette of the United States, Aug. 26.

10.The Senate proceeded to consider the Resolve of the House of Representatives, of the 24th of August, "To adhere to part of their eighth Amendment," before recited — And
On motion,
That the Senate do recede therefrom, the yeas and nays being required by one-fifth of the Senators present,

Yea

Mr. Bassett
Mr. Carroll
Mr. Ellsworth
Mr. Elmer
Mr. Henry
Mr. King
Mr. Morris
Mr. Paterson
Mr. Read
Mr. Schuyler

Nay

Mr. Butler
Mr. Dalton
Mr. Few
Mr. Gunn
Mr. Johnson
Mr. Izard
Mr. Langdon
Mr. Lee
Mr. Maclay
Mr. Wingate

Yeas 10
Nays 10
The Senate being equally divided, the Vice President determined the question in the affirmative — So it was
RESOLVED, That the Senate do recede from so much of the eighth Amendment as was disagreed to by the House of Representatives.(DHFFC1: 134-135.)

Recommended citation: Documentary History of the First Federal Congress of the United States of America, ed. Charlene Bickford, et al. (Columbia, S.C.: Model Editions Partnership, 2002). XML version based on the Documentary History of the First Federal Congress of the United States of America, ed. Charlene Bickford, et al. (Baltimore, Md.: The Johns Hopkins Press, 1986) Vol. 6, pp. 1975-1991; 2028-2032. http://adh.sc.edu [Accessed (supply date here)]