Rep. John Steele of North Carolina, Circular Letter to his constituents, January 27, 1791
(Courtesy of the Library of Congress)
Part 2
Rep. George Thatcher of Massachusetts to William Symmes, January 26, 1791
(Courtesy of the Massachusetts Historical Society)
The third session of
the First Congress was held at Philadelphia. It adopted three measures which confirmed
the compromise of 1790: a federally chartered bank, an excise on domestically manufactured
liquors, and a supplemental residence act allowing Washington to include his home town of
Alexandria within the federal district. In these letters two congressmen discuss some of
the issues involved in passage of the bills: George Thatcher in a letter to a constituent
in Portland, Maine (then part of Massachusetts), and John Steele in an example of an early
printed circular letter.
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