From 1994 to 2001, the U.S. Capitol Historical Society conducted a series of conferences each spring on the history of Congress in its formative period from 1789 to 1800 directed by Dr. Kenneth Bowling, co-editor of the Documentary History of the First Federal Congress Project at The George Washington University. The Press publishes the volumes resulting from the series.
Donald Kennon, Senior Editor
US Capitol Historical Society
Establishing Congress
The Removal to Washington, D.C., and the Election of 1800
Edited by Kenneth R. Bowling and Donald R. Kennon
Establishing Congress: The Removal to Washington, D.C., and the Election of 1800 focuses on the end of the 1790s, when, in rapid succession, George Washington died, the federal government moved to Washington, D.C., and the election of 1800 put Thomas Jefferson and the Democratic-Republican Party in charge of the federal government.Establishing
The House and Senate in the 1790s
Petitioning, Lobbying, and Institutional Development
Edited by Kenneth R. Bowling and Donald R. Kennon
Amid the turbulent swirl of foreign intrigue, external and internal threats to the young nation’s existence, and the domestic partisan wrangling of the 1790s, the United States Congress solidified its role as the national legislature. The ten essays in The House and Senate in the 1790s demonstrate the mechanisms by which this bicameral legislature developed its institutional identity.
History · American History · Political Science · American History, Revolutionary Period · 18th century · United States · North America · Americas
Neither Separate Nor Equal
Congress in the 1790s
Edited by Kenneth R. Bowling and Donald R. Kennon
Scholars today take for granted the existence of a “wall of separation” dividing the three branches of the federal government. Neither Separate nor Equal: Congress in the 1790s demonstrates that such lines of separation among the legislative, executive, and judicial branches, however, were neither so clearly delineated nor observed in the first decade of the federal government’s history.The
American History, Revolutionary Period · 18th century · Political Science · United States
Inventing Congress
Origins and Establishment of the First Federal Congress
Edited by Kenneth R. Bowling and Donald R. Kennon
On March 4, 1789, New York City’s church bells pealed, cannons fired, and flags snapped in the wind to celebrate the date set for the opening of the First Federal Congress. In many ways the establishment of Congress marked the culmination of the American Revolution as the ship of state was launched from the foundation of the legislative system outlined in Article I of the Constitution.Inventing
American History, Revolutionary Period · American History · Political Science · 18th century · United States
