The Senate Through the Ages | 1789-1800

Painting of the signing of the Constitution at the Constitutional Convention, with known figures such as George Washington and Benjamin Franklin.

"A trust of the greatest magnitude is committed to this Legislature–and the eyes of the world are upon you."

-Vice President John Adams, 1789.

"The Senate is indestructible. The Senate which was organized in 1789 at the inauguration of the Government abides and will continue to abide, one and the same body, until the Republic itself shall be overthrown or until time shall be no more."

-Senator George Frisbee Hoar, 1896.

"Among the thirty Senators of that day there was observed constantly during the debate the most delightful silence, the most beautiful order, gravity, and personal dignity of manner. "

-William McKoy, upon visiting the Senate chamber in Philadelphia, ca. 1796.

Watercolor painting of the Capitol in 1800, by William Russell Birch

"[The Senate] is a sanctuary; a citadel of law, of order, and of liberty; and it is here - it is here, in this exalted refuge; here, if anywhere, will resistance be made to the storms of political phrensy and the silent arts of corruption; and if the Constitution be destined ever to perish by the sacrilegious hands of the demagogue or the usurper, which God avert, its expiring agonies will be witnesses on this floor."

-Vice President Aaron Burr, Farewell Speech, March 2, 1805.