United States Congress — Thomas Lloyd (stenographer)The Congressional Register; or, History of the Proceedings and Debates of theFirst House of Representatives of the United States of America. Volumes I and II. Issues 1-20. New York: Printed for the Editor by Harrisson and Purdy; Hodge, Allen, and Campbell, 1789-90
2 vols., 8vo (203 x 121 mm). Vol. I: Issues 1-11: [No title] 3-614; without 2 pp. advertisement. Unbound, with each issue stab-stitched together. Second edition. Vol. II: Issues 12-20: 1-449. 449 pp. Contemporary calf, spine with six gilt-ruled compartments, red morocco lettering-piece in second. Housed in modern morocco-backed clamshell boxes and folding chemises.
The first two volumes of the exceptionally rare Congressional Register, the only comprehensive, authentic record of the first session of the US House of Representatives by an eyewitness reporter.
Lloyd's text includes debates over the proposed Federal Bill of Rights, the certification of the election of George Washington and John Adams and Washington's first official statement to Congress as president.
The House, unlike the Senate, made no provision for the official publication of its debates, so Thomas Lloyd, a stenographer called the "Father of American Shorthand," served as the American public's eyes and ears to the electrifying events of that first year. Lloyd was such a successful documenter that he was made the House's official recorder for its second session. The Register was used for quotes by politicians themselves, who regarded it as the paper of record: Washington's well-used copy is at the Boston Athenaeum.
A thorough editor, Lloyd includes all the congressional speeches and motions of interest. The result is a highlight record of legislative action, which any contemporary observer of the dead-locked US Congress could only find alien. Lloyd's blow-by-blow dispatches always capture the feel and flow of the debate on that first House floor in New York. Highlights in the Congressional Register include debates over the proposed Federal Bill of Rights (Vol. II, p. 180); the House certification of the election of George Washington and John Adams (Vol. I, p. 5); Washington's first official statement to Congress as president (Vol. I, p. 174); and the election of the first Speaker of the House (Vol. I, p. 3). The breadth of congressional accomplishment in that first year is incredible. According to Tinling, Congress "established a system of revenue making the national government financially independent of the states and thereby made it possible to pay off the debt accumulated during the Revolution [.] It created a federal judiciary. It provided for diplomatic representation in foreign countries, made treaties and regulated trade with Indian tribes, and organized the Western territories . . . It set up executive departments State, Treasury and War . . . and arranged for the first census." All herein.
Copies of the Congressional Register rarely appear, and are almost always in parts. A run of the 1789 House debates is essential to any collection of Americana.
Bibliothecha Historica 482; Boston Athenaeum's Washington Catalogue, pp. 53-54; Brinley 4886; ESTC W20073; Evans 22203, 22204; Murphy 1467; NAIP W030486; Sabin 15608; Tinling, Marion, "Thomas Lloyd's Reports of the First Federal Congress," William and Mary Quarterly, Vol. 18, No. 4 (October, 1961), pp. 519-545. Not in Goldman, Howes, or Powell.
United States Congress — Thomas Lloyd (stenographer)The Congressional Register; or, History of the Proceedings and Debates of theFirst House of Representatives of the United States of America. Volumes I and II. Issues 1-20. New York: Printed for the Editor by Harrisson and Purdy; Hodge, Allen, and Campbell, 1789-90
2 vols., 8vo (203 x 121 mm). Vol. I: Issues 1-11: [No title] 3-614; without 2 pp. advertisement. Unbound, with each issue stab-stitched together. Second edition. Vol. II: Issues 12-20: 1-449. 449 pp. Contemporary calf, spine with six gilt-ruled compartments, red morocco lettering-piece in second. Housed in modern morocco-backed clamshell boxes and folding chemises.
The first two volumes of the exceptionally rare Congressional Register, the only comprehensive, authentic record of the first session of the US House of Representatives by an eyewitness reporter.
Lloyd's text includes debates over the proposed Federal Bill of Rights, the certification of the election of George Washington and John Adams and Washington's first official statement to Congress as president.
The House, unlike the Senate, made no provision for the official publication of its debates, so Thomas Lloyd, a stenographer called the "Father of American Shorthand," served as the American public's eyes and ears to the electrifying events of that first year. Lloyd was such a successful documenter that he was made the House's official recorder for its second session. The Register was used for quotes by politicians themselves, who regarded it as the paper of record: Washington's well-used copy is at the Boston Athenaeum.
A thorough editor, Lloyd includes all the congressional speeches and motions of interest. The result is a highlight record of legislative action, which any contemporary observer of the dead-locked US Congress could only find alien. Lloyd's blow-by-blow dispatches always capture the feel and flow of the debate on that first House floor in New York. Highlights in the Congressional Register include debates over the proposed Federal Bill of Rights (Vol. II, p. 180); the House certification of the election of George Washington and John Adams (Vol. I, p. 5); Washington's first official statement to Congress as president (Vol. I, p. 174); and the election of the first Speaker of the House (Vol. I, p. 3). The breadth of congressional accomplishment in that first year is incredible. According to Tinling, Congress "established a system of revenue making the national government financially independent of the states and thereby made it possible to pay off the debt accumulated during the Revolution [.] It created a federal judiciary. It provided for diplomatic representation in foreign countries, made treaties and regulated trade with Indian tribes, and organized the Western territories . . . It set up executive departments State, Treasury and War . . . and arranged for the first census." All herein.
Copies of the Congressional Register rarely appear, and are almost always in parts. A run of the 1789 House debates is essential to any collection of Americana.
Bibliothecha Historica 482; Boston Athenaeum's Washington Catalogue, pp. 53-54; Brinley 4886; ESTC W20073; Evans 22203, 22204; Murphy 1467; NAIP W030486; Sabin 15608; Tinling, Marion, "Thomas Lloyd's Reports of the First Federal Congress," William and Mary Quarterly, Vol. 18, No. 4 (October, 1961), pp. 519-545. Not in Goldman, Howes, or Powell.
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