Speaker Jonathan Trumbull Jr. of Connecticut was part of a generation of Members whose experience during the Revolutionary War informed their tenure in public office. His story is one of many that demonstrates how veterans of the Revolution continued to serve their country after the war, building and nurturing the government they had fought to create.
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For 45 years, between 1789 and the mid-1830s, 275 veterans of the Revolutionary War served in the U.S. House of Representatives. Sixty-two percent of the membership of the First Congress fought in the American Revolution, a greater percentage of veterans of a single conflict that at any other Congress in history.
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The new school year may be fast approaching, but summer isn’t over yet! Pile into the family car and join the Office of the Historian in continuing our celebration of America250 with a roadmap through Congress’s connection to Revolutionary-era America.
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When the U.S. House of Representatives opened in 1789, the world had never seen anything like it. But the characteristics of House, new though they were, were built on years of precedent and procedures found in other legislative bodies in North America.
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Years before millions of Americans marked the nation’s Bicentennial with fireworks and parades, the federal government began planning national celebrations to commemorate the 200th anniversary of American independence on July 4, 1976. At the center of these festivities was the U.S. Congress, which oversaw the country’s many celebrations and planned its own tributes to the Revolutionary-era quest for self-determination.
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In 1975, as the bicentennial approached, few Americans doubted the historical significance of Valley Forge. But there were fierce disagreements about how to preserve the site. It was hardly a foregone conclusion that Valley Forge would become part of the National Park System. Representative Richard Schulze’s resolution kicked off a preservation battle that lasted for more than a year, illustrating the difficulties involved in commemorating America’s history, even when it came to one of the most famous sites in the country.
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In anticipation of America’s 100th anniversary on July 4, 1876, the U.S. House of Representatives began preparing for the nation’s biggest independence celebration yet: the United States Centennial Exposition, which, over the course of six months, drew nearly 10 million visitors from across the nation and around the world to Philadelphia for an unprecedented display of American history, arts, culture, labor, and industry.
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As part of a new America250 exhibit, the Office of the Historian has assembled 76 facts organized across a dozen categories about the Continental and Confederation Congresses and their Delegates. Each tidbit provides fascinating insight into life in Revolutionary-era America.
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On May 21, 1776, the Continental Congress passed a resolution to deal with an issue Delegates expected would soon be a problem. Although the colonies would not officially declare independence until July, Congress deemed it worthwhile to stipulate how the “Thirteen United Colonies” would handle British prisoners captured during what they anticipated would be a costly war.
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Over the course of his life, James Madison was a Delegate to the Continental and Confederation Congresses, a U.S. Representative, and the fourth President of the United States. This month’s Edition for Educators highlights materials on the History, Art & Archives website about the life, career, and legacy of James Madison.
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On January 21, 1808, the U.S. House of Representatives went into the Committee of the Whole to hear a report on a routine contested election case. Before the House could vote to approve the committee’s findings, however, Representative James Witherell of Vermont rose from his seat and accused Representative Philip Barton Key of Maryland of something even more troubling than dubious residency.
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Revolutionary War veterans are well represented in the portraits of the House of Representatives. Paintings of two heroes of the Revolution, George Washington and the Marquis de Lafayette, have been in the House Chamber for almost two centuries. Five Speakers of the House served in the Continental Army during the war and are memorialized in the Speaker portrait collection. In a livelier vein, veteran and Representative Matthew Lyon wields a pair of fire tongs in the House print “Congressional Pugilists.”
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