Conversation with a Joint Committee of Congress, 9 February 1793

Conversation with a Joint Committee of Congress

[Philadelphia] Saturday February 9th: 1793

Mr King & Mr Smith, members of a joint committee of Congress appointed to report a mode of examining the votes for President & Vice-President, and of notifying the persons who shall be elected, of their election—and for regulating the time, place & manner of administering the Oath of Office to the President, called to advise, informally, with the President on the occasion, as some of the Committee had doubts of the propriety of the Oath being administered before the close of the President’s present term.1 The President answered, that he had never bestowed any thoughts on the subject—that being the first instance of the kind, a precedent ought to be established that would be proper—that the President, as to himself, shd be satisfied with whatever was resolved on; but if anything shd occur to him he would inform them of it.2

Journal (printed in JPP, description begins Dorothy Twohig, ed. The Journal of the Proceedings of the President, 1793–1797. Charlottesville, Va., 1981. description ends 47), DLC:GW; LB, DLC:GW.

1. On 5 Feb. the House of Representatives appointed John Laurance, James Madison, and William Loughton Smith to this committee. The following day the Senate appointed Rufus King, Ralph Izard, and Caleb Strong to this committee (Annals of Congress description begins Joseph Gales, Sr., comp. The Debates and Proceedings in the Congress of the United States; with an Appendix, Containing Important State Papers and Public Documents, and All the Laws of a Public Nature. 42 vols. Washington, D.C., 1834–56. description ends , 2d Cong., 2d sess., 861, 640–41). On 11 Feb. both houses agreed to the committee’s report that Congress should assemble in the Senate chamber on Wednesday, 13 Feb., at noon to “make a list of the votes as they shall be declared” (ibid., 644, 873). The counting of the votes of the electoral college resulted in the unanimous election of GW to a second term as president, and on Friday, 15 Feb., all the members of the joint committee called upon GW at noon to inform him of his reelection (JPP, description begins Dorothy Twohig, ed. The Journal of the Proceedings of the President, 1793–1797. Charlottesville, Va., 1981. description ends 53–54).

2. For continued discussion about the proper method of administering the oath of office, see GW to Cabinet, 27 Feb., and Cabinet Opinion, 28 Feb. and 1 March. GW took the oath of office on Monday, 4 Mar. (Annals of Congress description begins Joseph Gales, Sr., comp. The Debates and Proceedings in the Congress of the United States; with an Appendix, Containing Important State Papers and Public Documents, and All the Laws of a Public Nature. 42 vols. Washington, D.C., 1834–56. description ends , 2d Cong., 2d sess., 666–67).

Index Entries

You Are Looking At

Source Project: Washington Papers
Title: Conversation with a Joint Committee of Congress, 9 February 1793
Author: Unknown
Date: 9 February 1793

Reference

Cite as: “Conversation with a Joint Committee of Congress, 9 February 1793,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/05-12-02-0081. [Original source: The Papers of George Washington, Presidential Series, vol. 12, 16 January 1793 – 31 May 1793, ed. Christine Sternberg Patrick and John C. Pinheiro. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2005, p. 123.]