Room of the United States Capitol
The
Old Senate Chamber
is a room in the
United States Capitol
that was the
legislative
chamber of the
United States Senate
from 1810 to 1859 and served as the
Supreme Court
chamber from 1860 until 1935. It was designed in
Neoclassical style
and is elaborately decorated.
[1]
In 1976 as part of the
United States Bicentennial
celebrations, it was restored to the appearance of when it served the Senate in the 1850s; it is preserved as a
museum
and for the Senate's use.
[1]
Design and furnishings
[
edit
]
Located north of the
Capitol rotunda
on the second floor of the north wing (the Senate side) of the Capitol, the semicircular two-story room is 50 feet (15 m) wide and 75 feet (23 m) long, with a half-domed ceiling.
[1]
The chamber is overlooked by two visitors' galleries. The
Architect of the Capitol
reports that the gallery on the east is "supported by eight
Ionic columns
of
variegated
marble
quarried
along the
Potomac River
", inspired by the
Erechtheum
of the
Acropolis of Athens
.
[1]
Directly above this gallery hangs an 1823 "porthole portrait" of
George Washington
by
Rembrandt Peale
, which was purchased for display in the chamber in 1832 upon the centennial of Washington's birth.
[1]
The second gallery is the Ladies' Gallery, which follows the curved western wall and is much larger. The Ladies' Gallery is supported by 12
steel
columns "encased in
cast-iron
forms with
Corinthian
capitals
, which were designed to simulate the cast-iron originals." The gallery has a "
wrought-iron
balcony
railing
[that] follows the contour of the gallery and is backed by
crimson
fabric that accentuates the decorative
metalwork
."
[1]
On the
dais
in the center of the room is a curved table with "richly turned and
carved legs
and a crimson
modesty screen
" which serves as the desk of the
president of the Senate
(the
vice president of the United States
). The crimson fabric is hung from a
mahogany
valence from a canopy overhead. The valence is below a carved
gilt
eagle
and shield.
[1]
Directly in front of the vice president's desk one tier down is "a larger desk of similar design," which was used by the
secretary of the Senate
and
chief clerk
.
[1]
A glass screen between the dais and a small lobby allowed senators to relax but remain within earshot of the floor. In addition, there are two
fireplace mantels
on the east wall behind the screen, which are among the original pieces of the chamber that remain today. Two other mantels on the lobby's north and south ends are
replicas
, as the originals were replaced with
stoves
when the chamber was converted for the use of the
Supreme Court of the United States
.
[1]
Radiating off the dais are desks and chairs for 64 senators, which was the number of senators at the time the Senate moved to its current quarters. The desks and chairs are located on four semicircular graduated platforms. When the Senate moved to its current chamber in 1859, it took the original furniture with it.
[1]
Many of the
original desks
remain in use today, including the
Daniel Webster
and
Jefferson Davis
desks. The desks and chairs that are in the chamber today are replicas reproduced from a circa 1819 design by the
New York City
cabinetmaker
Thomas Constantine. Like the originals, the furniture is
mahogany
.
[1]
Behind the last row of desks is a low paneled wall separating the center of the chamber from a visitors' area (the third visitor area in the chamber, along with the two visitors' galleries). The area has red-upholstered sofas and was originally "reserved for privileged visitors who gained admittance to the Chamber through the special invitation of a senator."
[1]
On either side of the main doorway are
niches
for coal- or
wood-burning stoves
; the current stoves are reproductions.
[1]
The
color scheme
of crimson and gold, seen in the dais' decorations, can be seen elsewhere in the chamber as well, as in the "crimson
drapery swags
secured with gilt stars" in the visitors' galleries, crimson
window treatments
, and the
carpet
on the chamber floor, which is
woven
from
long-staple
virgin wool
and has a "gold star pattern on a red background".
[1]
The domed
ceiling
of the chamber is painted white. The Architect of the Capitol describes it as "elaborately
coffered
and enriched by
decorative moldings
." In the center of the ceiling is a semicircular
skylight
, and around it are five smaller circular skylights.
[1]
The skylight originally allowed
natural light
in the chamber, but today they are artificially lit. A large
brass
chandelier
made by
Philadelphia
's Cornelius and Company also provided light; a reproduction now hangs above the vice president's desk.
[1]
Use by the Senate and Supreme Court
[
edit
]
The chamber was completed in 1810, after
Architect of the Capitol
Benjamin Henry Latrobe
divided the original Senate chamber in the North wing into two rooms, one on the first floor and the other on the second. The bottom-floor chamber?known as the
Old Supreme Court Chamber
?was put into use as a chamber for the Supreme Court in 1810.
In 1810?the same year the Supreme Court moved into the lower floor?the Senate moved into the second-story chamber. For the next 49 years, the Senate used the chamber until the completion of the north wing extension in 1859, when they moved to their present-day chamber. At its height, 64 senators met in the chamber.
[1]
In 1860, after the Senate moved to its current quarters, the Supreme Court moved upstairs into Old Senate Chamber, where it sat until the completion of the
United States Supreme Court building
in 1935.
Many noted events occurred in the chamber. Among them are the passage of the 1820
Missouri Compromise
, the 1830
Webster?Hayne debate
, and the
Webster-Clay-Calhoun
debates over the
Compromise of 1850
.
[1]
In 1856,
Representative
Preston Brooks
beat Senator
Charles Sumner
nearly to death with a
cane
in the chamber. The attack occurred three days after Sumner, a strident
abolitionist
, attacked pro-
slavery
politicians, including Brooks' relative Senator
Andrew Butler
, in a speech. Brooks attacked Sumner as a matter of honor,
beating him with a cane
and injuring him so badly that he was absent from the Senate for nearly three years as he recovered.
In a famous exchange in 1858, Senator
James Henry Hammond
of South Carolina gave a speech advancing the
Mudsill theory
, arguing that slavery was justified because civilization required a permanent underclass to serve as a foundation. In reply, Senator
David C. Broderick
, a
Free Soil
Democrat, pointed out that he himself had risen to the Senate from this "mudsill" class, and that his father, an Irish immigrant, had worked as a stonecutter in the construction of that very room:
If I were inclined to forget my connection with them, or to deny that I sprang from them, this chamber would not be the place in which I could do either. While I hold a seat I have but to look at the beautiful capitals adorning the pilasters that support this roof, to be reminded of my father's talent and to see his handiwork.
[2]
Until 1976, the room was used for meetings,
[1]
irregular
congressional committee
hearings, and as temporary quarters while the
modern Senate chamber
was being repaired in 1940, 1949, and 1950.
Restoration
[
edit
]
The
United States Bicentennial
brought about the decision to
restore
the room to its
antebellum
appearance. At present, much of the room is furnished with reproductions with the exceptions of the gilded eagle ornament located above the chair of the
president of the Senate
(the
vice president of the United States
), which is original, and above the eagle ornament on a third-story gallery resides an original portrait of
George Washington
by
Rembrandt Peale
.
[1]
After the
September 11 attacks
in 2001, the chamber was closed to tourists for almost two years due to security concerns;
[3]
tour groups would have to pass close to the current Senate chamber and the office of then-
Senate Majority Leader
Bill Frist
. It was later reopened after tightened security measures were put into place, with visitors being observed by two
Capitol Police
officers posted outside the room and allowed to "quickly file through the room" only when the Senate is not in session (usually Monday mornings and Friday afternoons).
Modern use
[
edit
]
The chamber is today used occasionally for ceremonial functions. Special meetings between senators or dignitaries as well as speeches have been given there. Examples of such events include a speech by
Walter Mondale
in the Old Senate Chamber in September 2002,
[4]
a meeting between
Jesse Helms
and visiting members of the
United Nations Security Council
in March 2000,
[5]
and a speech by former Senate Majority Leader
Mike Mansfield
to senators and guests in March 1998.
[6]
The room has been used by the press to take photos of senators taking a mock
oath of office
. Senators are normally sworn in in the current Senate chamber, where no photos are allowed.
[7]
However,
Byron Dorgan
, who was elected in a
special election
, was sworn in as a senator in 1992 in a ceremony in the Old Senate Chamber.
[8]
The chamber is rarely used for official purposes. One exception is special circumstances calling for a more collegial atmosphere. The Senate met in the chamber on the morning of January 8, 1999 to deliberate rules for the
impeachment trial of President Clinton
; the procedures for the trial, brokered by
Phil Gramm
and
Ted Kennedy
, passed 100?0.
[3]
[9]
[10]
[11]
In 2007, newly elected Senate Majority Leader
Harry Reid
called a bipartisan session in the Chamber in what was called a "private moment of bonding."
[12]
In 2013, the Senate met in the Old Chamber to discuss changes to the rules of Senate filibusters.
[13]
In September 2023, in the context of the
Russian invasion of Ukraine
senators met with Ukrainian President
Volodymyr Zelensky
in the Old Chamber.
[14]
See also
[
edit
]
Notes
[
edit
]
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
i
j
k
l
m
n
o
p
q
r
s
t
"
The Old Senate Chamber
."
Architect of the Capitol
.
- ^
Forney, John W (1873).
Anecdotes of Public Men
. Harper & Brothers. p. 26.
- ^
a
b
Charles Hurt (August 25, 2003).
"Old Senate chamber reopened after 9/11"
.
The Washington Times
. Retrieved
2007-04-30
.
- ^
Sarasohn, Judy (31 October 2002). "Mondale's Ex-Staffers Abound".
The Washington Post
.
- ^
Vita, Matthew (31 March 2000). "U.N. Gets Helms-Eye View: Security Council Given a Tutorial on Senate's Foreign Policy Role".
The Washington Post
.
- ^
Eilperin, Juliet (25 March 1998). "Comity Hour With Mike Mansfield; Ex-Senator Waited 35 Years for Speech".
The Washington Post
.
- ^
Babington, Charles (4 January 2002). "A Bittersweet Day Like No Other; Hillary Clinton's Swearing-In as Senator Highlights a Political Passage".
The Washington Post
.
- ^
"Dorgan Takes North Dakota Senate Seat".
The Washington Post
. 16 December 1992.
- ^
"We Will Have a Bipartisan Senate Conference".
The Washington Post
. 8 January 1999.
- ^
Hsu, Spencer S. (31 January 1999). "The Jurors: Senate's Partisan Lines Don't Foreclose Partnerships".
The Washington Post
.
- ^
Frank Murkowski
(February 12, 1999).
"Statement of Sen. Murkowski (R-Alaska)"
.
The Washington Post
. Retrieved
2007-04-30
.
- ^
Dana Milbank
(January 5, 2007).
"Reid Takes Center Stage, but He's Hardly the Star of the Show"
.
The Washington Post
. Retrieved
2007-04-30
.
- ^
The Wall Street Journal
.
"Old Senate Chamber: A Place for Compromise or Combat?"
15 July 2013.
- ^
https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/4213732-paul-will-hold-up-any-spending-stopgap-that-includes-ukraine-funding/
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