The Capitol Dome

Fall 2014

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THE CAPITOL DOME 6. Magruder replaced John Beckley, the first House clerk and librarian of Congress, who died just one month after Magruder's term ended in 1807. Magruder was actually the fourth clerk, since two other clerks served between Beckley's nonconsecutive terms. e two positions, clerk and librarian of Congress, were not separated until Thomas Dougherty replaced Magruder as clerk in 1815. Office of the Clerk, U.S. House of Representatives, History, Art, and Archives Website: history.house.gov/People/Office/Clerks/; Gordon, "Pat - rick Magruder," pp. 158-60. 7. e library's governing board selected and procured the books, while the librarian maintained the collection. Gordon, "Patrick Magruder," p. 160. 8. Martha Goodw yn was the daughter of Virginian Republican Representative Peterson Goodwyn, a colonel in the Revolutionary War. Ibid., pp. 161-64. 9. House Journal, 12th Cong., 2nd sess., Dec. 9, 1813, p. 169. 10. Patrick Magruder to the Speaker, Sept. 20, 1814, Am. St. P., 13th Cong., 3rd sess., Misc., 2:245. 11. Burch and Frost, ibid. 12. Anthony Pitch, e Burning of Washington: e British Invasion of 1814 (Annapolis, Md.: Naval Institute Press, 1998), p. 45. 13. Captain Harvey Bestor's Certificate, Dec. 15, 1814, Am. St. P., Misc., 2:260. 14. Pitch, Burning of Washington, p. 44; Burch and Frost, ibid., p. 245. 15. General Smith's Order, Aug. 21, 1814, Am. St. P., 13th Cong., 3rd sess., Misc., 2:260; Burch and Frost, ibid., p. 245. 16. Machen to Rives, ibid. 17. Burch and Frost, ibid. 18. Ibid. 19. "Mr. Frost's letter to P. Magruder," Dec. 17, 1814, Am. St. P., 13th Cong., 3rd sess., Misc., 2:260. 20. Henry Looker claims that Burch and Frost's refer - ence to General Washington's house confirms other infor- mation indicating that the house had once been owned by George Washington. Henry Looker, "Washington's Houses on Capitol Hill," Records of the Columbia Historical Society 7(1904):66-70. 21. Burch and Frost, ibid. 22. National Intelligencer (Washington, D.C.), Aug. 30, 1814. 23. In 1815, for $23,940, omas Jefferson sold his con - siderable collection of books to the Library of Congress to replace the burned books. Purchase of the Library of omas Jefferson, Am. St. P., 13th Cong., 3rd sess., Misc., 2:246. 24. Consult Pitch for more information about Battle of Bladensburg; Pitch, Burning of Washington, pp. 208-20. 25. William C. Allen, History of the United States Capitol: A Chronicle of Design, Construction, and Politics (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 2001), p. 98. 26. Burch and Frost, ibid.; Pitch, Burning of Washington, p. 122. 27. Burch and Frost, ibid. 28. Patrick Magruder to the Speaker, ibid., p. 245. 29. Books and Papers of the House of Representatives and Libraries of Congress Lost by the Conflagration in 1814, and the State of the Contingent Fund, Committee Report, Dec. 19, 1814, Am. St. P., 13th Cong., 3rd sess., Misc., 2:258. 30. Patrick Magruder to the Speaker (second letter), Dec. 19, 1814, Am. St. P., 13th Cong., 3rd sess., Misc., 2:258. 31. Ibid.; Mr. Frost's Letter, ibid. 32. Adjustment of the Contingent Account of the Clerk of the House of Representatives, Committee Report, Jan. 16, 1815, Am. St. P., 13th Cong., 3rd sess., Misc., 2:263. 33. House Journal, Jan. 19, 1815, 13th Congress, 3rd sess., p. 678. 34. House Journal, Jan. 21, 1815, p. 682. 35. Resignation of the Clerk of the House of Representa - tives, Jan. 28 1815, Am. St. P., 13th Cong., 3rd sess., Misc., 2:267. 36. Books, &c., Destroyed by the Conflagration in 1814, Treasury Report, Am. St. P., 13th Cong., 3rd sess., Misc., 2:249. 37. Tobias Simpson Resolution, Mar. 1, 1815, Senate Journal, 13th Cong., 3rd sess., p. 677. 38. According to a later secretary of the Senate, Asbury Dickens, the duties of messenger were: "He will have charge of the office; attend to the proper cleaning and warming of the respective apartments; deliver such messages as maybe required; attend to the distribution of stationery, agreeably to the directions of the Secretary, and of which he will make an entry in a book to be kept for the purpose; and procure from the place of deposit such printed Bills and documents as may be required." Asbury Dickens, Secretary of the Senate, Dec. 1, 1838, Lewis Machen and Family Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress, container 22, Senate File, Secretary of Senate folder. 39. Tobias Simpson Resolution, Apr. 30, 1816, Senate Journal, p. 643. 40. Machen to Rives, ibid. 41. "Finding Aid," Lewis Machen and Family Papers, ibid. 42. Ibid. 43. Ibid. 44. Richard A. Baker, "September 19, 1814: e Senate Convenes in Emergency Quarters," in 200 Notable Days: Senate Stories, 1787 to 2002 (Washington, D.C.: GPO, 2006), p. 36. 45. Machen to Rives, ibid. 18

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