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THE DOCUMENTARY RECORD: November 22, 1800: The First Joint Session of Congress in the Capitol in Washington,D.C. Introduction by Donald R. Kennon William Russell Birch, a British artist who settled in Philadelphia in 1794, produced this watercolor of the Capitol in Washington, D.C., that shows the building as it appeared in 1800 when President John Adams addressed the first joint session of Congress in the new Capitol. C ONGRESS MET FOR THE first time in the Capitol in Washington, D.C., in November 1800 to begin the second session of the Sixth Congress. Both the Senate and the House of Representatives met on Monday, November 17, but neither body attained a quorum.Although the House attained a quorum the following day, the Senate did not reach a quorumuntil the 21st. TheHouse and Senate then invited President John Adams to address the first joint session of Congress in the Capitol the following day. President Adams delivered his Fourth Annual Message to Congress on Saturday, November 22, 1800 in the Senate Chamber on the ground floor of the single wing of the Capitol that had been constructed to house the Senate and the House of Representatives. Adams congratulated the "gentlemen" of the House and Senate on their new seat of government and "on the prospect of a residence not to be changed." He also commented on the unfinished condition 22 THE CAPITOL DOME of the Capitol: "Although there is some cause to apprehend that accommodations are not now so complete as might be wished, yet there is great reason to believe that this incon- venience will cease with the present session." Adams's address was to be the last time a president presented his annual message to Congress in person until President WoodrowWilson revived the practice in 1913. In the audience on that historic occasion 211 years ago was Representative Lewis R. Morris of Vermont, whose uncle, Gouverneur Morris, was a senator from New York. Following President Adams' speech, LewisMorris penned a quick letter to a friend in Philadelphia. The U.S. Capitol Historical Society recently acquired the letter and donated it to the collections of the House of Representatives, presenting the document to Speaker of the House John Boehner at the 2011 Freedom Award program in National Statuary Hall on November 17, 2011. WINTER 2012 COURTESY LIBRARY OF CONGRESS PRINTS AND PHOTOGRAPHS DIVISION