PBA Galleries

2 volumes in 1. 336, [2], xx; 149, xi pp. (8vo) 20.5x12 cm (8x4¾") period blue boards, rebacked and recornered with period style modern calf, red morocco spine label. First Edition.

First edition of the official record of the first and second Senatorial sessions of the Sixth Congress convened in Adams’ last years as President, with commentary on the death of Washington, and with Thomas Jefferson’s first inaugural address. Fewer than 700 copies were printed for distribution to the government. The sixth congress was convened on December 2, 1799 and adjourned March 3, 1801. The nation, and congress itself, underwent enormous changes during this period. Two weeks after the session began, George Washington died, and included here are the senate’s official notification of the death, and speeches and letters by founding fathers and Martha Washington in his memory. the second session of the sixth congress saw the senate’s historic first meeting in the newly built capitol building in the newly built city of Washington. The second session includes records of the 1800 presidential election, and the crisis that resulted when Jefferson and Burr tied, with each man receiving 73 electoral votes. Following the end of the second session, Thomas Jefferson stepped down from his vice-presidential chair on March 4, 1801, and was inaugurated as the nation’s third president, in the first inauguration to be held in Washington. His inaugural address, eloquent although written in haste as it was only decided on February 17 that he had won the election, is included in this volume. Evans 38749.