United States Senate Chamber
Encyclopedia
United States Capitol
The United States Capitol is the meeting place of the United States Congress, the legislature of the federal government of the United States. Located in Washington, D.C., it sits atop Capitol Hill at the eastern end of the National Mall...
that serves as the legislative
Legislature
A legislature is a kind of deliberative assembly with the power to pass, amend, and repeal laws. The law created by a legislature is called legislation or statutory law. In addition to enacting laws, legislatures usually have exclusive authority to raise or lower taxes and adopt the budget and...
chamber of the United States Senate
United States Senate
The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...
, since January 4, 1859. The Senate first convened in its current meeting place after utilizing Federal Hall
Federal Hall
Federal Hall, built in 1700 as New York's City Hall, later served as the first capitol building of the United States of America under the Constitution, and was the site of George Washington's inauguration as the first President of the United States. It was also where the United States Bill of...
, Congress Hall, and the Old Senate Chamber
Old Senate Chamber
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. It was designed in Neoclassical style and is elaborately decorated...
in the Capitol building for the same purpose.
The chamber, designed by then-Architect of the Capitol
Architect of the Capitol
The Architect of the Capitol is the federal agency responsible for the maintenance, operation, development, and preservation of the United States Capitol Complex, and also the head of that agency. The Architect of the Capitol is in the legislative branch and is responsible to the United States...
Thomas Ustick Walter, is a rectangular two-story room with 100 individual desks, one per Senator, on a multi-tiered semicircular platform facing a central rostrum in the front of the room. The Senate floor itself is overlooked on all four sides by a gallery on the second floor. The Senate floor itself is 80 ft (24.4 m) by 113 ft (34.4 m).
Origin and history
The Senate convened, beginning in 1790, in a second-floor chamber in Congress Hall in Philadelphia, PennsylvaniaPennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
until moving into the Old Supreme Court Chamber
Old Supreme Court Chamber
The Old Supreme Court Chamber is the room on the ground floor of the North Wing of the United States Capitol. From 1800 to 1806, the room was the lower half of the first United States Senate chamber, and from 1810 to 1860, the courtroom for the Supreme Court of the United States.- History and use...
in the Capitol building in 1800. From 1810 to 1859, the Senate utilized the Old Senate Chamber
Old Senate Chamber
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. It was designed in Neoclassical style and is elaborately decorated...
for legislative functions.
During this time, the Senate nearly doubled in size as new states were admitted to the Union. In light of the increased size of both houses of congress, two new wings were added on to the United States Capitol. Beginning in 1851, the Capitol underwent several expansions including the new wings and their respective chambers, was well as a new dome
United States Capitol dome
The United States Capitol dome is the massive dome situated above the United States Capitol which reaches upwards to in height and in diameter. The dome was designed by Thomas U...
.
Design and construction
In addition to expanding the space available for the Senate's use, the chamber's designers were concerned that the room have acousticalAcoustics
Acoustics is the interdisciplinary science that deals with the study of all mechanical waves in gases, liquids, and solids including vibration, sound, ultrasound and infrasound. A scientist who works in the field of acoustics is an acoustician while someone working in the field of acoustics...
and line-of-site qualities comparable to those of a theater. The construction of the chamber began in 1851 and continued until senators began utilizing the room for legislative business in 1859. Shortly after beginning to utilize the chamber, however, senators noted the poor acoustic qualities, the sounds created by rain as it hit the glass-paneled ceiling, and uncomfortable drafts of air throughout the room.
The general design of the chamber, a rectangular, two story room in the center of the Capitol's north wing, includes 100 individual desks on a tiered platform. This platform, semi-circular in shape, faces a raised rostrum in the front of the room. On all four sides of the chamber's second level, a visitor's gallery overlooks the Senate floor. The Senate first allowed visitors to observe proceedings in 1795. The galleries for observing the Senate, including a women's gallery, became popular destinations for tourists and residents alike throughout the nineteenth century. Above the presiding officer's desk at the rostrum was the press gallery. Here, reporters are able to observe and cover the proceedings of the Senate.
Early usage
Because of the chamber's theater-like qualities and size, numerous requests were made and fulfilled to use the chamber for functions other than that of legislation. In 1863, the chamber was used for a presentation of a narrative poem entitled The Sleeping Sentinel about a UnionUnion (American Civil War)
During the American Civil War, the Union was a name used to refer to the federal government of the United States, which was supported by the twenty free states and five border slave states. It was opposed by 11 southern slave states that had declared a secession to join together to form the...
soldier who had fallen asleep at his post and was sentenced to be shot. Among the audience for the performance was the then-President of the United States, Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln was the 16th President of the United States, serving from March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865. He successfully led his country through a great constitutional, military and moral crisis – the American Civil War – preserving the Union, while ending slavery, and...
, who had actually pardoned the sentinel months earlier.
Senators grew tired of the competition for the chamber's usage, however, and allowed the final non-legislative usage of the chamber, a lecture on post-Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
reconstruction, before enacting a rule
Standing Rules of the United States Senate, Rule XXXIII
Rule XXXIII of the Standing Rules of the United States Senate, established by the Senate Committee on Rules and Administration, governs usage of the United States Senate Chamber, and regulates the behavior of those within it.-Text of Rule XXXIII:...
dictating that the chamber would not be used for any purpose other than that of the United States Senate.
In 1923, practicing physician
Physician
A physician is a health care provider who practices the profession of medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring human health through the study, diagnosis, and treatment of disease, injury and other physical and mental impairments...
and former commissioner of the New York City Board of Health Royal Copeland began his first term in the Senate. He quickly noted the poor quality of the air in the chamber, arguing that the premature deaths of 34 serving senators over the previous 12 years were caused by the quality of the air. He blamed the spread of common illnesses and general discomfort of the chamber during the summer on the dry, heated air circulated about the room. In June 1924, the Senate voted to a adopt a measure by Copeland to improve the "living conditions of the Senate Chamber." Carrere & Hastings, the firm that had designed the Russell Senate Office Building
Russell Senate Office Building
The Russell Senate Office Building is the oldest of the United States Senate office buildings. Designed in the Beaux-Arts architectural style, it was built from 1903 to 1908, opened in 1909, and named for former Senator Richard Brevard Russell, Jr. of Georgia in 1972...
, submitted a plan for the improvement which was subsequently approved by the Senate on May 11, 1928. On May 16, however, Copeland requested the indefinite postponement of his proposal in light of a new ventilation system that received the endorsement of experts in public health. The "manufactured weather" ventilation system, designed by Carrier Corporation
Carrier Corporation
The Carrier Corporation is one of the world’s largest manufacturers and distributors of heating, ventilating and air conditioning systems, and a global leader in the commercial refrigeration and food service equipment industry...
, was completed in 1929.
Modern design and usage
1949–50 reconstruction
In 1949-1950, the Senate Chamber underwent a reconstruction that involved the removal of the skylight and a redesign of the room's walls. In place of the chamber's original cast-iron pilasterPilaster
A pilaster is a slightly-projecting column built into or applied to the face of a wall. Most commonly flattened or rectangular in form, pilasters can also take a half-round form or the shape of any type of column, including tortile....
s, newer red Levanto marble pilasters were installed. The wooden rostrum was replaced with a newer, larger version made of marble. The iron and glass ceiling, including the skylight, was replaced with a ceiling of stainless steel and plaster. This redesign, in addition to improving the acoustic properties of the room, was to update the room's mid-nineteenth century decor, which was then out-of-date.
Photography in the chamber
Rule IV of the SenateStanding Rules of the United States Senate, Rule IV
Rule IV of the Standing Rules of the United States Senate, established by the Senate Committee on Rules and Administration governs commencement of daily sessions of the Senate.-Opening a business day:...
prohibits the taking of photographs inside the Senate Chamber. The Senate suspended this rule on September 24, 1963, to take the first official photograph of the Senate. During the same year, National Geographic requested permission to take the first official photograph of the Senate while in session for the organization's illustrated book on Congress, We, the People. Each two-year session of the United States Congress
United States Congress
The United States Congress is the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Congress meets in the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C....
, the Photographic Studio of the Senate is charged with taking the official photo of the Senate.
Television coverage of the Senate
United States House of Representatives
The United States House of Representatives is one of the two Houses of the United States Congress, the bicameral legislature which also includes the Senate.The composition and powers of the House are established in Article One of the Constitution...
began televising coverage of its daily sessions live on the network C-SPAN
C-SPAN
C-SPAN , an acronym for Cable-Satellite Public Affairs Network, is an American cable television network that offers coverage of federal government proceedings and other public affairs programming via its three television channels , one radio station and a group of websites that provide streaming...
(Cable-Satellite Public Affairs Network). Senators originally opposed televised coverage of the daily sessions of the Senate, many expressing concern that televising proceedings would change significantly the conduct of the legislative process. In 1986, however, Senate floor leaders Bob Dole
Bob Dole
Robert Joseph "Bob" Dole is an American attorney and politician. Dole represented Kansas in the United States Senate from 1969 to 1996, was Gerald Ford's Vice Presidential running mate in the 1976 presidential election, and was Senate Majority Leader from 1985 to 1987 and in 1995 and 1996...
and Robert Byrd
Robert Byrd
Robert Carlyle Byrd was a United States Senator from West Virginia. A member of the Democratic Party, Byrd served as a U.S. Representative from 1953 until 1959 and as a U.S. Senator from 1959 to 2010...
officially proposed live television coverage of the Senate. On June 2 of the same year, daily proceedings began broadcasting on the C-SPAN 2 network.
External links
- United States Senate official website
- Senate Chamber — History of the Senate's meeting places
- U.S. Capitol Virtual Tour - The Senate Chamber
- Senate Chamber — Architect's Virtual Capitol
- Senate Chamber Desks — History of Senate desks