United States Congress (April 15, 1789) a Committee of Congress, composed of Richard Henry Lee, Oliver Ellsworth, Caleb Strong, William Maclay, and Richard Bassett recommended:
<That two chaplains, of different denominations, be appointed to Congress for the present session, the Senate to appoint one, and give notice thereof to the House of Representatives, who shall, thereupon, appoint the other; which chaplains shall commence their services in the Houses that appoint them, but shall interchange weekly.> 1789US004
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American Quotations by William J. Federer, 2024, All Rights Reserved, Permission granted to use with acknowledgement.
Endnotes:
1789US004. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). United States Congress, April 15, 1789, recommendation by a Committee of Congress, composed of Richard Henry Lee, Oliver Ellsworth, Caleb Strong, William Maclay, and Richard Bassett. On April 25, 1789, Episcopal Bishop Samuel Provoost was elected as the first chaplain of the United States Senate. Dumas Malone, editor, Dictionary of American Biography (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1935), Vol. VIII, part I, pp. 249-250. Donald A. Ritchie, The Young Oxford Companion to the Congress of the United States (New York: Oxford University Press, 1993), p. 42. Right Reverend, Doctor Samuel Provoost, July 15, 1787, sermon in St. George's Chapel, New York City, as Bishop of the Protestant Episcopal Church for New York State, by Benjamin Moore, A.M., New York, printed by Hugh Gaine at his bookstore and printing office, at the Bible, in Hanover Square, 1787, transcribed by Wayne Kempton, Archivist of the Episcopal Diocese of New York, 2007.