United States Congress (April 25, 1789) elected the Right Reverend Samuel Provoost (February 26, 1742-September 6, 1815), the first Protestant Episcopal Bishop of New York, as the first chaplain of the U.S. Senate, appropriating a salary for him to be paid from the Federal treasury.
He conducted the service at St. Paul's Chapel, April 30, 1789, following Washington's Inauguration, attended by the President, his staff and all the leaders of the new government. He later officiated the memorial service for George Washington at St. Paul's Chapel, December 31, 1799.
Earlier, on July 15, 1787, Bishop Samuel Provoost had preached the first Episcopal ordination sermon in St. George's Chapel, New York City:
We have the Satisfaction to reflect, that we are occupied in the noblest and most important Business that can possibly engage the human Mind; and we can but entertain the delightful Hope, that, (although we come in Weakness, and in Fear, and in much trembling,) in the Hands of God, we shall be made the happy Instruments of turning many from Darkness to Light, and from the Power of Satan to the Knowledge and Love of the Truth...
In the Course of his Teaching, he will attempt to lay no other Foundation than that which is already laid; but upon the Doctrine of Jesus Christ, and him crucified, will build the beautiful Superstructure of moral Duty...
Let us all unite our most strenuous Endeavors, that the Gospel of Jesus Christ may run and be glorified, till the Earth be filled with the Knowledge of the Lord, as the Waters cover the Sea.
By this Gospel both Priest and People must be saved; the Salvation which it offers is equally necessary for all Men. <1789US002
From 1789 to 2009, the 62 Senate Chaplains have been chosen from the following denominations:
Episcopalian 19,
Methodist 17,
Presbyterian 14,
Baptist 6,
Unitarian 2,
Congregationalist 1,
Lutheran 1,
Roman Catholic 1,
Seventh-day Adventist 1:
Samuel Provoost, D.D., Episcopalian, April 25, 1789
William White, D.D., Episcopalian, December 9, 1790
Thomas John Claggett, S.T.D., D.D., Episcopalian, November 27, 1800
Edward Gantt, M.D., Episcopalian, December 9, 1801
Alexander Thomas McCormick, Episcopalian, November 7, 1804
Edward Gantt, M.D., Episcopalian, December 4, 1805
John Johnson Sayrs, Episcopalian, December 3, 1806
A.T. McCormick, Episcopalian, November 10, 1807
Robert Elliott, Presbyterian, November 10, 1808
James Jones Wilmer, Episcopalian, May 24, 1809
Obadiah Bruen Brown, Baptist, December 5, 1809
Walter Dulaney Addison, Episcopalian, December 12, 1810
John Brackenridge, D.D., Presbyterian, November 13, 1811
Jesse Lee, Methodist, September 27, 1814
John Glendy, Presbyterian, December 8, 1815
Sereno Edward Dwight, D.D., Congregationalist, December 16, 1816
William Dickinson Hawley, Episcopalian, December 9, 1817
John Clark, Presbyterian, November 19, 1818
Reuben Post, D.D., Presbyterian, December 9, 1819
William Ryland, Methodist, November 17, 1820
Charles Petit McIlvaine, D.D., Episcopalian, December 9, 1822
William Staughton, D.D., Baptist, December 10, 1823
Charles Petit McIlvaine, D.D., Episcopalian, December 14, 1824
William Staughton, D.D., Baptist, December 12, 1825
William Ryland, Methodist, December 8, 1826
Henry Van Dyke Johns, D.D., Episcopalian, December 14, 1829
John Price Durbin, D.D., LL.D., Methodist, December 19, 1831
Charles Constantine Pise, D.D., Roman Catholic, December 11, 1832
Frederick Winslow Hatch, D.D., Episcopalian, December 10, 1833
Edward Young Higbee, D.D., Episcopalian, December 23, 1835
John Reinhard Goodman, Episcopalian, December 28, 1836
American Quotations 2013 – William J. Federer 1213
Henry Slicer, Methodist, September 11, 1837
George Grimston Cookman, Methodist, December 31, 1839
Septimus Tustin, D.D., Presbyterian, June 12, 1841
Henry Slicer, Methodist, December 16, 1846
Clement Moore Butler, D.D., Episcopalian, January 9, 1850
Henry Slicer, Methodist, December 7, 1853
Henry Clay Dean, Methodist, December 4, 1855
Stephen P. Hill, D.D., Baptist, December 8, 1856
Phineas Densmore Gurley, D.D., Presbyterian, December 15, 1859
Byron Sunderland, D.D., Presbyterian, July 10, 1861
Thomas Bowman, LL.D., Methodist, May 11, 1864
Edgar Harkness Gray, D.D., Baptist, March 9, 1865
John Philip Newman, D.D., Methodist, March 8, 1869
Byron Sunderland, D.D., Presbyterian, December 8, 1873
Joseph J. Bullock, D.D., Presbyterian, March 24, 1879
Elias DeWitt Huntley, D.D., LL.D., Methodist, December 18, 1883
John George Butler, D.D., LL.D., Lutheran, March 15, 1886
William Henry Milburn, D.D., Methodist, April 6, 1893
F.J. Prettyman, D.D., Methodist, November 23, 1903
Edward Everett Hale, D.D., LL.D., Unitarian, December 14, 1903
Ulysses Grant Baker Pierce, D.D., Ph.D., Unitarian, June 18, 1909
F.J. Prettyman, D.D., Methodist, March 13, 1913
Joseph Johnstone Muir, D.D., Baptist, January 21, 1921
ZeBarney Thorne Phillips, D.D,, Episcopalian, December 5, 1927
Frederick Brown Harris, D.D., Methodist, October 10, 1942
Peter Marshall, D.D., Presbyterian, January 4, 1947
Frederick Brown Harris, D.D., Methodist, February 3, 1949
Edward L.R. Elson, D.D., Presbyterian, January 9, 1969
Richard C. Halverson, D.D., LL.D., Presbyterian, February 2, 1981
Lloyd John Ogilvie, D.D., Presbyterian, March 11, 1995
Barry C. Black, Ph.D., D. Min., D.D., Seventh-day Adventist, July 7, 2003> 1789US003
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American Quotations by William J. Federer, 2024, All Rights Reserved, Permission granted to use with acknowledgement.
Endnotes:
1789US002. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Bishop Samuel Provoost, July 15, 1787, preached the first Episcopal ordination sermon in St. George's Chapel, New York City. 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.
1789US003. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). List of U.S. Senate Chaplains. http://senate.gov/artandhistory/history/common/briefing/Senate_Chaplain.htm