United States Congress (April 25, 1789)

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


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