The United States Senate met in secret for its first six years. No verbatim record of Congressional debate exists before 1873. This series works from what actually survives — and is clear about what each source is.
Behind Closed Doors
1789 – 1795
Six years · Eight months
William Maclay · PA · 1789–1791
The vote records are facts. The Journals document what was decided. The Annals of Congress reconstruct what was argued, paraphrased from newspaper accounts, compiled forty-five years after the fact. One senator kept a diary. His name was William Maclay. He wrote it from memory each evening. His diary is the only account of the Senate floor during the years it met in secret. This series uses all three — and is explicit about which is which.
No verbatim transcript of a Congressional debate exists before 1873. This episode establishes the three-tier sourcing framework: official records, reconstructed debate, and the one diary that is the only window into the closed Senate.
The Senate's first piece of legislation structured the entire federal court system. Vote: 14 to 6. The only floor account comes from the bill's leading opponent. This episode applies the sourcing framework to the act that built the courts.