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manuscript collections have combined with an unfamiliar and irregular legislative process to deter historians and political scientists from fully exploring the significance of the early Congresses. The Journal is the only official record of the House of Representatives that dates from the First Congress. The account of early debates, published as the Annals of Congress, was compiled at a later date from conflicting newspaper sources and offers only a reporter's summary of remarks delivered on the floor. Before 1817 and the initiation of the Serial Set, Congress printed only scattered reports and no comprehensive collection survives. Historians of the early republic rely on the American State Papers, compiled between the 1830s and 1850s, which gathered a fraction of the early reports and documents from the records of Congress and the executive branch. As the only widely-available documentary source on the early government, American State Papers has been invaluable, but for many years researchers have recognized the limitations of a collection prepared for the use of the ante-bellum government and disproportionately concerned with the executive branch. The manuscript records of the first fourteen Congresses, which are distinct from the more familiar sources available for research on the later history of Congress, offer the most comprehensive view of the development of the House of Representatives in the three decades following ratification of the Constitution. These records on deposit at the National Archives place the institutional development of the House of Representatives in the historical context of an era when the process of government was far less structured than in later years and precedents were

particular, demonstrate how the early government drew on the experiences of colonial and confederation era legislatures and reacted to important policy issues of the new republic. A selected edition of petitions and supporting documents would inform scholars of the research potential of these records for studies in the history of labor, economics, the military, women's culture, family, and social reform as well as political history. Publication of the documentary edition would closely follow the completion of the National Archives' project to microfilm the records of the first fourteen Congresses and encourage further examination of these records once they are widely available.

In an effort to place the institutional development of the House of

Representatives in a broader, more meaningful context of American history, research for the project would place special emphasis on the dialogue between constituents and elected representatives and on the close interaction of the executive and legislative branches during the formative years of the government. This documentary study of the petitioning process would demonstrate how the House of

Representatives developed in response to popular politics, the constitutional structure

of authority, and the practical requirements of governing a new and rapidly expanding nation.

The search for petitions and research on the legislative process would concentrate on the manuscript records at the National Archives and the published records of the early Congresses. The National Archives holds more than 55 feet of

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eighteen volumes of transcribed committee reports, and more than eighteen feet of loose committee reports, many of which are in response to referred petitions. Senate records at the National Archives provide copies of petitions submitted to both houses during the 1790s, thereby enabling the recovery of many of the House documents destroyed when the British burned the Capitol in 1814. Additional information on petitions is available in printed reports, the largest collections of which are gathered at the Library of Congress and in the library of the House of Representatives. Scattered transcriptions of petitions are also to be found in the Annals of Congress, the American State Papers and in the reports themselves. A mail search of repositories around the country will attempt to locate petitions in the form of broadsides or drafts prepared for local circulation.

As part of a feasibility study for this project, a random survey of the records at the National Archives resulted in the collection and transcription of 340 petitions, memorials, and remonstrances, many of which might be included in the final selection for publication. This broad overview of the collection at the National Archives would be followed by a systematic survey of all petitions and accompanying documents and the selection of all those to be considered for publication. Each document selected would be cataloged by subject matter as well as by date, petitioner, and legislative referral. The compilation of all names subscribed to the petitions and their inclusion in an easily searched, electronic database will offer genealogists an invaluable resource and encourage scholars to investigate the

In conjunction with the search for documents at the National Archives, the project will compile a database with relevant information on every petition submitted to the House of Representatives between 1789 and 1817. Drawing from the House Journal and the Petition Books at the National Archives, this database will provide an index for every document and trace the petitions through the legislative process, thereby allowing analysis of such topics as committee development and procedure, popular response to congressional policy, patterns of political organization, and the expansion of congressional authority. The electronic database will provide a quantitative foundation for analysis of institutional development and public opinion while providing criteria for the final selection of documents for publication. A calendar of all petitions in various record groups at the National Archives, to be prepared under the direction of the Historian's Office, will provide a guide to the microfilm being issued by the Legislative Archives Center and encourage further research in House records.

Selection and annotation of documents will emphasize the legislative process, the rituals of public appeals to the government, the significance for institutional development, and the scope of policy issues that the House of Representatives addressed in the early national period. The notes will focus on the legislative consideration of the petition, rather than identify all individuals mentioned or enter into lengthy discussions of the content of the petitions beyond what is necessary for understanding congressional action. Notes will also direct readers to other

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Following inception of the project and dedication of the resources of the Office of the Historian, the survey of documents at the National Archives would require one year for a full-time researcher with part-time help from an assistant and aid from the staff of the National Archives in the search for relevant documents in other record groups. The staff of the Legislative Archives Branch at the National Archives has expressed great interest in a petitions project and assured the Office of the Historian of their willingness to assist researchers on the project. Another full-time employee of the Historian's Office would compile the database in the first year of the project. Eighteen months will be required for the entire staff of the project to select the final documents for publication and to research and compile the necessary annotation. Finally the work of copy-editing the text and guides to the documents would require six months. The volumes would ready for publication three years after the commencement of the project.

The petition records of the first fourteen Congresses offer an incomparable opportunity to investigate the distinctive character of the House of Representatives in the years when it led the federal government in the development of a national democracy. No other documentary source illustrates so vividly or in such detail the interchange of electors and officeholders in the process of defining the proper role of a representative assembly in an expanding republic. The comprehensive study of these largely unexamined records promises to enhance our knowledge of the House of Representatives in the formative years of the federal government and explain a