Monday, May 15, 1797.
This being the day appointed by the Proclamation of the President of the United States, of the 25th of March last, for the meeting of Congress, the following members of the House of Representatives appeared, produced their credentials, and took their seats, to wit:
From New Hampshire.—Abiel Foster and Jonathan Freeman.
From Massachusetts.—Theophilus Bradbury, Dwight Foster, Nathaniel Freeman, Jr., Samuel Lyman, Harrison Gray Otis, John Read, Samuel Sewall, William Shepard, George Thatcher, Joseph Bradley Varnum, and Peleg Wadsworth.
From Rhode Island.—Christopher G. Champlin and Elisha R. Potter.
From Connecticut.—Joshua Coit, Samuel W. Dana, James Davenport, Chauncey Goodrich, Roger Griswold, and Nathaniel Smith.
From Vermont.—Matthew Lyon.
From New York.—David Brooks, James Cochran, Lucas Elmendorph, Henry Glenn, Jonathan N. Havens, Hezekiah L. Hosmer, Edward Livingston, John E. Van Allen, Philip Van Cortlandt, and John Williams.
From New Jersey.—Jonathan Dayton, James H. Imlay, and Mark Thompson.
From Pennsylvania.—David Bard, John Chapman, George Ege, Albert Gallatin, John Andre Hanna, Thomas Hartley, John Wilkes Kittera, Blair M'Clenachan, Samuel Sitgreaves, John Swanwick, and Richard Thomas.
From Maryland.—George Baer, Jr., William Craik, John Dennis, George Dent, William Hindman, William Matthews, and Richard Sprigg, Jr.
From Virginia.—Samuel Jordan Cabell, Thomas Claiborne, Matthew Clay, John Clopton, John Dawson, Thomas Evans, William B. Giles, Carter B. Harrison, David Holmes, Walter Jones, James Machir, Daniel Morgan, Anthony New, John Nicholas, Abram Trigg, and Abraham Venable.
From North Carolina.—Thomas Blount, Nathan Bryan, James Gillespie, William Barry Grove, Matthew Locke, Nathaniel Macon, Richard Stanford, and Robert Williams.
From South Carolina.—Robert Goodloe Harper, John Rutledge, Jr., and William Smith, (of Charleston District.)
From Georgia.—Abraham Baldwin and John Milledge.
And a quorum, consisting of a majority of the whole number, being present,
The House proceeded, by ballot, to the choice of a Speaker; and, upon examining the ballots, a majority of the votes of the whole House was found in favor of Jonathan Dayton, one of the Representatives for the State of New Jersey: whereupon,
Mr. Dayton was conducted to the chair, from whence he made his acknowledgments to the House, as follows:
"Accept, gentlemen, my acknowledgments for the very flattering mark of approbation and confidence exhibited in this second call to the chair, by a vote of this House.
"Permit me, most earnestly, to request of you a continuance of that assistance and support, which were, upon all occasions, during the two preceding sessions, very liberally afforded to me; and, without which, all my exertions to maintain the order, and expedite the business of the House, must be, in a great degree, unsuccessful."