The last official day of Congress under the Articles of Confederation was March 3, 1789. 为了纪念这一时刻, 乔治堡一共发射了13门大炮, located at the end of Broadway in New York City where Congress had met from 1785. But the old Congress did not “go out with a bang;” it did not even end with a whimper. 自1788年10月以来，由于无法召集法定人数，它就消失了.
期待一个新的开始, 3月4日的日出伴随着十一声大炮的轰鸣声, each representing one of the States included in the “more perfect union” established by adoption of the Constitution. 同时, 教堂的钟声响起, 整个城市都展开了旗帜, 兴奋的人群聚集在一起. 罗伯特•莫里斯, one of Pennsylvania’s two recently elected Senators and a major leader in the Revolutionary War, predicted that the day “will no doubt be hereafter celebrated as a new era in the annals of the world.” History may have proven Morris to have accurately characterized the ultimate legacy of that day, but neither the day itself nor the weeks to follow provided evidence of such a prophecy.
几个月来，皮埃尔·朗方一直在监督市政厅的改造工作, located at 26 Wall Street and the site of the 1765 Stamp Act Congress convened to protest “taxation without representation.” Here Congress had adopted the Northwest Ordinance forbidding slavery in the western territories and establishing procedures for creating new states. In February 1787 it had called for a Constitutional Convention that would succeed in drafting a new form of government. Now, 翻修工作已接近完成, and the building would house a chamber 50 by 70 feet in size with desks and chairs arranged in a semi-circle for members of the new House of Representatives. 参议员们将占据二楼一个较小的会议厅, featuring a small platform three feet higher than the floor with an oversized chair for the presiding officer – the Vice President of the United States. 这个地方很快就被称为联邦大厅.
To the chagrin and embarrassment of those who arrived at Federal Hall on March 4, 只有8名参议员和13名众议员出席了会议, 远低于法定人数. 甚至詹姆斯·麦迪逊也直到3月14日才到达, and by then only two more Representatives had arrived and no additional Senators.
在达到法定人数之前，不能进行任何交易. 总统选举团的选票不能计算在内. 最高法院大法官的提名和批准无法完成. 政府部门无法设立. 筹集财政收入以支持新政府的方式尚未确定.
Absence of a quorum left the nascent nation with no government at a time when its very existence was at stake. 由于美国政治局势的不确定性, 欧洲国家不愿参与贸易和其他活动. 移民涌入西部地区, 挑衅土著部落, 一些人认为, 是被留在该地区的英国军队煽动起来的. 有几个州陷入财政困境, 农民继续抵制繁重的税收, and veterans were still complaining they had not received back pay and suffered under broken promises. Sectional rivalries between north and south as well as east and west continued to be reflected in divisions over slavery and the permanent location of the new government.
Anti-federalists continued to press for a convention to consider amendments while elections to Congress were contested in more than one State. 在纽约, 立法机关在由谁代表纽约州进入参议院的问题上分歧很大, the decision was not made until mid-July when the Senate finally settled on Philip Schuyler, 他是大陆军的前将军，亚历山大·汉密尔顿的岳父.
Finally, on April 1 a sufficient number of Representatives arrived to constitute a quorum. Their first action was to elect Frederick Muhlenberg of Pennsylvania as Speaker of the House of Representatives. 五天后，理查德·亨利·李的出席达到了参议院的法定人数. 1776年宣布从英国独立的决议的起草者, Lee had been a lukewarm opponent of the Constitution and proposed a short list of amendments for which he would continue to advocate as a United States Senator.
4月6日, both Houses of Congress met in joint session to count the Electoral College votes for President and Vice President. 不出所料，也让美国人民欢欣鼓舞, 乔治·华盛顿被一致选为总统. John Adams had recently returned from Great Britain and was elected Vice President. Immediately Congress turned its attention to preparations for the new President’s inauguration, 包括向主席致词时应使用的表格等细节. The inauguration of George Washington would take place on the second-floor balcony of Federal Hall on April 30.
国会提出的第一个立法是《十大正规赌平台平台》, 由华盛顿总统于6月1日签署, 1789. 宪法第六条要求参议员和众议员, 州议会成员, and all federal and state executive judicial offices swear to support the Constitution. The Oath of Office Act prescribed the text of and procedure for administering the oath and read simply: “I, [name] do solemnly swear or affirm (as the case may be) that I will support the Constitution of the United States.”
在第一届代表大会第一次会议于9月29日休会之前, 国会设立了国务院, War and Treasury; created the federal court system through the Judiciary Act; imposed a tariff; created the Customs Service; and approved and submitted to the States for their ratification twelve amendments, 其中十项注定会被采纳，并被称为《十大正规赌平台平台》. 第二届会议, 会议将于1月4日至8月12日举行, 1790, 同样多产, making provision for the census; assuming States’ Revolutionary War debts; passing laws pertaining to patents and copyrights; and defining federal crimes and relations with Native American tribes. 第三届会议期间, 将于12月6日至3月3日在费城举行, 1791, Congress created the First Bank of the United States and admitted the new State of Vermont to the Union. By then, North Carolina and Rhode Island had ratified the Constitution and joined the Union.