History
In one of its first resolutions, the U.S. House of Representatives of the 1st Federal Congress (April 14, 1789) established the Office of the Sergeant at Arms. The first Speaker of the House, Frederick Muhlenberg of Pennsylvania, approved the ceremonial mace as the proper symbol of the Sergeant at Arms in carrying out the duties of this office.
The current mace has been in use since December 1, 1842. It was created by New York silversmith William Adams, at a cost of $400, to replace the first one that was destroyed when the Capitol Building was burned on August 24, 1814 during the War of 1812. A simple wooden mace was used in the interim.
Read more about this topic: Mace Of The United States House Of Representatives
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“A great proportion of the inhabitants of the Cape are always thus abroad about their teaming on some ocean highway or other, and the history of one of their ordinary trips would cast the Argonautic expedition into the shade.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“There is a history in all men’s lives,
Figuring the natures of the times deceased,
The which observed, a man may prophesy,
With a near aim, of the main chance of things
As yet not come to life.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)