David Barton tells us that except for a short period for remodeling, the Senate met in its original chamber (now the Old Supreme Court Chamber) until 1810, when it moved directly upstairs into its second home. Those second quarters, located above the small rotunda with the plaques, are today called the Old Senate Chamber. The Senate remained in records of congress reporting the decision to use the house as a church john quincy adams that chamber from 1810 until 1859, when it moved into the chamber that it currently occupies. (As already noted, a number of Senators who served in the Old Senate Chamber – e.g., Daniel Webster – were strong men of faith.)
Having investigated the three locations in the Capitol where the Senate met, it is interesting to note some of the locations where the Supreme Court met, because the locations of the Senate and the Supreme Court are directly linked. Significantly, the locations in the Capitol in which the Court met during its first century-and-a-half form a potent commentary on the Founders’ views of the power and reach of the Court.
The Founders made remarkably elaborate plans for the city of Washington, D. C. The streets were laid out alphabetically and numerically; and the system was so logical that even today it is easy to find any location in that huge city simply by its address. Our Founders planned for traffic flow; they anticipated growth; and they made farsighted preparations for the President and the Congress, providing buildings and support services for both. Yet, with all their elaborate preparations, they did not provide a separate building for the U. S. Supreme Court. This was not an oversight on their part; the Supreme Court was intended to meet inside the Capitol.
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