In 1814, after the British had turned Washington, D.C. to burning rubble, Members of the House packed into the Patent Office (the present-day National Portrait Gallery), one of the few public buildings that was spared.
In extremely tight quarters, they debated the wisdom of abandoning D.C. for another, more comfortable, and safer location. Joseph Pearson of North Carolina rose, and chided his colleagues. “If . . . Congress should, under the impulse of terror, or any other motive, remove from here, they will only give cause of triumph to the enemy.” He went on, “So far from entering into the feelings of the nation, for such conduct the people would scout us from our seats.”
The House of 1814—like the House of the Yellow Fever epidemic of 1793, the Spanish Flu of 1918, the Civil War, and 9/11—continued to meet in person, conducting the business of those who elected them. In the shadow of their memory, the House of 2020 finds itself diminished.
By Rachel Bovard • May 30, 2020