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April 28, 1904

On this date, the second session of the 58th Congress (1903–1905) adjourned. The 386 Representatives and four non-voting Members toiled over an emergency rivers and harbor bill up to the final moments of the session. Relenting to the wishes of President Theodore Roosevelt, Congress adjourned unprecedentedly early; the session only lasted 144 calendar days. The House's last order of business was a resolution passed in honor of Speaker of the House Joseph G. Cannon of Illinois. Introduced by John Sharp Williams of Mississippi, the resolution thanked the Speaker for his “fair and impartial and manner in which he presided over the House.” Speaker Cannon in turn thanked the Congress and with a swing of the gavel adjourned the session. Representatives celebrated the end of session with a traditional celebration of song in the House Chamber. Members sang: “My Country, ‘Tis of Thee,’” “Till We Meet Again,” and the “Star-Spangled Banner.” The media gave critical reviews of the Members’ performances. A New York Times reporter, wrote that Jacob Beidler of Ohio had a decent voice, but that the pitch was so low that no one could sing with him. Charles Landis of Indiana attempted to join in, but sang off key. The only tune the Members could harmonize was “For He’s a Jolly Good Fellow.” The custom of celebrations at the end of a session died off during the later half of the Twentieth century when partisanship and the Representatives’ hectic schedules eliminated much of the early camaraderie in Congress.

April 29, 1789

On this date, the House referred its first contested election case, Ramsay vs. Smith from South Carolina, to the Committee on Elections, a panel created on April 13, 1789, to render judgment on disputed elections in the House based on evidence and witness testimony. David Ramsay contested the election of William Loughton Smith of South Carolina to the 1st Congress (1789–1791), arguing that Smith was not a citizen of the United States for seven years, a requirement set under the Constitution for election to the House. Though he was born in Charleston, South Carolina, in 1758, Smith had been educated and lived abroad from 1770 to 1783. The case gave the House an opportunity to establish precedent for handling future contested elections: the Committee on Elections gathered evidence and rendered a judgment after which the House determined if more evidence was needed and, if not, voted on the committee’s report. The committee and the whole House upheld Smith’s election, tacitly recognizing his citizenship, despite the fact that he lived abroad when the United States was founded. “It is an established maxim, that birth is the criterion of allegiance,” declared Representative James Madison of Virginia in his colleague’s defense. “Mr. Smith founds his claim upon his birthright; his ancestors were among the first settlers of [South Carolina].”

April 29, 1975

On this date, Shirley Pettis of California won the special election to fill the vacancy caused by the untimely death of her husband Jerry Pettis in an airplane crash. A businesswoman and journalist, Pettis had a successful career before her election to Congress. At the urging of her children, she ran for her husband’s seat and defeated 12 other candidates. Excelling in environmental issues, Congresswoman Pettis’s legislative achievements included the successful protection of the Joshua Tree National Monument, the clean up of the Salton Sea Lake in her district, and the construction of the first solar power plant in the nation. Pettis, who helped cofound the Congressional Caucus on Women’s Issues in 1977, recalled that her reception as a woman in Congress was initially somewhat rocky. She remembered an elevator ride in which she was chatting with a senior House committee chairman. When the doors opened and they exited, the Congressman turned to Pettis and asked, “So whose secretary did you say you were?” Such experiences led Pettis to encourage young women to enter politics not only to fight gender discrimination but to fulfill their responsibilities as good citizens. “Politics isn’t a far off thing that happens in a state capital or in Washington,” she once remarked. “It is the road you drive on, the schools you attend; it’s the groceries you buy. It isn’t far away from you. It’s important that everyone become involved in the issues central to their lives.”