Senate Pay Chart
1/1/1791 - 3/4/1791
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This chart, titled "A Schedule of the Compensation of the Senate of the United States at their Third Session from the First Day of January 1791 to the Fourth of March," shows the balance due to each Senator during the first Congress. Senators were paid a stipend of $6 per day served in Congress, plus $6 for every 20 miles traveled to the "seat of government."
During the June 2, 1787, session of the Constitutional Convention, the Convention had agreed that the people's representatives would be paid — but the exact amount would be determined by the first Congress. Some members of the Constitutional Convention, such as Pennsylvania delegate Gouverneur Morris and John Langdon of New Hampshire, had voiced practical concern over the rate of pay. They argued that states at a great distance from the capital would bear an added burden in travel expenses for their representatives and senators.
During the June 2, 1787, session of the Constitutional Convention, the Convention had agreed that the people's representatives would be paid — but the exact amount would be determined by the first Congress. Some members of the Constitutional Convention, such as Pennsylvania delegate Gouverneur Morris and John Langdon of New Hampshire, had voiced practical concern over the rate of pay. They argued that states at a great distance from the capital would bear an added burden in travel expenses for their representatives and senators.
Text adapted from “Draft of the U.S. Constitution (August 1787) and Schedule of the Compensation of the Senate of the United States (March 1791)” in the January/February 2011 National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS) publication Social Education.
This primary source comes from the Records of the Accounting Officers of the Department of the Treasury, 1775 - 1978.
National Archives Identifier: 5641592
Full Citation: A Schedule of the Compensation of the Senate of the United States at their Third Session from the First Day of January 1791 to the Fourth of March; 1/1/1791 - 3/4/1791; Account 1078; Settled Treasury Accounts, 9/6/1790 - 9/29/1894; Records of the Accounting Officers of the Department of the Treasury, 1775 - 1978, Record Group 217; National Archives Building, Washington, DC. [Online Version, https://docsteach.org/documents/document/senate-pay-chart, March 19, 2025]Activities that use this document
- Senators' Pay in the First Congress
Created by the National Archives Education Team
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