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The First Prayer in Congress
1848
Tompkins Harrison Matteson, painter (1812-1884); Henry Samuel Sadd, engraver (1811-1893); William Pate, publisher
USA: New York, New York
engraving on paper with watercolor
overall: 20"h x 25"w
Special Acquisitions Fund
78.74.7

The First Prayer in Congress engraving; scene shows members of first Congress kneeling in prayer; across bottom "Painted by T. H. Matteson/ Boston, L.A. Elliott & Co./ Engraved on steel by H.S. Sadd/ The First Prayer in Congress./ September 1774, in Carpenters Hall, Philadelphia/ From the original picture painted expressly for this engraving/ Published by William Pate, 58 & 60 Fulton St./ N.Y./ Entered according to Act of Congress in the year 1848 by John Neale in the Clerk's Office of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York."


In September 1774, the Continental Congress came together to discuss a colony-wide response to the Coercive Acts, which the British government enacted after the Boston Tea Party. Though the group was, as attendee John Adams described, “divided in religious Sentiments” they were impressed by the “extemporary Prayer” offered by a local rector, Jacob Duché. Of the prayer, Adams proclaimed, “I must confess I never heard a better Prayer…. It has had an excellent Effect upon every Body here.”