(watch this space for updates as you work on this project)
9/30 - I've started doing the screencasts - you will see "demo" links. This will be an ongoing project. They load slowly so give them a few minutes at the start!
This is a compilation from other pages - it is a starting point, so you may want to look at other WSU Libraries government document library guides, including:
Note: If you think something from one of the other library guides (or from another source!) should be on this guide, please email me {Lorena} at oenglish@wsu.edu.
****** Demo screencast (9/19; must sign in with WSU email account for now - if you are not WSU email me and I can give you access for a week)
There are many access points for starting a legislative history, and you already may know what law you want to trace, but if you don't, you may want to start with the Statutes at Large, in order to identify a bill that definitely became law.
The Statutes at Large are available in print in the Terrell reference area (Terrell Reference Doc GS 4.111) but please use the online version from the Library of Congress. Note that joint resolutions are not broken out, and to locate them you will have to open the full S@L PDF and search (they are located at the end of each session before the session index).
Using the Statutes at Large (Texas Tech University School of Law)
About the Statutes at Large:
"The United States Statutes at Large, commonly referred to as the Statutes at Large, is the official source for the laws and resolutions passed by Congress. Publication began in 1845 by the private firm of Little, Brown and Company under authority granted by a joint resolution of Congress. In 1874, Congress transferred the authority to publish the Statutes at Large to the Government Printing Office, which has been responsible for producing the set since that time.
Every law, public and private, ever enacted by the Congress is published in the Statutes at Large in order of the date of its passage. Until 1948, all treaties and international agreements approved by the Senate were also published in the set. In addition, the Statutes at Large includes the text of the Declaration of Independence, Articles of Confederation, the Constitution, amendments to the Constitution, treaties with Indians and foreign nations, and presidential proclamations."
via The LoC American Memory Project "
Locating a Bill Number from the Statutes at Large
This is a bit complicated, because bill numbers were not included in the Statutes until 1903. For those earlier laws:
Method 1: Search for the long title you found in S@L or elsewhere (in quotation marks in a date-appropriate fulltext or index source such as a House or Senate Journal or its index)
Method 2: Use the Legislative Reference Checklist: The Key to Legislative Histories from 1798 - 1903 by Eugene Nabors (Hol Ref KF 49 .L43 1982). Lorena also has a personal copy and you can use it in her office/at ref desk/etc. by appointment.
[This is also available online (at least for now) - you can use the ASCII table found at https://github.com/unitedstates/nabors/blob/master/table.csv - you will have to view it carefully. The order of information is as below, separated by commas in the online version but asterisks here:
Nabors page * Congress * Chapter * Number * S@L volume * starting page * [ending page if it goes more than one page] * Date of enactment (year-month-day) * Bill type (S, HR, HJR, SJR) * bill number.
So...if I have a S@L citation, I can find the associated bill number (of at least the final version) by searching the file. Example: I am interested in the bill number for a law about constructing an "underground railway" (subway!) in NYC that is located in S@L at 32 Stat 1232. (volume 32, page 1232, passed during the 57th Congress). The S@L entry (see picture) tells me it was approved 2/27/1903. So I search by date and find it on the webpage (its the very last entry, actually). It is: 428,56,10,10,32,1232,,1903-02-27,SJR,159
Which translates to:
Nabors' book, page 428, Congress 56, Slip Chapter 10, Slip number 10, Statutes at Large vol. 32, p. 1232, signed on 2/27/1903, and it is Senate Joint Resolution 159. NOTE: the file has the *wrong Congress* for this entry and all others for the 57th Congress (starting at line 13357, Nabors page 416, and going to the end of the file) so ignore that and use the signing date and S@L starting page number! But watch out...its possible there were two or more bills that have the same approval date and S@L page number! This is where the "Slip Chapter" designation for each law becomes important. You will sometimes see a S@L citation with a chapter designation.
******Demo Screencast (ACoL) - requires WSU log-in; email me if you need access (9/19)
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1789-1879, 1913-1921 (1st-45th Cong.; 63rd-66th Cong.) |
Microfilm copy available under “TSD Microfilm 1892” (House) and "TSD Microfilm 1898"(Senate) in Holland &Terrell Microforms (Microfiche Row 19, Cabinets 9 and 10) |
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1799-1873 (6th-42nd Cong.) House Bills and Resolutions, 1799-1873 Senate Bills and Resolutions, 1819-1873 Senate Joint Resolutions, 1824-1873 |
A Century of Lawmaking for a New Nation--Bills & Resolutions (provides all versions: introduced, amended, passed) *** 7/7/21- Movement of bills from ACoL to congress.gov - "As of today, we have loaded the text of over 30,000 bills and resolutions from the Century of Lawmaking to Congress.gov. These bills range in date from the 6th Congress (1799-1800) to the 42nd Congress (1871-1873). House bills begin with the 6th Congress while bills which originated in the Senate are available starting in 1819 (the 16th Congress). We are missing bills for the 12th Congress. However, the laws that were passed in the 12th Congress (1811-1813) are available in the United States Statutes at Large. This collection provides bill text, bill titles, and some actions information. Other data such as sponsors, cosponsors, summaries, amendments, committees, and related bill information are not included at this time, though work is underway to add additional metadata to this collection." (Context for this move to Congress.gov) To locate bills, click on the "More Options" link under the search box at the top of the Congress.gov homepage. Under Congress you will see a drop-down menu that goes back to the 6th Congress, 1799-1801. Note the categories to the right that you can search: Legislation, Legislation Text, Committee Reports, Congressional Record, Nominations, House Communications, Senate Communications, and Treaty Documents. How far actual full-text goes back for each category varies, but you should be able to get the text as introduced and maybe more for all bills -- except the 12th Congress :-( Note also that for Legislation after the 42nd Congress (1871-1873) there is a big gap until the 82nd Congress (1951-1952). |
** Important note re: A Century of Lawmaking - I found an example in the Senate where after the original bill was printed, as I kept clicking Next Image, it took me to successive versions of the bill, including amendments, So be sure to keep flipping the pages until you get to the next bill to make sure you are seeing everything you can potentially see. Make sure you look for these in Congress.gov as well - there will be tabs for actions, amendments, etc. that indicate if there is any content in them.
1874 - 1900 - not available at the WSU Libraries. Options:
Summaries of congressional floor action (including names, dates and CR/CG/etc. page numbers). Good for providing an outline for your legislative history, to be filled in and expanded with the actual text of debates and speeches etc from the CR/CG/etc, testimony and investigations from congressional publications, etc.
Note that the Congressional Record (1873 to current) also can be used for this (best to use both ;-) because many volume contains a “History of Bills and Joint Resolutions” or similar table section, which includes citations to relevant floor debates as well as congressional reports and documents. You can find all the indexes at Sessional indexes 1789 - 1963 (HathiTrust) - includes indexes to all series - there will usually be some sort of History of Bills and Resolutions or History of Bills, but not always - there isn't a lot of consistency really until we get to the CR. Note that volumes that include multiple Congresses do not have cumulative indexes; each session succeeds each other. Be sure to watch out for things like separate indexes to Appendices and Statements.
These are nice because they are the cumulative journals for each session, day-by-day, with a cumulated index at the end.
House and Senate Journals are available in our subscription to the US Congressional Serial Set. They are located under the Publication Category tab as "Congressional Journals" and they are searchable (simple search, advanced search, publication search, and bill number search - each with its own peculiarities).
You may still want to use the index, however, and you can find an index and appendices for each Journal volume in the drop-down tables of contents/page search box (upper left corner). Note the index includes a table with the status of all introduced legislation as of the end of the session interpolated into the A-Z structure of the index in the Bs (Bills from the House of Representatives and Bills from the Senate, in order by bill number), and one for introduced Joint Resolutions under the Ss.
Its often worth it to look at the appendices. They can include lists of bills ("Acts") and Resolutions passed,
House and Senate Journals are indexed, and you may find that very helpful to start to lessen the likelihood of missing something. Note: the instructions below will also help you find House and Senate Journals by date in A Century of Lawmaking.
******Demo screencast (WSU log-in required; email me if you need access). Note: I will be redoing this one, think.
Journals from 1789-1875 are also in A Century of Lawmaking (Library of Congress American Memory Project).
1. Select link for either House Journal or Senate Journal (Maclay's Journal is a supplement for 1789-1791)
2. Browse to and select your Congress, then select your session. Remember that if it was not introduced and passed in the same session you may need to look at following sessions to see additional activity before passage. In some cases bills may have been introduced (but not signed into law) in earlier Congresses as well, and it may be useful to look up prior attempts to pass the same or a similar bill to get more information as you discuss the history of the bill's subject and its preformulation phase.
3. You will see a text transcription of the first page of the document. Look down at the bottom of the page, and click on Navigator (note - not on Next Section! Navigator is a separate link).
4. This will show you the Journals by date. If you already know your date(s), you can go to it and search it/them in your browser with your keyword or bill number using <control> F; if not, look at the bottom of the page and click on Index.
You will also want to use the Search Function to make sure you are seeing everything.
Upon introduction, a bill is sent to a committee, subcommittee, select committee, or (especially in the case of the early years) the Committee of the Whole for the chamber. If you do not know where the bill was referred to, check its introduction in the Congressional Record/Globe/etc. You will also find it in the relevant House or Senate Journal or Journal indexes.
Note that there were a lot fewer congressional/congressional committee hearings in the nineteenth century than there are today.
Note: Hearings may be topical or investigative, and not tied to a particular bill
All Congressional documents from the first 14 congresses (1789-1816) and some additional years are known as the American State Papers. Records are not complete due to the Capitol fire of 1814 and the lack of record-keeping. The ASP is available online at A Century of Lawmaking: American State Papers.
"The Serial Set is a somewhat changing composite of almost all House and Senate reports and documents published since 1817. It generally includes committee reports related to bills and other matters, presidential communications to Congress, treaty materials, certain executive department publications, and certain non-governmental publications.
The Serial Set does not normally include the text of congressional debates, bills, resolutions, hearings, committee prints, and publications from support agencies of Congress such as the General Accounting Office and the Congressional Budget Office. However, by special order (usually in the Senate) some 300 selected hearings and many bill texts were included, especially in the 19th century and early 20th century." http://www.llsdc.org/serial-set-volumes-guide#overview
Note: The Serial Set is ongoing, but our paywalled database access to it via Readex only goes to 1994. For current volumes see the Serial Set at govinfo. It is always running behind because it takes so long to gather and process everything! You will see that it is currently being digitized back to the first volume and will eventually be freely available (but without the item-level indexing that we get via our Readex database version).
"The serial number is a unique number applied to each book in the series of congressional publications running consecutively from the 15th Congress [1817-1819] [to current].
Note: "Documents and Reports can be located using the volume or serial number but should be cited using the publication number and Congress and session number." - from ACoL:SS
Reports - "usually from congressional committees dealing with proposed legislation and issues under investigation" Good for research/background/intent. May include notices of hearings with access points for finding them (i.e. terms, date, committee, bill#, etc.)
Documents - "all other papers ordered printed by the House or Senate. Documents cover a wide variety of topics and may include reports of executive departments and independent organizations, reports of special investigations made for Congress, and annual reports of non-governmental organizations. During the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, executive-branch materials were also published in the Serial Set."
U.S. Congressional Serial Set (1817 - 1994 via Readex - WSU Only)
Committee Reports may also be found via the Congressional Record Index (1873 -)
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"Congressional Committee Prints are publications issued by Congressional Committees that include topics related to their legislative or research activities, as well as other matters such as memorial tributes. The prints are an excellent resource for statistical and historical information, and for legislative analysis. The subjects of the Committee Prints vary greatly due to the different concerns and actions of each committee. Some basic categories of Congressional Committee Prints are: draft reports and bills, directories, statistical materials, investigative reports, historical reports, situational studies, confidential staff reports, hearings, and legislative analyses."(via and more: GPO: About Congressional Committee Prints)
Note: A Century of Lawmaking is great, but it can be hard to use and sometimes links don't work (I have reported this!). You may find the PDF versions available through the HathiTrust Digital Library (WSU is a member, but these items are all out of copyright anyway) to be easier to work with as they are standard PDFs.
Note: Sessions of Congress with Corresponding Debate Record Volume Numbers (1789 - Current) will give you the appropriate volume numbers in the Aof/CG/CR etc by Congress
Note: You can find indexes to all of these in one place at Sessional indexes 1789 - 1963 (HathiTrust)
1789- Congressional Record and predecessors.
For a more detailed look at these titles and their history see Overview of the Congressional Record and Its Predecessor Publications.
After (maybe) starting at the Statutes at Law to find a law to trace, we return to find the law as passed, concluding your legislative history (unless you want to discuss any amendments that went into effect after passage, or new laws that replaced your original law).
The Statutes at Large are also available in print in the Terrell reference area, but please use the online versions (link goes to the Library of Congress version, but they are available from many other sources).
Using the Statutes at Large (Texas Tech University School of Law)
"The United States Statutes at Large, commonly referred to as the Statutes at Large, is the official source for the laws and resolutions passed by Congress. Publication began in 1845 by the private firm of Little, Brown and Company under authority granted by a joint resolution of Congress. In 1874, Congress transferred the authority to publish the Statutes at Large to the Government Printing Office, which has been responsible for producing the set since that time.
Every law, public and private, ever enacted by the Congress is published in the Statutes at Large in order of the date of its passage. Until 1948, all treaties and international agreements approved by the Senate were also published in the set. In addition, the Statutes at Large includes the text of the Declaration of Independence, Articles of Confederation, the Constitution, amendments to the Constitution, treaties with Indians and foreign nations, and presidential proclamations." via The LoC American Memory Project
Office of the Law Revision Council Table III tool (can see where what parts of the law went to what parts of the US Code (I think...I haven't quite parsed out this resource or this process)
or is it this? UNITED STATES CODE CLASSIFICATION TABLES (house.gov)