It then yielded
to public opinion and opened its doors when acting in its legislative
capacity, going into secret session only when exercising its executive
powers. To counterbalance these extraordinary functions, the House had
only the exclusive right of originating revenue bills.
The necessary connection of the two Houses was recognised at the very
beginning of the sessions by the appointment of joint committees to
prepare rules for conference on bills upon which the two bodies might
differ; to arrange for the transmission of papers; to dispose of the
papers of the old Congress; to arrange for the inauguration of the
first President; and to provide for the election of chaplains. Many
of these matters common to both were easily adjusted. Two chaplains
of different denominations were to be appointed, one by each House,
and they were to interchange weekly. In this way Congress hoped to
avoid the ever-recurring fear that one sect might be patronised until
it became the established church. But upon the apparently minor point
of the manner of transmitting papers from one body to the other a
difference arose.
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