Among the numerous unofficial records of activity by the First Federal Congress, or among the newspaper accounts, 'circular letters' (from representatives and senators to constituents), and word-of-mouth, one unofficial source stands out. It is the diary of Senator William Maclay of Pennsylvania, the only surviving diary from the first Senate.

Maclay puts us inside the high-ceilinged room where noise from passing carriages on cobbled streets outside obscures George Washington's low speaking voice. In a first-person account, Maclay shows us the first Senate's practices of deliberation from his own, distinctive viewpoint.