Federal Legislative History

Bills introduced in the House are assigned sequential numbers in the order in which they are introduced and are preceded by "H.R." Bills introduced in the Senate are assigned sequential numbers preceded by "S."

The House adopted a sequential numbering system in which bills were numbered consecutively for an entire Congress in the 15th Congress (1817), and the Senate began using the same numbering system in the 30th Congress (1847). Prior to that time, the Senate numbering system provided that sequential numbering started anew at the beginning of each congressional session.

The Burns Law Library does not have access to bills from 1873 - 1970 except for those reprinted (especially early Senate bills) in the Congressional Record or in other congressional documents. The Law Library of Congress maintains a set of Congressional Bills (9th Cong., 1805 - ).