[KarlInOhio]

Congress was referred to as a plural in the times of the Founding. We speak of it as a singular but the Founders did not. Since “Congress” cannot be considered to be sitting unless both Houses are sitting it would be effectively adjourned if one is not. Presumably one House could still be in session even if Congress is not.

Or was it plural like the Brits would say "The government are..." or "The company are..." where we would use the singular form "is". Congress may have been plural in the sense that it is made of 535 individuals, not that it has two houses.

[arrogantsob]

I don’t really know why it was referred to that way. However, they were very loose in those days wrt spelling, grammar and punctuation. Commas were virtually unknown.