First Prayer in Congress, September 1774, "The Establishment Clause must be interpreted by reference to historical practices & understandings"-Supreme Court, Galloway "It was enough to melt a heart of stone," remarked John Adams after the First Prayer in Congress. The First Session of the First Continental Congress opened in September of 1774 with a prayer in Carpenter's Hall, Philadelphia. America was being threatened by the most powerful monarch in the world, Britain's King George III. On September 7, 1774, as the Congress began, the founding fathers listened to Rev. Jacob Duche' read Psalm 35, which was the "Psalter" for the...