Roll Calls of the Continental Congresses and the Congresses of the Confederation, 1777-1789

This dataset includes 1,593 roll calls taken in the Continental Congresses of the Confederation in the years 1777-1789. The data were originally collected as part of the Historical Records Surveys, sponsored by the Works Project Administration and carried out by the state of New Jersey and the city of New York in 1938-1942. The unit of analysis in the file is the delegate, an individual member of the state delegation. The vote outcomes were determined by the unit rule. It is believed that the file includes virtually all roll calls for which individual delegate votes are available in the historical record. Characteristics of the 1,593 roll calls are included in the data, e.g., motion description, date, whether the motion passed, state vote total, delegate vote total, and source. Also included is delegate's name, state, and roll call vote, coded as yea, nay, not voting, or name not given in the list of those voting. Data were keypunched by ICPSR staff from Clifford L. Lord, ed. ATLAS OF CONGRESSIONAL ROLL CALLS, VOL. I: THE CONTINENTAL CONGRESSES AND THE CONGRESSES OF THE CONFEDERATION, 1777-1789. New York, NY: New York State Historical Association, 1943. An extensive discussion of the work procedures followed by Lord and documentation of sources used is available in the Atlas.