Aside from the great personal inconvenience which this would occasion to many members, the judgment of the majority was against so radical a step.
The more conservative members of the Republican party feared that a continuous session of Congress would seriously increase the uneasiness and excitement in the country by creating the impression that the Senate and House were sitting as a committee of public safety, in the apprehension of a civil revolution.

The reply of those who opposed the adjournment was that the condition of public affairs did actually tend to revolution, and that instead of fanning the popular excitement by remaining in session, Congress would be thus most wisely allaying the fears which had entered the minds of so large a number of the people.

But this argument did not prevail, and the conservative view secured a majority in both Houses.

The vote in the Senate however was very close, there being only one more Republican in the affirmative that in the negative, leaving to Democratic votes, really, the decision of the question.

A very inconvenient compromise was made by an adjournment to the 21st of November--only a fortnight before Congress would convene in regular annual session on the first Monday of December.