The resolution stated "a proper symbol of office shall be provided for the Sergeant at Arms, of such form and device as the Speaker shall direct."
The first Speaker of the House, Frederick Muhlenberg of Pennsylvania, approved the mace as the proper symbol of the Sergeant at Arms in carrying out the duties of this office.
[4] During the January 6, 2021 attack attempting to prevent Congress from certifying the 2020 presidential election, Joyce Hamlett, the Keeper of the Mace, rushed it off the floor of the House chamber to protect it from intruders.
The ceremonial mace is 46 inches (120 cm) high and consists of 13 ebony rods—representing the original 13 states of the Union—bound together by silver strands criss-crossed over the length of the pole.
It was used twice in the 1890s in incidents involving Representative Charles L. Bartlett, a fiery Georgia Democrat who hurled a volume of laws at one colleague and brandished a knife at another.
[10][11] During the 2019 State of the Union Address, Nancy Pelosi wore a brooch styled after the Mace, as a symbol of her authority as Speaker.
[12] Speaker Pelosi wore the same brooch on December 18, 2019, for the session in which the House debated and approved two articles of impeachment of Donald Trump[13][14] and again on February 4, 2020 during the 2020 State of the Union Address.
[15] On January 15, 2021, Pelosi wore the brooch signaling to members of Congress that an investigation with likely disciplinary action lay ahead over the 2021 storming of the United States Capitol.