How Is the Speaker of the House of Representatives Chosen
Speaker of the Business firm
"The House of Representatives shall chuse their Speaker and other Officers; and shall have the sole Power of Impeachment."
— U.S. Constitution, Article I, department 2, clause 5
/tiles/non-collection/h/hh_1789_03_04_muhlenberg_hc.xml Collection of the U.Southward. House of Representatives
About this object Frederick Augustus Conrad Muhlenberg of Pennsylvania was elected the first Speaker of the Business firm on April i, 1789.
The Speaker is the political and parliamentary leader of the Firm. The Constitution mandates the office, but the Firm and Speakers have defined its contours over time. Some Speakers have aggressively pursued a policy agenda for the Business firm while others take, in the words of Speaker Schuyler Colfax of Indiana, "come to this chair to administer [the] rules, but non as a partisan." Regardless, the Speaker—who has always been (but is non required to be) a Business firm Member and has the same duties to his or her local constituents like the other 434 Members—is at the levers of ability. The Speaker is simultaneously the Firm's presiding officer, party leader, and the institution's administrative caput, amongst other duties.
Origins
The office originated in the British Firm of Commons during the 14th century. The speaker had allegiances to the legislative body as well every bit to the sovereign: elected by the Eatables, the speaker represented that body before the monarch but also served as the monarch's representative in the Commons. This duality ended three centuries subsequently when Speaker William Lenthall declared to Charles I that he had "neither optics to see, nor tongue to speak" except for what had been authorized by the Business firm of Commons. While today Eatables' speakers serve primarily as non-political parliamentary traffic cops, 18th-century speakers likewise served as party leaders and ministers of authorities.
The American speakership has followed this case and is a product of politics. The Pennsylvania delegation nominated Frederick A. C. Muhlenberg to be the commencement Speaker since it wanted a member of its land to hold a high office, as Virginia'due south George Washington became President, Massachusetts'due south John Adams became Vice President, and New York'southward John Jay became Main Justice of the United States. The Pennsylvania delegation also wanted to locate the nation's capital in Pennsylvania and thought the Speaker would be well-positioned to lead that campaign. Muhlenberg, who served ii not-consecutive terms in the Speaker'southward chair, even so, failed in that chore.
The Ascension of the Speaker
While Speakers were ever regional or party leaders, they lacked national prominence until Henry Clay of Kentucky took the chair in the 12th Congress (1811–1813). Elected in his starting time term in the Business firm, Dirt was already a national luminary, having previously served as a U.S. Senator and as speaker of the Kentucky land house. Clay championed national policies over regional ones, and he effectively coupled the institutional tools of the speakership with his personal charisma, raising the stature of the Firm. Clay noted that "delicate and perplexing" demands were placed on the Speaker, and "particularly require of him in those moments of agitation from which no deliberative assembly is always entirely exempt, to remain cool and unshaken among all the storms of argue, carefully guarding the preservation of the permanent laws and rules of the Firm from beingness sacrificed to temporary passions, prejudices, or interests."
The Political Speaker
The power of the Speaker expanded as the party arrangement better developed after the Civil War. Until 1911, the Speaker had the sole dominance to appoint Members to Firm standing committees. The Speaker likewise chaired the House Rules Committee, which controlled the period of legislation to the floor. In response to minority filibusters, Speaker Thomas Brackett Reed of Maine streamlined the House'south standing rules to prune dilatory tactics and to push the Republican Party'due south policy agenda. But equally Reed was quick to indicate out, he was successful in making the House a majoritarian body because the majority of the torso—all members of his political party—supported his reforms. "The approval of the Business firm is the very breath in the nostrils of the Speaker," he said.
The strong speakership, though, had its detractors. Speaker Joseph Cannon of Illinois, known as "Uncle Joe" to his friends and "Arbiter Cannon" to his enemies, tightly controlled access to the floor via the Rules Commission and through committee appointments. But in 1910, rank-and-file Members launched a revolt against Cannon and amended House rules to rein in the powers of the Speaker. One frustrated Representative said the speakership under Cannon was "not a product of the Constitution" and the Speaker was not "entitled to be the political and legislative dictator" of the House. Cannon, in his self-defence, said he was simply implementing his party's agenda that the American people chose. Speakers, he said, would have to cede popularity to be effective. "Information technology is as easy to find a sure kind of popularity as it is to pick up pebbles on a stony beach, and the one is worth just about every bit much as the other," he said.
The Modern Speaker
After the era of strong Speakers, commission chairs reasserted influence in the chamber, forcing later Speakers to change how they used the office. In the heart of the 20th century, the longest-serving Speaker in House history, Sam Rayburn of Texas, took the exact contrary stance as Cannon. "The old days of pounding on the desk and giving people hell are gone," Rayburn said. "A human being'south got to lead by persuasion and kindness and the best reason—that'southward the only style he can lead people." Subsequently, larger party organizations wielded the greatest ability. When 1970s reforms express committee power, the authority of House Speakers re-emerged as the coordination and timing of legislation gained greater importance. Power flowed back to the Business firm Floor from committee rooms.
For further data, see the Speakers of the House Resource.
Source: https://history.house.gov/Institution/Origins-Development/Speaker-of-the-House/
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