[{"command":"add_css","data":[{"rel":"stylesheet","media":"all","href":"\/sites\/default\/files\/css\/css_veuEhhb1658wti0_ZAig66JOyixENU-N9zhjLQSLfOQ.css?delta=0\u0026language=en\u0026theme=heritage_theme\u0026include=eJwrTi1LzdNPzkksLq7Uy8tPSQUAPMsGtA"}]},{"command":"invoke","selector":null,"method":"openEssay","args":["10000009","\n\n\u003Carticle about=\u0022\/constitution\/articles\/1\/essays\/10\/speaker-of-the-house\u0022 class=\u0022node node--type-constitution-essay node--promoted node--view-mode-embedded clearfix\u0022\u003E\n  \u003Ch1 class=\u0022title\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan\u003ESpeaker of the House\u003C\/span\u003E\n\u003C\/h1\u003E\n\n      \u003Cdiv class=\u0022con-location\u0022\u003E\n      Article I, Section 2, Clause 5\n    \u003C\/div\u003E\n    \u003Cdiv class=\u0022con-essay-context\u0022\u003E\n      \n            \u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe House of Representatives shall chuse their Speaker and other Officers....\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003C\/div\u003E\n      \n    \u003C\/div\u003E\n      \n  \u003Cdiv class=\u0022con-essay-body\u0022\u003E\n    \n            \u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003EA \u201cSpeaker of the House\u201d has been an\u003Ci\u003E \u003C\/i\u003Eorganic part of the Anglo-American legislative process for centuries\u2014at least since 1377, when the Rolls of Parliament first noted it. As with his power to dissolve Parliament, the King sought to control Parliament by influencing the choice of the Speaker once Parliament was in session. During Tudor times, because the King had to consent to the nomination of the Speaker, the Tudors were able to use the threat of a veto to gain the ability to nominate the person whom the Commons would choose.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003EAfter the Tudors, the process of selecting the Speaker of the House of Commons slowly transitioned into a process completely controlled by the House. Throughout the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, as the House of Commons fought for independent legislative power, Parliament pursued and eventually won the right to select the Speaker without hindrance from the Crown. Not since the late seventeenth century has a monarch, for political reasons, dared to challenge the House of Common\u2019s selection of a Speaker.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003EUntil the eighteenth century, the Speaker had much power in deciding what issues would be brought to the floor of Parliament. He also was able to interpret House proceedings and positions to the King. After Parliament gained control over the choice of Speaker, the position devolved into an umpire simply refereeing the manner of debate.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003EPrior to American independence, the selection of the Speaker in colonial legislative houses closely mirrored the earlier British process. Though colonial assemblies chose their speakers, the royally appointed governors sought to control the result. As trouble grew between America and Britain, the Speaker became a spokesman of the various assemblies\u2019 positions against the actions of Parliament and the Crown\u2019s agents, mimicking the period leading to the Glorious Revolution in England (1688).\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003EUnder Article IX of the Articles of Confederation (1781), the Congress of the United States had the power \u201cto appoint one of their number to preside, provided that no person be allowed to serve in the office of president more than one year in any term of three years.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003EAt the Constitutional Convention, however, the Framers drew not only on their own history but more directly on the model of the Massachusetts Constitution of 1780, which provided that \u201cthe House of Representatives\u2009.\u2009.\u2009.\u2009shall choose their own Speaker, appoint their own officers, and settle the rules and order of proceeding in their own House.\u201d The language in the Massachusetts Constitution emphasizing \u201ctheir own\u201d was to declare the legislature free from the kind of gubernatorial control under which colonial assemblies had struggled. The more succinct language of Article I, Section 2, Clause 5 of the Constitution carried the same meaning and clearly established the House\u2019s power to choose its leadership free from the executive and Senate power. The Speaker was now an internal House of Representatives officer, relieved of the burden of pleasing the Crown (or Executive) as a prerequisite for assuming the Speakership.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003EWithout Constitutional specification, the Speaker of the House gained duties and powers as the issues of the day required them to be granted. The first Speaker of the House, Frederick Muhlenberg, led a House of Representatives that was devoid of parties and was attempting to construct the Republican institutions of which the Constitution was the source. But even during this early stage, the Speaker obtained an important role in the first session of Congress: the ability to appoint Members of the House to committees. Later, during his time as Speaker, Henry Clay demonstrated the extraordinary power that an active Speaker could assume, skillfully filling committees to build support for the war against England in 1812.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003EBy the early twentieth century, the Speaker, described contemporaneously as an \u201cautocrat,\u201d was the second most powerful person in Washington. The Speaker possessed the power to appoint members and chairmen of all committees, and he also controlled the timing and content of bills brought before the House. But in a Republican revolt against Speaker Joseph Cannon in 1910, the Speaker\u2019s power was reduced, and chairmen came to be appointed primarily by reason of seniority. Thereafter, the chairmen of the various committees became the center of power until the mid-1970s, when the House restored many of the Speaker\u2019s prerogatives.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003EThe House of Representatives elects its Speaker as the first order of business at the start of each two-year term or when a Speaker dies or resigns during the legislative term. The practice is customary, for it occurs before the House formally adopts its rules of procedure for the legislative term. Until 1839, the House elected the Speaker by ballot, but since that time the election has been by roll call. The party caucuses, however, predetermine the result by meeting and selecting the candidates to be voted upon. The successful candidate must obtain a majority of the votes cast. Only when party discipline breaks down, or a third party has sufficient strength, is there the possibility for multiple ballots. In 1923, for example, when the Progressive Party held a number of seats, the House took nine ballots before electing Frederick Gillett, a Republican.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003EUnlike British practice and unlike the President Pro Tempore of the Senate, the Speaker of the House is the primary legislative leader of the body. As the leader of the majority party, the Speaker declares and defends the legislative agenda of the majority party. However, the Speaker traditionally refrains from debating or voting in most circumstances and does not sit on any standing committees in the House.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003EThe House also elects its other officers such as the Clerk, Sergeant-at-Arms, Chief Administrative Officer, and Chaplain, whereas the Speaker appoints the Historian of the House, the General Counsel, and the Inspector General.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003C\/div\u003E\n      \n  \u003C\/div\u003E\n\n      \u003Cdiv class=\u0022con-essay-author\u0022\u003E\n      \u003Cdiv class=\u0022con-essay-author--media\u0022\u003E\n              \u003Cdiv class=\u0022con-essay-author--photo\u0022 style=\u0022background-image: url(\/sites\/default\/files\/David_Forte.jpg)\u0022\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n            \u003C\/div\u003E\n      \u003Cdiv class=\u0022con-essay-author--info\u0022\u003E\n              \u003Ch4 class=\u0022con-essay-author--name\u0022\u003E\n                      \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/facultyprofile.csuohio.edu\/csufacultyprofile\/detail.cfm?FacultyID=D_FORTE\u0022\u003EDavid F. Forte\u003C\/a\u003E\n                  \u003C\/h4\u003E\n                  \u003Cdiv class=\u0022con-essay-author--job\u0022\u003E\n         Professor, Cleveland-Marshall College of Law\n      \u003C\/div\u003E\n            \u003C\/div\u003E\n    \u003C\/div\u003E\n\n    \u003Cdiv class=\u0022con-essay-tabs\u0022\u003E\n      \u003Cul data-tabs class=\u0022tabs\u0022\u003E\n        \u003Cli class=\u0022button-more thirds\u0022\u003E\u003Ca data-tab href=\u0022#node-10000009-taba\u0022\u003EFurther Reading\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/li\u003E\n        \u003Cli class=\u0022button-more thirds\u0022\u003E\u003Ca data-tab href=\u0022#node-10000009-tabb\u0022\u003ECase Law\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/li\u003E\n        \u003Cli class=\u0022button-more thirds\u0022\u003E\u003Ca data-tab href=\u0022#node-10000009-tabc\u0022\u003ERelated Essays\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/li\u003E\n      \u003C\/ul\u003E\n\n      \u003Cdiv data-tabs-content\u003E\n        \u003Cdiv data-tabs-pane class=\u0022tabs-pane\u0022 id=\u0022node-10000009-taba\u0022\u003E\n          \n      \u003Cdiv\u003E\n              \u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp style=\u0022text-align:justify\u0022\u003EJudith Bentley, Speakers of the House (1994) Richard S. Beth \u0026amp; Valerie Heitshusen, \u003Ci\u003ESpeakers of the House: Elections 1913\u20132013, \u003C\/i\u003ECRS Report RL30857\u003Ci\u003E \u003C\/i\u003E(2013)\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003C\/div\u003E\n              \u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp style=\u0022margin-left:16px; text-align:justify; text-indent:-11.95pt\u0022\u003EMARY P. FOLLETT, THE SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES (REPRINT, BURT FRANKLIN 1974) (1902)\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003C\/div\u003E\n              \u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp style=\u0022margin-left:16px; text-align:justify; text-indent:-11.95pt\u0022\u003EHUBERT BRUCE FULLER, THE SPEAKERS OF THE HOUSE (REPRINT, ARNO PRESS 1974) (1909)\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003C\/div\u003E\n              \u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp style=\u0022margin-left:16px; text-align:justify; text-indent:-11.95pt\u0022\u003EMATTHEW N. GREEN, THE SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: A STUDY OF LEADERSHIP (2010)\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003C\/div\u003E\n              \u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp style=\u0022margin-left:16px; text-align:justify; text-indent:-11.95pt\u0022\u003EDouglas B. Harris, \u003Ci\u003EThe Rise of the Public Speakership\u003C\/i\u003E, 113 Pol. Sci. Q. 193\u2013212 (Summer 1998)\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003C\/div\u003E\n              \u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp style=\u0022margin-left:16px; text-align:justify; text-indent:-11.95pt\u0022\u003EValerie Heitshusen, \u003Ci\u003EThe Speaker of the House: House\u003C\/i\u003E \u003Ci\u003EOfficer, Party Leader, and Representative, CRS Report 97-780 \u003C\/i\u003E(2011)\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003C\/div\u003E\n              \u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp style=\u0022margin-left:16px; text-align:justify; text-indent:-11.95pt\u0022\u003EAsher C. Hinds, \u003Ci\u003EThe Speaker of the House of Representatives: Origin of the Office, Its Duties and Powers\u003C\/i\u003E,\u003Ci\u003E \u003C\/i\u003E3 Am. Pol. Sci. Rev. (May 1909)\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003C\/div\u003E\n              \u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003EDell G. Hitchner, \u003Ci\u003EThe Speaker of the House of Representatives, \u003C\/i\u003E13 Parliamentary Affairs 185 (Spring 1960)\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003C\/div\u003E\n              \u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAlfred T. Zubrov, Speakers of the House 1789\u20132002 (2002)\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003C\/div\u003E\n          \u003C\/div\u003E\n  \n        \u003C\/div\u003E\n        \u003Cdiv data-tabs-pane class=\u0022tabs-pane\u0022 id=\u0022node-10000009-tabb\u0022\u003E\n          \n        \u003C\/div\u003E\n        \u003Cdiv data-tabs-pane class=\u0022tabs-pane\u0022 id=\u0022node-10000009-tabc\u0022\u003E\n                      \u003Ca href=\u0022\/essay_controller\/10000015\u0022 class=\u0022use-ajax\u0022\u003EPresident Pro Tempore\u003C\/a\u003E\n                      \u003Ca href=\u0022\/essay_controller\/10000092\u0022 class=\u0022use-ajax\u0022\u003ERecess Appointments Clause\u003C\/a\u003E\n                      \u003Ca href=\u0022\/essay_controller\/10000095\u0022 class=\u0022use-ajax\u0022\u003EConvening of Congress\u003C\/a\u003E\n                  \u003C\/div\u003E\n      \u003C\/div\u003E\n    \u003C\/div\u003E\n  \n\u003C\/article\u003E\n"]}]