Requirements to Be Speaker of the House of Representatives

Speaker of the House

"The Firm of Representatives shall chuse their Speaker and other Officers; and shall have the sole Power of Impeachment."
— U.Southward. Constitution, Article I, department 2, clause 5

/tiles/non-collection/h/hh_1789_03_04_muhlenberg_hc.xml Drove of the U.S. House of Representatives
Almost this object Frederick Augustus Conrad Muhlenberg of Pennsylvania was elected the start Speaker of the House on Apr one, 1789.

The Speaker is the political and parliamentary leader of the House. The Constitution mandates the office, but the House and Speakers accept divers its contours over fourth dimension. Some Speakers have aggressively pursued a policy agenda for the Firm while others have, in the words of Speaker Schuyler Colfax of Indiana, "come to this chair to administrate [the] rules, but not every bit a partisan." Regardless, the Speaker—who has always been (merely is not required to exist) a House Member and has the aforementioned duties to his or her local constituents like the other 434 Members—is at the levers of power. The Speaker is simultaneously the House'due south presiding officeholder, party leader, and the institution's administrative caput, among other duties.

Origins

The office originated in the British House of Commons during the 14th century. The speaker had allegiances to the legislative body too every bit to the sovereign: elected by the Commons, the speaker represented that body before the monarch but likewise served equally the monarch'southward representative in the Commons. This duality ended three centuries later when Speaker William Lenthall declared to Charles I that he had "neither optics to see, nor natural language to speak" except for what had been authorized past the Firm of Commons. While today Eatables' speakers serve primarily as non-political parliamentary traffic cops, 18th-century speakers besides served as political party leaders and ministers of government.

The American speakership has followed this example and is a production of politics. The Pennsylvania delegation nominated Frederick A. C. Muhlenberg to be the first Speaker since information technology wanted a fellow member of its state to concord a high role, as Virginia'due south George Washington became President, Massachusetts'due south John Adams became Vice President, and New York'due south John Jay became Chief Justice of the Us. The Pennsylvania delegation as well wanted to locate the nation's upper-case letter in Pennsylvania and thought the Speaker would exist well-positioned to lead that campaign. Muhlenberg, who served 2 non-consecutive terms in the Speaker's chair, however, failed in that task.

The Rise of the Speaker

While Speakers were ever regional or political party leaders, they lacked national prominence until Henry Clay of Kentucky took the chair in the 12th Congress (1811–1813). Elected in his first term in the House, Dirt was already a national luminary, having previously served as a U.Due south. Senator and every bit speaker of the Kentucky country house. Dirt 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 House. Clay noted that "delicate and perplexing" demands were placed on the Speaker, and "especially crave of him in those moments of agitation from which no deliberative assembly is ever entirely exempt, to remain cool and unshaken amidst all the storms of debate, advisedly guarding the preservation of the permanent laws and rules of the House from being sacrificed to temporary passions, prejudices, or interests."

The Political Speaker

The ability of the Speaker expanded equally the political party arrangement better adult after the Civil War. Until 1911, the Speaker had the sole authority to appoint Members to House continuing committees. The Speaker also chaired the House Rules Committee, which controlled the menstruum of legislation to the flooring. In response to minority filibusters, Speaker Thomas Brackett Reed of Maine streamlined the Business firm's standing rules to prune dilatory tactics and to push button the Republican Political party'due south policy agenda. But as Reed was quick to indicate out, he was successful in making the House a majoritarian body because the bulk of the body—all members of his party—supported his reforms. "The approval of the Business firm is the very breath in the nostrils of the Speaker," he said.

The potent 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 flooring via the Rules Committee and through commission appointments. But in 1910, rank-and-file Members launched a revolt confronting Cannon and amended House rules to rein in the powers of the Speaker. I 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 cocky-defense force, said he was just implementing his political party's calendar that the American people chose. Speakers, he said, would take to sacrifice popularity to be constructive. "Information technology is equally easy to find a certain kind of popularity equally information technology is to pick upward pebbles on a stony beach, and the one is worth just most every bit much as the other," he said.

The Mod Speaker

After the era of potent Speakers, commission chairs reasserted influence in the chamber, forcing afterward Speakers to change how they used the office. In the heart of the 20th century, the longest-serving Speaker in Business firm history, Sam Rayburn of Texas, took the exact reverse stance as Cannon. "The erstwhile days of pounding on the desk and giving people hell are gone," Rayburn said. "A man'south got to atomic number 82 by persuasion and kindness and the best reason—that's the just way he can lead people." Afterwards, larger party organizations wielded the greatest ability. When 1970s reforms limited committee power, the authority of House Speakers re-emerged equally the coordination and timing of legislation gained greater importance. Power flowed back to the Firm Floor from committee rooms.

For further information, see the Speakers of the House Resources.

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Source: https://history.house.gov/Institution/Origins-Development/Speaker-of-the-House/

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