In his landmark study Congressional Government (1885), future president
Woodrow Wilson made the famous observation that while Congress in session was Congress
on public display, the institution’s real work was completed in committee.
Wilson added, “I know not how better to describe our form of government in
a single phrase than by calling it a government by the chairmen of the Standing
Committees of Congress.”1 Committees and their
leaders continue to play a central role in the way the House operates, though that
process has changed greatly in the two centuries since the First Federal Congress
(1789–1791) convened.
Originally a temporary measure that allowed Members to discuss specific pieces of
legislation on behalf of the Committee of the Whole, the committee system expanded
in range and influence during the nineteenth century.2
From 1800 to 1820, many of the select committees such as Commerce and Manufactures
became standing committees as the responsibilities of the federal government expanded.
During the Civil War, Congress restructured the committee system and transferred
the Committee on Ways and Means’s spending duties to the new Committee on
Appropriations while management of the financial system went to the new Committee
on Banking and Currency. In the 20th century, Congress consolidated and restructured
the standing committee system with the Legislative Reorganization Acts of 1946 and
1970—reforms that also expanded subcommittees and the number of professional
staff.
This bibliography is a compilation of both official House histories and scholarly
analyses of House committees. While not an exhaustive list, it is meant to help
researchers and students gain a more sophisticated understanding of the institutional
developments and personalities that have shaped the House committee system. This
bibliography is organized into three sections:
- Standard reference volumes about committees of
Congress
- General works on the origins and development of
the committee system
- Bibliographic references for standing and joint committees,
arranged alphabetically with corresponding histories and studies
The Select Committee to Prepare Articles of Impeachment against President Andrew
Johnson, Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper, wood engraving, 1868
Collection of the U.S. House of Representatives
The Judiciary Committee of the House of Representatives Receiving a Deputation of
Female Suffragists, Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper, wood engraving,
1871 Collection of the U.S. House of Representatives