Speakers of the House Resources
Historical Highlight
June 04, 1801
Speaker’s Room Stereoview (detail), Collection of U.S. House of Representatives
About this object
The founders prescribed in the Constitution that the “House of
Representatives shall chuse their Speaker and other Officers" (Article
I, section II). But that founding document remained silent on so many
specifics: the method for choosing the Speaker, the presiding officer’s
duties and powers, not to mention the Speaker’s role as a partisan. The
founders had in mind, of course, their own experience with presiding
officers in colonial legislatures, as well as the example of the British
House of Commons. The Speakership they envisioned resembled a
parliamentary referee who would rule on floor debate but do little else.
From this origin, the office rapidly evolved in complexity and
influence, shaped by the likes of
Henry Clay of Kentucky,
Thomas Brackett Reed of Maine,
Joseph Cannon of Illinois, and
Sam Rayburn
of Texas. By the 20th century, the Speakership was the most potent and
multifaceted office on Capitol Hill: presiding officer of the chamber;
leader of the majority party; and, additionally, an elected
Representative with responsibilities to a distinct district constituency
like the other 434 voting Members of the House.
Speaker John White
of Kentucky, who served in the early 1840s, sized up the enormity of
the job: “I am sensible of the magnitude and difficulty of this task, of
its arduous duties, of its high responsibilities. Six years’ service in
this body has taught me that this chair is no bed of down, especially
in a time of great political excitement.”
This
bibliography is a compilation of scholarly analyses of the House
Speakership, both its development and the individuals who have held the
office. While not exhaustive, it is meant to help researchers and
students gain a more sophisticated understanding of the institutional
developments and personalities that have shaped the Office of the Speaker. This bibliography is organized into two sections: