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book: Fighting for the Speakership
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Fighting for the Speakership

The House and the Rise of Party Government
  • and
Language: English
Published/Copyright: 2012

About this book

The Speaker of the House of Representatives is the most powerful partisan figure in the contemporary U.S. Congress. How this came to be, and how the majority party in the House has made control of the speakership a routine matter, is far from straightforward. Fighting for the Speakership provides a comprehensive history of how Speakers have been elected in the U.S. House since 1789, arguing that the organizational politics of these elections were critical to the construction of mass political parties in America and laid the groundwork for the role they play in setting the agenda of Congress today.


Jeffery Jenkins and Charles Stewart show how the speakership began as a relatively weak office, and how votes for Speaker prior to the Civil War often favored regional interests over party loyalty. While struggle, contention, and deadlock over House organization were common in the antebellum era, such instability vanished with the outbreak of war, as the majority party became an "organizational cartel" capable of controlling with certainty the selection of the Speaker and other key House officers. This organizational cartel has survived Gilded Age partisan strife, Progressive Era challenge, and conservative coalition politics to guide speakership elections through the present day. Fighting for the Speakership reveals how struggles over House organization prior to the Civil War were among the most consequential turning points in American political history.

Author / Editor information

Jeffery A. Jenkins is associate professor of politics at the University of Virginia. Charles Stewart III is the Kenan Sahin Distinguished Professor of Political Science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Reviews

"[T]his is, overall, a sound and illuminating analysis."---R. Scott Burnet, Historian --- "An excellent look at the history of majority party leadership in the House." --- "One of Choice's Editors’ Picks for 2013"

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    Frontmatter

    i
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    Contents

    v
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    List of Illustrations

    vii
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    List of Tables

    ix
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    List of Abbreviations

    xi
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    Preface

    xiii
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    Chapter 1. Introduction

    1
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    Chapter 2. The Evolving Roles and Responsibilities of House Officers in the Antebellum Era

    25
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    Chapter 3. Organizational Politics under the Secret Ballot

    56
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    Chapter 4. Bringing the Selection of House Officers into the Open

    76
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    Chapter 5. Shoring Up Partisan Control: The Speakership Elections of 1839 and 1847

    109
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    Chapter 6. Partisan Tumult on the Floor: The Speakership Elections of 1849 and 1855–1856

    151
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    Chapter 7. The Speakership and the Rise of the Republican Party

    193
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    Chapter 8. Caucus Governance and the Emergence of the Organizational Cartel, 1861–1891

    241
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    Chapter 9. The Organizational Cartel Persists, 1891–2011

    274
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    Chapter 10. Conclusion

    303
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    Appendixes

    323
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    References

    421
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    Index

    439
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Publishing information
Pages and Images/Illustrations in book
eBook published on:
June 16, 2015
eBook ISBN:
9781400845460
Edition:
Core Textbook
Pages and Images/Illustrations in book
View content
https://doi.org/10.1515/9781400845460
eBook ISBN: 9781400845460
Keywords for this book
Ballot; Caucus; Two-party system; Voting; Whigs (British political party); Political party; Party leader; Jacksonian democracy; Politics; Whig Party (United States); Candidate; Nomination; Martin Van Buren; Legislation; Majority; Congress; Incumbent; Major party; Midterm election; Committee; Legislature; Politician; Secret ballot; Party system; Conservative coalition; Southern Democrats; Congressional caucus; Slavery; Newt Gingrich; John Boehner; United States House of Representatives; Presidential nominee; Conservative Democrat; Chairman; Majority rule; Second Party System; Member of Congress; Congressional Record; Party-line vote; Amendment; Front-runner; Francis Preston Blair; United States congressional committee; Select committee; Institution; Plantation era; Previous question; Majority leader; Legislator; National Republican Party; Dennis Hastert; Election; Supermajority; Electoral College (United States); State legislature (United States); Defection; Tariff; Adjournment; United States Senate; Reconstruction Era; Point of order; Woodrow Wilson; Unanimous consent; 112th United States Congress; House Leader; Committee of the Whole (United States House of Representatives); Activism; United States presidential election; 1860; First Party System; United States presidential election; 1840
Audience(s) for this book
For an expert adult audience, including professional development and academic research
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