House Of Representatives And The Progressive Era

House of Representatives and the Progressive Era in the United States

U.S. House of Representatives: History of the U.S. House of Representatives: The Early 20th Century and the Progressive Era

Introduction to House of Representatives and the Progressive Era

Soaring U.S. population and the addition of new western states to the Union swelled the House membership to 391 members by 1900. As the House grew, specialized committees assumed more and more responsibility for drafting and debating legislation. By the turn of the century, committees made virtually all important legislative decisions for the chamber. House members jockeyed for powerful committee assignments. Committee chairs usually selected members based on seniority (the number of years of service) in the House. As the political parties applied the seniority system to more committees in the early 20th century, veteran representatives from one-party regions-for example, Southern Democrats and rural Northern Republicans-came to dominate most of the powerful panels.

Joseph Cannon, a conservative Republican from Illinois, became House Speaker in 1903. Cannon followed Reed’s precedent of asserting broad authority over the chamber. Cannon became one of the most powerful Speakers in House history, enforcing party discipline by controlling the Rules Committee and appointing his allies to lead key committees. Progressive Era reform legislation dominated the House’s agenda in the early years of the century, but Cannon resisted many of President Theodore Roosevelt’s reform initiatives. The Republican Cannon faced stiff opposition from Democrats and Progressive-oriented Republicans. The Democrats and dissident Republicans stripped Cannon of his control of the Rules Committee in 1910. When the Democrats won a majority in the House later in the year, they further undercut the power of the Speaker by taking away the power to appoint committee chairs. These reforms greatly bolstered the power of individual committee chairs over their panels, a landmark power shift that lasted until the 1970s.

The Progressive Era of the late 19th and early 20th centuries brought popular pressure for reform throughout government. Reformers sought to make Congress more accountable to American voters. The House repeatedly passed constitutional amendments to subject the Senate to direct election. Senators resented this challenge to their authority. The Senate voted down all the measures until 1911, when they approved the 17th Amendment, which specified that senators be directly elected. The Senate agreed to the amendment rather than face the uncertain outcome of a constitutional convention that was likely to be called. The necessary three-fourths of the states ratified the amendment within a year.

When Democrat Woodrow Wilson became president in 1913, he used his party’s majority in the House and Senate to push through a wide range of legislation that greatly expanded governmental power. The House acted quickly and with little debate on many of Wilson’s initiatives, which regulated child labor and broadened the federal role in farming, banking, and many other areas. The success of Wilson’s program set a new standard for presidential influence on Congress.

The 1920s brought little institutional change to Congress. Seniority continued to grow in importance, which weakened party leaders by reducing their influence over committee leaders. With their authority weakened by the seniority system, the parties found it increasingly difficult to control their members. Regional and sectional interests pushed for narrow issues, such as agricultural subsidies, public works projects, special trade provisions, and veterans’ benefits.” (1)

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Guide to House of Representatives and the Progressive Era


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