House Of Representatives Early Years

House of Representatives Early Years in the United States

U.S. House of Representatives: History of the U.S. House of Representatives: Early Years

Introduction to House of Representatives Early Years

When the House convened in Philadelphia for its first session in 1789, it immediately set out to create effective government agencies that had been lacking under the Articles of Confederation. Representatives drafted legislation to create key government departments, including the departments of the treasury, foreign affairs, and war. The House also proposed 17 constitutional amendments (12 of which were sent to the states after Senate action), as the proponents of the Constitution had promised when the states were considering ratification. The states ratified ten of these amendments, which became known as the Bill of Rights.

Beginning with these first sessions of Congress in 1789, House debates were open to the public, unlike the earliest Senate debates, which were held behind closed doors. Members of the House argued bitterly over the scope of federal power, where to establish the nation’s capital, and how to pay for debts from the Revolutionary War (1775-1783). Slavery was also one of the first issues taken up in House debates, with Southern states fighting attempts to limit the practice.

Two political parties, the Federalist Party and the Democratic-Republican Party, soon emerged from these sharp differences, establishing the practice of party organization in the House. The Federalists controlled the House and the Senate until 1801, when the party’s support plummeted in response to its policy advocating closer ties with Great Britain and its attempt to control dissent through the Alien and Sedition Acts. Many former backers of the Federalists threw their support behind the Democratic-Republicans, who took control of the House. The Democratic-Republicans, who are sometimes referred to as Jeffersonian Republicans because of the influence of President Thomas Jefferson, held a majority in the House until 1825. The party then splintered over the role of government in the economy, slavery, and the policies of President Andrew Jackson. (Today’s Republican Party was founded in 1854 and is not related to the Democratic-Republicans. Elements of the Democratic-Republican Party later formed what is now the Democratic Party.) See also Political Parties in the United States.

As the United States added new territory in the West, the question of whether to permit slavery in new states ignited heated debates in Congress. Abolitionists sent thousands of antislavery petitions to the House, and the issue sparked fierce debates that dominated the chamber’s agenda. By the 1850s, disagreements over slavery nearly paralyzed both the House and the Senate. Selecting a House Speaker sometimes required dozens of rounds of voting, and proslavery forces stripped antislavery representatives of their committee assignments.

Representative Preston Brooks savagely assaulted abolitionist Senator Charles Sumner with a cane on the floor of the Senate in 1856. Supporters of slavery in the House prevented the chamber from punishing Brooks for the brutal attack. In 1860 the House established a select committee to forge a compromise over slavery, but it failed to produce a solution acceptable to both sides. A parallel Senate committee could not resolve the dispute. Southern states seceded from the United States, sparking the American Civil War (1861-1865).” (1)

Resources

Notes and References

Guide to House of Representatives Early Years

About Voting

Voting Rights, Voter Participation, Election Redistricting, Electoral College (including Electoral College Selection, Counting the Votes, Electoral College Origins, Electoral College First Years, Electoral College History and the 12th Amendment, Disputed Elections of 1824 and 1876, Electoral College and the Influence of Political Parties, Winner-Take-All System, Debate Over the Electoral College and Electoral College Reform), Electorate Age and Electorate Constitutional Provisions.


Posted

in

,

by

Comments

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *