Emergence of Legislative Institutions

Standing Committees in the House and Senate, 1810-1825

Bibliographic Data

ID6300403
AuthorsGerald Gamm (0000-0003-1971-9448), Kenneth A Shepsle, Kenneth Shepsle
Year1989
Volume14
Issue1
Pages39
Publication date1989-02-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueLegislative Studies Quarterly (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0362-9805 • E-ISSN: 1939-9162
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.2307/440091
OpenAlexW2322449674
LanguageEN
Citations received39
References cited7

By the 1820s the federal government of the United States had begun to assume a form we would recognize today. In Washington the experiment in government under the Constitution was swiftly becoming enshrined in mature institutions, the most important of which was probably the Congress. Between 1810 and 1825 the two houses of the legislative branch underwent dramatic and lasting transformations in their organizational arrangements. In 1810 the House had a modest system of standing committees; the Senate had no such system at all. During the next 15 years the House steadily expanded its system, while the Senate produced one in a single fell swoop. By 1825 each chamber had a fully developed system of standing committees which have dominated its procedures to the present time. This paper documents these developments and seeks to account for them by explanations rational choice and organization theory. By the 1820s the federal government of the United States had begun to assume a form we would recognize today. Mass political parties slowly started to coalesce; the selection of the president became a national election; and the vote was extended to virtually all white males (and, in parts of the North, to free blacks as well). In Washington the experiment in government under the Constitution was swiftly becoming enshrined in mature institutions, the most important of which was probably the United States Congress. Between 1810 and 1825-essentially from the War of 1812 and the dissolution of the first party system to the dawn of the second party system-the two houses of the legislative branch developed lasting organizational arrangements and practices. Henry Clay, who sat in the House for most of that period, made the Speakership an important and powerful office. And, in both the House and the Senate, a system of standing committees was established. That system, which has ever since dominated the business of both chambers, was only employed piecemeal by the House as late as 1810 and was not employed at all at that time by the Senate. Yet by

House of Representatives · Legislature · Lower house · Parliament · Political science · Politics · American Constitutional Law and Politics · American History and Culture · Law · Legal and Constitutional Studies · Public Administration

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