86th Congress, 2d Session

House Document No. 459

CONSTITUTION

JEFFERSON'S MANUAL

AND

RULES OF THE HOUSE OF
REPRESENTATIVES

OF THE UNITED STATES

EIGHTY-SEVENTH CONGRESS

By

LEWIS DESCHLER, J.D., M.P.L., LL.D.

PARLIAMENTARIAN

UNITED STATES

GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE

WASHINGTON: 1961

For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U. S. Government Printing Office Washington 25, D. C. - Price $2.00 (paper cover)

HOUSE RESOLUTION NO. 644

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

September 1, 1960.

Resolved, That a revised edition of the Rules and Manual of the House of Representatives for the Eighty-seventh Congress be printed as a House document, and that one thousand six hundred additional copies shall be printed and bound for the use of the House of Representatives, of which seven hundred copies shall be bound in leather with thumb index and delivered as may be directed by the Parliamentarian of the House for distribution to officers and Members of Congress.

Attest:

RALPH R. ROBERTS,

Clerk.

PREFACE

The parliamentary practice of the House of Representatives emanates from four sources: First, the Constitution of the United States; second, from Jefferson's Manual; third, from the rules adopted by the House itself from the beginning of its existence; and, fourth, from the decisions of the Speakers of the House and from decisions of the Chairmen of the Committee of the Whole.

In the early history of the House the membership of that body frequently found it difficult to accomplish the purposes upon which they had determined. The Constitution directed the House to do certain things in a specified manner, and to do things not set forth specifically it gave the House carte blanche to make such rules as it thought necessary to carry out the purposes of a legislative body. The early Congresses, therefore, naturally borrowed from the English Parliament many of its practices. In the years following, these practices were adapted to meet the needs of our then youthful House. Special needs of the House have caused some of the motions adopted from the English system to lose their original form and purpose. They have evolved into a distinctly American system of procedure.

In the years from 1797 to 1801 Thomas Jefferson, then Vice President of the United States and President of the Senate, prepared the notable work which has come to be known as Jefferson's Manual. This work contributed greatly to the procedure of the House, although it was not until 1837 that the House finally adopted a rule, which is still in existence, permitting the provisions of the Manual "to govern the House in all cases to which they are applicable."

From the beginning of the First Congress the House has formulated rules for its procedure. Some of them have since gone out of existence. More of them have been amplified and broadened to meet the exigencies that have arisen from time to time. Today they are perhaps the most finely adjusted, scientifically balanced, and highly technical