shall have an equal number of votes, the House shall proceed to a further ballot or ballots.-January 13, 1790.

8. The first named member of any committee shall be the chairman; and in his absence, or being excused by the House, the next named member, and so on, as often as the case shall happen, unless the committee, by a majority of their number, elect a chairman.*—December 28, 1805.

9. Any member may excuse himself from serving on any committee at the time of his appointment, if he is then a member of two other committees.-April 13, 1789.

10. It shall be the duty of a committee to meet on the call of any two of its members, if the chairman be absent, or decline to appoint such meeting.-December 20, 1805.

11. In all other cases of ballot than for committees, a majority of the votes given shall be necessary to an election; and where there shall not be such a majority on the first ballot, the ballots shall be repeated until a majority be obtained.April 7, 1789. And in all ballotings blanks shall be rejected; and not taken into the count in enumeration of votes, or reported by the tellers.-September 15, 1837.

The occasion of this rule was this: Mr. John Cotton Smith, of Connecticut, had been chairman of the Committee of Claims for several years, and on the 5th November, 1804, was reappointed. On the succeeding day he was excused from service on the committee, and his colleague, Samuel W. Dana, was appointed in his stead." The committee considered Mr. Dana its chairman: he declined to act, contending that he was the tail. Being unable to agree, the committee laid the case before the House on the 20th November. Up to this time, there was no rule or regulation as to the head of a committee. The usage had been that the first named member acted; but it was usage only. The subject was referred to a committee. On the 22d November, 1804, the committee reported, and recommended that the first named member be the chairman; and in case of his absence, or of his being excused by the House, the committee should appoint a chairman by a majority of its votes. The House rejected this proposition. The Committee of Claims the next day notified the House, that, unless some order was taken in the premises, no business could be done by the committee during the session; and thereupon, on the 20th December, 1805, the House adopted the above rule. In this case the Committee of Claims availed itself of the privilege contained in the last clause of the rule, and elected Mr. Dana chairman, much against his wishes.

12. In all cases of ballot* by the House, the Speaker shall vote; in other cases he shall not be required to vote, unless the House be equally divided, or unless his vote, if given to the minority, will make the division equal; and in case of such equal division, the question shall be lost.†-April 7, 1789.

13. In all cases where other than members of the House may be eligible to an office by the election of the House, there shall be a previous nomination.—April 7, 1789.

14. In all cases of election by the House of its officers, the vote shall be taken viva voce.-December 10, 1839.

15. All acts, addresses, and joint resolutions, shall be signed by the Speaker; and all writs, warrants, and subpœnas, issued by order of the House, shall be under his hand and seal, attested by the Clerk.-November 13, 1794.

16. In case of any disturbance or disorderly conduct in the galleries or lobby, the Speaker (or chairman of the Committee of the Whole House) shall have power to order the same to be cleared.-March 14, 1794.

17. No person, except members of the Senate, their Secretary, heads of departments, President's Private Secretary, the governor for the time being of any State, and judges of the Supreme Court of the United States, shall be admitted within the Hall of the House of Representatives.‡

The word here used in the original formation of the rule was election. On the 14th January, 1840, it was changed to the word ballot.

† On a very important question, taken December 9, 1803, on an amendment to the Constitution, so as to change the form of voting for President and Vice President, which required a vote of two-thirds, there appeared eighty-three in the affirmative, and forty-two in the negative; it wanted one vote in the affirmative to make the constitutional majority. The Speaker, (Macon,) notwithstanding this prohibition of the rule, claimed and obtained his right to vote, and voted in the affirmative; and it was by that vote that the amendment to the Constitution was carried. The right of the Speaker, as a member of the House, to vote on all questions is secured by the Constitution. No act of the House can take it from him when he chooses to exercise it.

The first rule for the admission within the Hall of other than members was adopted on the 7th January, 1802, and was confined to "Senators, officers of the General and State governments, foreign ministers, and such persons as

18. Stenographers and reporters, other than the official reporters of the House, wishing to take down the debates, may be admitted by the Speaker to the reporters' gallery over the Speaker's chair, but not on the floor of the House; but no person shall be allowed the privilege of said gallery under the character of stenographer or reporter, without a written permission of the Speaker, specifying the part of said gallery assigned to him; nor shall said stenographer or reporter be admitted to said gallery unless he shall state in writing for what paper or papers he is employed to report; nor shall he be so admitted, or, if admitted, be suffered to retain his seat, if he shall be or become an agent to prosecute any claim pending before Congress; and the Speaker shall give his written permission with this condition.-December 23, 1857.

19. Rescinded December 23, 1857.

20. The doorkeeper shall execute strictly the 17th and members might introduce." On the 11th January, 1802, an attempt was made to amend so as to exclude persons "introduced by members;" which failed. On the 8th November, 1804, a proposition was made to confine the privilege to Senators; which also failed. On the 17th December, 1805, officers of State governments were excluded. On the 1st February, 1808, a proposition was made to admit ex-members of Congress and the judges of the Supreme Court. After a good deal of debate, it was rejected. On the 11th February, 1809, the rule was enlarged so as to admit judicial officers of the United States, as also ex-members of Congress. On the 25th February, 1814, those who had been heads of departments were admitted. On the 10th February, 1815, officers who had received the thanks of Congress were included. the 12th January, 1816, the navy commissioners. On the 21st February, 1816, governors of States and Territories. March 13, 1822, the President's secretary. On the 26th January, 1833, the rule was further enlarged by admitting "such persons as the Speaker or a member might introduce;" and on the 10th December, 1833, the House, by a vote almost unanimous, rescinded that amendment. It has undergone no amendment since.

On

This rule has been much abused by admitting members of State legislatures, under the clause relating to legislatures of foreign governments. To show how little ground there is for this construction, the House, on the 26th December, 1821, and 2d January, 1835, rejected motions to admit members of State legislatures. On the 4th January, 1819, a proposition to admit members of Congress elect was rejected.

18th rules, relative to the privilege of the hall.—March 1, 1838.

21. The Clerk of the House shall take an oath for the true and faithful discharge of the duties of his office, to the best of his knowledge and abilities.-April 13, 1789, and act June 1, 1789. He shall be deemed to continue in office until another be appointed.*-March 1, 1791.

ORDER OF BUSINESS OF THE SESSION.

22. After six days from the commencement of a second or subsequent session of any Congress, all bills, resolutions,† and reports which originated in the House, and at the close of the next preceding session remained undetermined, shall be resumed and acted on in the same manner as if an adjournment had not taken place.-March 17, 1848.

ORDER OF BUSINESS OF THE DAY.

23. As soon as the journal is read, reports from committees shall be called for and disposed of-in doing which, the Speaker shall call upon each standing committee in the order they are named in the 76th and 104th rules; and when all the standing committees shall have been called on, then it shall be the duty of the Speaker to call for reports from select committees; if the Speaker shall not get through the call upon the committees before the House passes to other business, he shall resume the next call where he left off.

There is no law, resolution, rule, or order directing the appointment of the Clerk of the House. On the 1st of April, 1789, being the first day that a quorum of the House assembled under the new Constitution, the House immediately elected a Clerk by ballot, without a previous order having been passed for that purpose; although in the case of a Speaker who was chosen on the same day an order was previously adopted. A Clerk has been regularly chosen at the commencement of every Congress since.

†The word "resolutions," as here used, has been construed to apply to joint resolutions only.

In resuming the call upon committees, according to the practice for several years past, the report last under consideration, provided a motion to commit is pending, is first to be considered.

Provided, That whenever any committee shall have occupied the morning hour on two days, it shall not be in order for such committee to report further until the other committees shall have been called in their turn.

24. *Members having petitions and memorials to present may hand them to the Clerk, endorsing the same with their names, and the reference or disposition to be made thereof; and such petitions and memorials shall be entered on the journal, subject to the control and direction of the Speaker; and if any petition or memorial be so handed in, which, in the judgment of the Speaker, is excluded by the rules, the same shall be returned to the member from whom it was received.-March 29, 1842.

25. Reports from committees having been presented and disposed of, the Speaker shall call for resolutions from the members of each State and delegates from each Territory, beginning with Maine and the Territory of Wisconsint alternately; they shall not be debated on the very day of their being presented; nor on any day assigned by the House for the receipt of resolutions, unless where the House shall direct otherwise, but shall lie on the table to be taken up in the order in which they were presented; and if on any day the whole of the States and Territories shall not be called, the Speaker shall begin on the next day where he left off the previous day; provided that no member shall offer more than one resolution, or one series of resolutions, all relating to the same subject, until all the States and Territories shall have been called.-January 14, 1829.

26. All the States and Territories shall be called for resolutions on each alternate Monday during each session of Congress; and, if necessary to secure the object on said days,

So much of the rules as authorized the calling of the States for petitions was struck out on the 12th December, 1853; and the 23d, 24th, and 25th rules are modified accordingly.

†This rule was adopted while Wisconsin was a Territory; and, although no order has been taken by the House, the Speaker substitutes the Territory last organized.