Caucus Governance and the Emergence of the Organizational Cartel, 1861–1891

2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeffery A. Jenkins ◽  
Charles Stewart
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
House Of Representatives ◽  
Republican Party ◽  
Democratic Party ◽  
Majority Party ◽  
Antebellum Era ◽  
The Family ◽  
Organizational Arrangement

This chapter examines the emergence of the organizational cartel based on caucus decision making during the period 1861–1891. It considers how the caucus-induced, organizational arrangement solved the lingering instability that had often plagued speakership decisions during the antebellum era. It also shows how the binding party caucus on organizational matters institutionalized and evolved into an equilibrium institution, with both the Republican Party and the Democratic Party embracing the practice of keeping the organization of the House of Representatives “in the family” rather than risking potential complications on the floor. In short, the majority party had finally become an organizational cartel. The chapter explains how the organizational cartel allowed the majority party to control the election of the Speaker and other House officers, as well as the more general makeup of the chamber.

Partisan Tumult on the Floor: The Speakership Elections of 1849 and 1855–1856

2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeffery A. Jenkins ◽  
Charles Stewart
Keyword(s):  
Political Parties ◽  
House Of Representatives ◽  
Republican Party ◽  
Democratic Party ◽  
Party System ◽  
Congressional Elections ◽  
Whig Party ◽  
New Parties ◽  
History Of ◽  
American Party

This chapter examines the speakership elections of 1849 and 1855–1856, the most chaotic instances of officer selection in the history of the House of Representatives. It considers how the Second Party System weakened and eventually collapsed as the slavery issue overwhelmed the interregional partisanship that had been in place for two decades. It also discusses the emergence of new political parties, such as the Free-Soil Party, the American Party, and the Republican Party, that created new avenues for coalitional organization. In particular, it looks at the rise of the Republican Party as the primary opposition party to the Democrats. Finally, it describes how the rising popularity of the new parties in congressional elections affected politicians in both the Whig Party and the Democratic Party.

Presidential Influence in the House: Presidential Prestige as a Source of Presidential Power

1976 ◽  
Vol 70 (1) ◽  
pp. 101-113 ◽  
Author(s):  
George C. Edwards
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
House Of Representatives ◽  
Republican Party ◽  
Democratic Party ◽  
The Other ◽  
Presidential Power ◽  
Presidential Popularity ◽  
The One ◽  
The U.S ◽  
Presidential Influence

Presidential prestige or popularity has often been cited as an important source of presidential influence in Congress. It has not been empirically and systematically demonstrated, however, that such a relationship exists. This study examines a variety of relationships between presidential prestige and presidential support in the U.S. House of Representatives. The relationships between overall national presidential popularity on the one hand and overall, domestic, and foreign policy presidential support in the House as a whole and among various groups of congressmen on the other are generally weak. Consistently strong relationships are found between presidential prestige among Democratic party identifiers and presidential support among Democratic congressmen. Similar relationships are found between presidential prestige among the more partisan Republican party identifiers and the presidential support by Republican congressmen. Explanations for these findings are presented, and the findings are related to broader questions of American politics.

The Speaker's Task Force in the Post-Reform House of Representatives

1981 ◽  
Vol 75 (2) ◽  
pp. 397-410 ◽  
Author(s):  
Barbara Sinclair
Keyword(s):  
House Of Representatives ◽  
Ad Hoc ◽  
Task Force ◽  
Central Element ◽  
Majority Party ◽  
Party Leaders ◽  
Task Forces ◽  
The Family ◽  
Patterns Of Behavior ◽  
Party Members

Because of changes in the issues at the center of controversy, changes in rules and norms and high membership turnover, the current House majority party leaders operate in a much less predictable environment than their predecessors did. In response to the changed environment, Speaker O'Neill has developed the strategy of leadership by inclusion, a central element of which is the Speaker's task force, an ad hoc group appointed by the Speaker and charged with passage of a specific bill. The leaders believe task forces help them perform both of their primary functions—building winning coalitions and “keeping peace in the family.” By increasing the number of people working in an organized way to pass the bill at issue, the task force increases the probability of a bill's success on the floor. Work on a task force satisfies junior members' expectations of participation and fosters cooperative patterns of behavior among party members.

The Organizational Cartel Persists, 1891–2011

2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeffery A. Jenkins ◽  
Charles Stewart
Keyword(s):  
House Of Representatives ◽  
Republican Party ◽  
Democratic Party ◽  
Leadership Selection ◽  
Power And Control ◽  
And Control

This chapter examines leadership selection after the Reed Rules and the persistence of the organizational cartel in the House of Representatives during the period 1891–2011. It begins by discussing factional divisions and further threats to the caucus organization before considering the progressive Republicans' 1910 revolt against Speaker Joseph G. Cannon as well as the Democrats' return to power and control of the House from the 62nd through 65th Congresses (1911–1919). It then analyzes the rift between progressive and conservative elements in the Republican Party that challenged the party monopoly over the House's makeup. Despite these problematic events and other issues, along with severe regional divisions within the majority Democratic Party, the chapter shows that the binding party caucus and organizational cartel survived and flourished through the present day.

Fighting for the Speakership

2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeffery A. Jenkins ◽  
Charles Stewart
Keyword(s):  
Civil War ◽  
House Of Representatives ◽  
Majority Party ◽  
Coalition Politics ◽  
Antebellum Era ◽  
Speaker Of The House ◽  
History Of ◽  
Conservative Coalition ◽  
Regional Interests ◽  
Selection Of

The Speaker of the House of Representatives is the most powerful partisan figure in the contemporary U.S. Congress. How this came to be, and how the majority party in the House has made control of the speakership a routine matter, is far from straightforward. This book provides a comprehensive history of how speakers have been elected in the U.S. House since 1789, arguing that the organizational politics of these elections were critical to the construction of mass political parties in America and laid the groundwork for the role they play in setting the agenda of Congress today. The book shows how the speakership began as a relatively weak office, and how votes for Speaker prior to the Civil War often favored regional interests over party loyalty. While struggle, contention, and deadlock over House organization were common in the antebellum era, such instability vanished with the outbreak of war, as the majority party became an “organizational cartel” capable of controlling with certainty the selection of the Speaker and other key House officers. This organizational cartel has survived Gilded Age partisan strife, Progressive Era challenge, and conservative coalition politics to guide speakership elections through the present day. This book reveals how struggles over House organization prior to the Civil War were among the most consequential turning points in American political history.

The Congressional Caucus of Today

1915 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 696-706 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wilder H. Haines
Keyword(s):  
House Of Representatives ◽  
Democratic Party ◽  
Direct Control ◽  
Majority Party ◽  
Legislative Action ◽  
The Past ◽  
Rules Committee ◽  
New System ◽  
Preceding Session

The convening of the 64th congress makes timely a brief discussion of the organization and operation of the Democratic caucus system in the house of representatives during the last two congresses; since the Democratic party remains in control of the present congress, it is to be presumed that the past caucus system will be continued in substantially the same form.The caucus system used in the 62d and 63d congresses was adopted by the Democrats, upon their accession to control of the house in 1910, to replace Cannonism, which had become of ill repute among the voters, and which had been partly over-thrown at the preceding session. The unwieldy size of the house, as well as the exigencies of party, required some extra-legal machinery to coördinate and direct the action of the members; the substitute chosen by the Democratic leaders was an adaptation of the senate caucus, formerly known as Aldrichism. The essence of Cannonism had been the control of the house by the speaker through his power of appointment of committees and his domination of the rules committee, backed by the power of the majority party caucus; the essence of the new system is direct control of legislative action by the caucus itself.

scholarly journals Partia Demokratyczna w midterm elections 2010

2018 ◽  
pp. 133-146
Author(s):  
Maciej RÓŻEWICZ
Keyword(s):  
House Of Representatives ◽  
Republican Party ◽  
Democratic Party ◽  
Significant Feature ◽  
President Obama ◽  
Tea Party Movement ◽  
System A ◽  
Midterm Elections ◽  
Election Results ◽  
Considerable Support

The paper presents the election results of the Democratic Party in the midterm elections 2010. The consequences of these elections encompassed the loss of seats in both houses of Congress as well as the much more painful outcome of the Republican Party winning a majority in the House of Representatives. President Obama assumed complete responsibility for this defeat, and the next two years for him will mean cooperation with the GOP, which will be difficult given the financial crisis. Midterm elections traditionally undermine the party of the President in office – power drains from those who wield it. There always are people who are disappointed with the current policy of the administration, however, in 2010 we can talk about a political earthquake. Apart from the ‘midterm elections effect’, the success of the Republican Party partly resulted from the difficult economic situation and the reform of the health care system. A significant feature of this campaign involved the Tea Party movement, which won a considerable support owing to its critical attitude to President Obama’s domestic policy.

New US Trade Policy: A Turning Point?

2007 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 5-8
Author(s):  
Maria Fabiana Jorge
Keyword(s):  
House Of Representatives ◽  
Democratic Party ◽  
Turning Point ◽  
Trade Agreements ◽  
Access To Medicines ◽  
Negative Effects ◽  
Majority Party ◽  
Bilateral Agreements ◽  
The Us ◽  
Us Trade Policy

Trade agreements on intellectual property (IP) became a useful tool for patent holders to increase their exclusive marketing rights around the world. Bilateral agreements have gradually increased the standards of protection beyond those of the TRIPS agreement creating a growing imbalance between the rights of IP holders on one side and those of consumers and the generic industry, on the other. After the Democratic Party became the majority party in the US Congress in January 2007, the new leadership of the Ways and Means Committee of the House of Representatives forced the US Trade Representative to reopen the Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) with Peru, Panama and Colombia, the ratification of which was pending, and introduced substantial changes to the final texts to reduce the negative effects on access to medicines posed by the original agreements. This seems to mark a significant turning point but all will depend on how these governments implement the FTAs into their national laws and on whether they actually take advantage of this opportunity. Will other governments follow the leadership shown by the Ways and Means Committee?

The role of parents in teenagers' independent decision-making

2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (6) ◽  
pp. 45-47
Author(s):  
Sodiqova Gulbarno Odiljon qizi
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
The Family ◽  
Role Of Parents ◽  
Independent Decision

This article provides an overview of the role of parents and parenting methods in teenager independent decision-making in the family, and provides relevant conclusions

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