1. Congress before Thomas Reed Last time (and stuff we didn’t get to last time) –multi-dimensional modeling chaos result structure-induced equilibrium –bicameralism, gate-keeping, agenda power, omnibus bills vs issue-by-issue voting –Factoids of the Articles Congress the 19 th century Congress

2. The chaos argument When policies have 2+ dimensions, there generally is no “best” policy, in the sense of a Condorcet winner. Another way to say this: individual preferences usually can’t be combined to create a fictional individual called “Society” whose preferences are transitive This means that social choice methods matter; the chaos result shows that under very special conditions “anything” can be chosen by majority rule

3. Dealing with complexity How do real legislatures deal? –rules, procedures and institutions that privilege either the status quo or certain classes of proposers who may propose; who may offer amendments; what kinds of amendments may be offered when Instead of “preference-induced equilibria” we expect (or search for) “structure-induced equilibria”.

4. Unicameralism Recall the “chaos problem” –any status quo point can be beaten by majority vote by a whole bunch of alternatives –even with a backwards agenda, policy can move around a lot Where will policy end up? 2 guesses –the “pareto set” (efficiency expectation) –the “uncovered set” (limited agenda depth) Adding institutions can further limit “chaos” –the Continental Congress’s solution was to make change very easy to block – lots of “gridlock”

5. Continental Congresses Structure and procedures: –elected a President (presiding officer) modeled on Speaker of the House of Commons –no standing committees to oversee implementation; instead, created executive boards and executive officers to oversee and used ad hoc committees to oversee them ad hoc committees nominated and elected from the floor using a limited-vote rule; top vote-getter as chair –unit-rule voting: one vote per state; super-majorities required in many cases –no way to limit debate or amendments –“Orders of the Day” agenda formation: ad hoc coalitions could seize control of the agenda

6. Bicameralism The new constitution created a second chamber with co-equal legislative powers and simple-majority quorum and bill-passage requirements This structure limits policy change –if preferences are distributed identically in the two chambers, you still have to put together very similar winning coalitions –as preference distributions diverge, the space of overlap between what can pass in H and what can pass in S narrows

7. The 19th century Senate started with, then in 1820s dropped the previous question rule; small debating society, didn’t seem necessary no germaneness requirements for debate, amendment Senate as club of state party bosses (indirect election) post-bellum era: rise of money and obstructionism –populist and progressive critiques of indirect election and obstruction

8. The early House Initial rules –order of precedence on motions when a question is under consideration: only amend, call previous question, or adjourn –previous question motion required demand of 5+ members, precluded all debate and amendment until decided Committee of the Whole dominated agenda- making

9. Jefferson and Madison organize Sec’y of Treasury Alexander Hamilton sought to act as a prime minister and organized a plurality faction in the first House to pursue his legislative agenda –Federal assumption of states’ war debt with a financing structure –a National Bank In response to Jefferson’s failure to block the National Bank bill, he and Madison toured New England and NY in summer 1791 to organize an opposition faction Hamilton complained bitterly to friends –“In respect to our foreign politics, the views of these gentlemen are, in my judgment, equally unsound, and dangerous. They have a womanish attachment to France, and a womanish resentment against Great Britain.”

10. Rise of parties the Jeffersonian/Hamiltonian contest was about basic principles of government and induced elite, national political organization; it was also about choosing sides in British/French conflicts Jefferson’s victory led to dropping of most property restrictions on white male suffrage, fundamentally changing the character of congressional elections Napoleon and LA Purchase; new conflicts with Brits; Embargo Act; rise of War Hawks

11. Henry Clay Westerner, leader of the War Hawks and Speaker, 1811-13, 1815-21; later Sec’y of State, senator, prez candidate expanded the standing committee system; decline of CoW as gatekeeper –committee assignments controlled by Clay, used to build party logroll –committees became gatekeepers to the floor for policy proposals; power to report by discretion w/in their policy jurisdictions

12. Management of the floor Members became increasingly interested in producing legislative output during the 1810s and 1820s, putting pressure on the institutional arrangements –1822: motions to suspend now require 2/3 vote; establishment of the “morning hour” for committee reports –use of petitions grew rapidly; also, growing use of resolutions to instruct committees and requests for leave to introduce bills –1837 revisions of rules made it easier for leave introductions and referral; 1838 alternate Mondays for Call of the States to introduce, debate proposals (geared towards local interest leg.) –share of members introducing bills grew rapidly, from a handful in the 1820s to over half in the late 1850s

13. Floor mgt, cont. Problems it could take over a month to complete a call of the committees to make reports, severely delaying action on many committees’ bills bazillions of petitions, etc. having to do with slavery no germaneness rule for debate in CoW responses included use of unanimous consent for introductions; calling previous question on floor to prevent consideration in CoW 1860 rules change to require germaneness in CoW

14. A House Divided The House of the mid-19th century featured MCs eager to take positions, advertise, claim credit regional conflicts over goals of gov’t –race relations in particular; –post-Civil War Reconstruction issues rules, issues imparted centrifugal effects on Repubs, allowing southern Dems to form effective blocking coalitions

15. Next time: the Modern Congress Reed’s Rules and the triumph of majoritarianism secret ballot voting, primaries and candidate-centered campaigns: the rise of careerism and the new individualism