And why does the Senate have a “President,” for that matter?
The U.S. Constitution specifically names the presiding offices of the House and Senate. Does anyone know why the Founding Fathers selected those two titles instead of, say, “Chief,” “Chairman,” or for that matter, “Head Guy?”
On a somewhat related note, whenever the House or Senate is in session, there’s someone at the podium, but not necessarily the Speaker/Vice President/President Pro Tempore (usually it’s some junior member.)What authority or power does the gavel-banger of the moment have?
The same power that the speaker would have if she were the gavel-banger of the moment. Mainly, the power to recognize a member on the floor and allow him or her to speak, and the power to make people to stop speaking.
The Framers largely looked to British political practice of the day, but without all the pomp and circumstance and with a distinct (and understandable) aversion to any hint of aristocracy or monarchy.
From what I remember of the Constitutional Convention records, the title “president” was immediately favored for both the head of the Executive Branch and the head of the Senate because it was already in common usage during the Colonial Era, seemed respectable, and didn’t have any intrinsic stink of corrupt, froufrou European courts. (The most prominent British usage of the word at the time was probably for the President of the Board of Trade, FKA First Lord of Trade, and that had only been since 1784). There was a President of the Continental Congress, of course, although he was almost entirely a legislative officer, with executive powers far less than those of George Washington and his successors under the Constitution. “Speaker” follows from the British practice, as earlier noted.
“Chief” was, at the time, primarily associated with the Indians, I suspect, who were feared and/or regarded as savages in many quarters of American society, while “Chairman” was used only regarding leadership of a committee (and even so wasn’t as widespread as today, from all I’ve read of that era). “Head Guy” still hasn’t caught on as a title anywhere, in formal usage, at least. Heh.
BTW, it isn’t the “President” of the Senate, it’s the “President pro tempore” (sometimes shortened to “president pro tem”) which means, roughly, “President for the moment.”
Which is why the President pro Tempore is the President pro Tempore. He serves as the President of the Senate when the Vice President isn’t around. Vice Presidents rarely hang out in the Senate chamber these days, but early Vice Presidents spent most of their time there.
The Speaker of the House of Representatives is the title for its presiding officer, as noted, by paralleling the English institution, where there was a Speaker of the House of Commons. And this name came about for historical reasons: back in the early days, when the law was the king’s commands, the Lords and Commons were convened to (1) approve taxes for the benefit of the realm, e.g., defense, the idea being taxes people had a voice in were less resented than those levied by the king alone, and (2) advise the king on the people’s needs and wants, so that he was informed on conditions throughout the realm. To ensure their concerns got listened to, they adopted a policy of “redress of grievances before supply”, i.e., “deal with our complaints before we vote you any money.” They would draft up bills of grievances outlining what was wrong and suggesting what the king might do about it, which eventually took the form of draft legislation prepared for the king to approve. (This is why a not-yet-passed law is a “bill”) The person who would bring the result of the Commons’ deliberations before the King in formal address was its presiding officer, the person who would speak to HM for it – and hence its Speaker.
The President Pro Tempore means “president for the time” – the time in question being when the Vice President, as President of the Senate, is not currently presiding over it. However, both jobs are not so much occupy the chair of the Senate whenever it’s in session as they are to ensure someone is – the VP, and the PPT in his absence, have the power to name a Senator to chair the session of the Senate currently underway, and to arrange for his relief. They will chair on formal occasions, on important votes (especially if the VP is likely to have to cast the tie-breaking vote), and varying amounts of regular sessions – Harry Truman was famously chairing the Senate during a particularly boring speech on Colorado River water distribution as V P at the moment he became President.
The rather more obvious British usage at the time would have been the Lord President of the Council.
Also relevant is that the Lord Chancellor or Lord Keeper was conventionally said to ‘preside’ over the House of Lords. Indeed, the idea of him as ‘President of the House of Lords’ would later be used interchangeably with that of him as its ‘Speaker’. The parallel with the House of Lords is all the stronger as the Lord Chancellor or the Lord Keeper did not have to be a member of the House and was not sitting as a peer when they presided.
In Canada, the Speakers of the House of Commons, Senate, and provincial legislatures are referred to as Présidents of those bodies in French. (Formerly, the word Orateur was used.) Président is also the word for chairperson.
Is that why they built an official Vice-Presidential residence eventually? Sick of all those homeless VPs couch-surfing at the Senate? (Wasn’t it while Gerald Ford was VP?)
