Qualifications for Speaker of the House of Representatives
Ramble Qualifications
"No Person shall exist a Representative who shall non have attained to the age of 20 5 Years, and been vii Years a Citizen of the U.s.a., and who shall not, when elected, exist an Inhabitant of that State in which he shall be chosen."
— U.S. Constitution, Article I, section 2, clause 2
/tiles/non-collection/i/i_origins_constitutional_qualifications_aoc.xml Scene at the Signing of the Constitution, Howard Chandler Christy, 1940, image courtesy of the Architect of the Capitol
The Constitution placed notably few hurdles between ordinary citizens and becoming a Member of the U.S. House of Representatives. The founders wanted the House to be the legislative bedchamber closest to the people—the to the lowest degree restrictive on historic period, citizenship, and the only federal office at the fourth dimension subject field to frequent pop election. The Constitution requires that Members of the House be at least 25 years old, have been a U.S. denizen for at to the lowest degree seven years, and live in the state they represent (though not necessarily the same commune). And Commodity Six, clause 3 requires that all Members take an oath to support the Constitution before they exercise the duties of their office. In Federalist 52, James Madison of Virginia wrote that, "Under these reasonable limitations, the door of this office of the federal regime is open to merit of every description, whether native or adoptive, whether young or old, and without regard to poverty or wealth, or to any particular profession of religious organized religion."
Origins
The constitutional qualifications for office originate in British law. Members of the House of Commons had to live in the shires or boroughs they represented, although that was rarely done in practise. The founders used that example to motivate the requirement that Members of the House live in the state they stand for. This would increase the likelihood that they would be familiar with the people'due south interests there, simply there was no mention during the debates about living in the same district. The district organization emerged later as states dealt with how to fairly organize their congressional delegations.
Citizenship
At the time the U.S. Constitution was written, the British prevented anyone born outside England or its Empire from serving in the Commons, even if the individual had subsequently become a citizen. By mandating that an individual be a denizen for at least seven years, the founders attempted to strike a residuum between preventing foreign interference in domestic politics and keeping the House of Representatives close to the people. The founders likewise did not want to discourage immigration to the new country by shutting off the government to new arrivals.
Age
The founders initially set up 21, the voting age, as the minimum age to serve in the House. During the Federal Constitutional Convention, though, George Stonemason of Virginia moved to make the age 25. Bricklayer said that at that place should be a menses between beingness free to manage one's own affairs and managing the "affairs of a great nation." Convention Delegate James Wilson of Pennsylvania objected to the suggestion that any further restrictions be placed on House membership, and cited the service of William Pitt as a counterexample. Pitt, who held function at the fourth dimension of the Convention, was the youngest prime minister in British history at the age of 24. Nevertheless, Stonemason'south amendment passed seven states to iii.
The Firm and Its Members
Article I, section five of the Constitution provides the House with the authority to determine whether Members-elect are qualified to be seated. For instance, William Claiborne of Tennessee became the youngest person to ever serve in the Firm when he was elected and seated in 1797 at the historic period of 22. The House also seated Claiborne at the age of 24, when he won re-ballot. The House, nevertheless, has not e'er been and then lenient. Representative John Young Dark-brown of Kentucky was first elected to the House in the 36th Congress (1859–1861) when he was 24, but the Firm refused to administer the oath of office to him until he was 25—after the first session of the Congress was over.
For Further Reading
Farrand, Max, ed. The Records of the Federal Convention of 1787. Rev. ed. four vols. New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1937.
Madison, James, Alexander Hamilton, John Jay. The Federalist Papers. New York: Penguin Books, 1987.
Story, Joseph. Commentaries on the Constitution of the United states. iii vols. Boston, 1833.
Source: https://history.house.gov/Institution/Origins-Development/Constitutional-Qualifications/
0 Response to "Qualifications for Speaker of the House of Representatives"
Post a Comment