Speakers of the House
“. . . I venture to say that, taken as a whole, the House is sound at heart; nowhere else will you find such a ready appreciation of merit and character, in few gatherings of equal size is there so little jealousy and envy. . . The men who have led the House, whose names have become a splendid tradition to their successors, have gained prominence not through luck or by mere accident. They had ability, at least in some degree; but more than that they have had character.”
Speaker Joseph G. Cannon of Illinois, (1903–1911)
Article I, Section 2 of the Constitution states: “The
House of Representatives shall chuse their Speaker and other Officers.”
And when Congress first convened in 1789, the House chose Frederick
A.C. Muhlenberg as its Speaker. The Speaker acts as leader of the
House and combines several roles: the institutional role of presiding
officer and administrative head of the House, the partisan role
of leader of the majority party in the House, and the representative
role of an elected Member of the House. The Speaker of the House
is second in line to succeed the President, after the Vice President. Information on the current Speaker, the Honorable John Boehner of Ohio, is available at the web site of the Speaker
of the House. Speaker Boehner serves as the 53rd Speaker of the House.
More information and teaching resources regarding the Speaker of the House:
The first Speaker of the House
Frederick Augustus Conrad Muhlenberg of Pennsylvania was elected the first Speaker of the House on April 1, 1789.
Oil on canvas, Samuel B. Wright after Joseph Wright, 1881, Collection of U.S. House of Representatives