shall not be acted upon again during the session.- December 17, 1805. 53. Any member may call for the division of a question, which shall be divided if it comprehend propositions in substance so distinct, that one being taken away, a substantive proposition shall remain for the decision of the House. September 15, 1837. A motion to strike out and insert shall be deemed indivisible-December 23, 1811; but a motion to strike out being lost, shall preclude neither amendment, nor a motion to strike out and insert.-March 13, 1822. 54. Motions and reports may be committed at the pleasure of the House.-April 7, 1789. 55. No motion or proposition on a subject different from that under consideration shall be admitted under color of amendment.*-March 13, 1822. No bill or resolution shall, at any time, be amended by annexing thereto, or incorporating therewith, any other bill or resolution pending before the House.t-September 15, 1837. 56. When a motion has been once made, and carried in the affirmative or negative, it shall be in order for any member of the majority to move for the reconsideration thereofJan. 7, 1802, on the same or the succeeding day—December 23, 1811; and such motion shall take precedence of all other questions, except a motion to adjourn.-May 6, 1828. *This rule was originally established on the 7th April, 1789, and was in these words: "No new motion or proposition shall be admitted, under color of amendment, as a substitute for the motion or proposition under debate." On the 13th March, 1822, it was changed to its present form, in which the words "new" and "substitute" do not appear. †The latter clause of this rule was adopted at the 1st session of the 25th Congress; and, as originally reported by the committee, the following words were contained at the end of it: "nor by any proposition containing THE SUBSTANCE, in whole or in part, of any other bill or resolution pending before the House." These words were stricken out by the House before it would agree to the rule; by which it would seem to be decided that a bill or resolution might be amended by incorporating therein the substance of any other bill or resolution before the House. Such has been the general practice of the House. A difference of opinion, and a discrepancy in action, have sometimes occurred in administering this rule. Twenty years ago, and previously, a motion to reconsider could not be made after the subject was disposed of, if there was another subject before the House, until that subject had passed away; it was then often too late to make the motion. It was under this practice that Mr. 57. When the reading of a paper is called for, and the same is objected to by any member, it shall be determined by a vote of the House.*-November 13, 1794. 58. The unfinished business in which the House was engaged at the last preceding adjournment shall have the preference in the orders of the day; and no motion on any other business shall be received, without special leave of the House, until the former is disposed of.-November 13, 1794. 59. Every order, resolution, or vote, to which the concurrence of the Senate shall be necessary, shall be read to the House, and laid on the table, on a day preceding that in which the same shall be moved, unless the House shall otherwise expressly allow.-April 7, 1789. 60. The name of the member who presents a petition or memorial, or who offers a resolution to the consideration of the House, shall be inserted on the Journals.-March 22, 1806. 61. A proposition requesting information from the President of the United States, or directing it to be furnished by the head of either of the Executive Departments, or by the Postmaster General-December 13, 1820, or to print an extra number of any document or other matter, excepting messages of the President to both Houses at the commencement of each session of Congress, and the reports Randolph was unable to move a reconsideration of the settlement of the celebrated Missouri question, (notice of which he gave out of time,) as before he could do so the bill had been taken to the Senate. The practice, of late years, has been changed, so as to allow the motion to reconsider to be made at any moment within the prescribed time. If the motion be made when a different subject is before the House, it is entered, and remains until that subject is disposed of, and then "takes precedence of all other business, except a motion to adjourn." When any final vote has been taken, and a motion made to reconsider, that motion may be laid on the table; in which case, according to the practice of several years past, the vote stands as though the motion to reconsider had not been made. This is correct, as, if the House wished to retain the matter, it would agree to the motion to reconsider, instead of laying it on the table. Motions to reconsider should be promptly acted on, otherwise it is in the power of a single member (voting on the strong side, against his sentiments, solely for the purpose of placing himself in a situation to make the motion) to arrest business, which a majority have determined to despatch. *As originally adopted, this rule contained, after the word "for," the words "which had before been read to the House." They were stricken out on the 14th December, 1795. and documents connected with or referred to in it, shall lie on the table one day for consideration, unless otherwise ordered by the unanimous consent of the House-December 13, 1820; and all such propositions shall be taken up for consideration in the order they were presented, immediately after reports are called for from select committees ; and, when adopted, the Clerk shall cause the same to be delivered. January 22, 1822. 62. Upon calls of the House, or in taking the yeas and nays on any question, the names of the members shall be called alphabetically.-April 7, 1789. 63. Upon the call of the House, the names of the mem bers shall be called over by the Clerk, and the absentees noted; after which, the names of the absentees shall again be called over; the doors shall then be shut, and those for whom no excuse or insufficient excuses are made may, by order of those present, if fifteen in number, be taken into custody as they appear, or may be sent for and taken into custody, wherever to be found, by special messengers to be appointed for that purpose.*-November 13, 1789, and December 14, 1795. 64. When a member shall be discharged from custody, and admitted to his seat, the House shall determine whether such discharge shall be with or without paying fees; and, in like manner, whether a delinquent member, taken into custody by a special messenger, shall or shall not be liable to defray the expense of such special messenger.-November 13, 1794. 65. Any fifteen members (including the Speaker, if there be one) shall be authorized to compel the attendance of absent members.-April 7, 1789. 66. No member shall absent himself from the service of * The rule as originally established in relation to a call of the House, which was on the 13th of November, 1789, differed from the present rule in this: there was one day's notice to be given, and it required a vote of the House, and not fifteen members, to order a member into custody. It was changed to its present form on the 14th December, 1795. On the 7th January, 1802, it was changed back to its original form, to require "an order of the House" to take absent members into custody, and so remained until the 23d December, 1811, when it was again changed to what it now is—i. e. fifteen members. the House, unless he have leave, or be sick, or unable to attend.-April 13, 1789. 67. A Sergeant-at-arms shall be appointed, to hold his office during the pleasure of the House, whose duty it shall be to attend the House during its sittings; to execute the commands of the House from time to time; together with all such process, issued by authority thereof, as shall be directed to him by the Speaker.-April 14, 1789. 68. The symbol of his office (the mace) shall be borne by the Sergeant-at-arms when in the execution of his of fice.t-April 14, 1789. 69. The fees of the Sergeant-at-arms shall be, for every arrest, the sum of two dollars; for each day's custody and releasement, one dollar; and for travelling expenses for himself or a special messenger, going and returning, onetenth of a dollar per mile.-April 14, 1789. 70. It shall be the duty of the Sergeant-at-arms to keep the accounts for pay and mileage of members, to prepare checks, and, if required to do so, to draw the money on such checks for the members, (the same being previously signed by the Speaker, and endorsed by the member,) and pay over the same to the member entitled thereto.-April 4, 1838. *In the rules established November 13, 1794, the Sergeant was empowered to appoint a special messenger" to execute the commands of the House. This authority was stricken from the rules established on the 14th December, 1795. At the time this rule was adopted, "a proper symbol of office" for the Sergeant-at-arms was directed to be provided, "of such form and device as the Speaker should direct.” In pursuance of this order, a mace or "symbol" was procured, which represented the Roman fasces, made of ebony sticks, bound transversely with a thin silver band, terminating in a double tie or beau-knot near the top; at each end a silver band an inch deep, and on the top of each of the rods a small silver spear. A stem of silver of an inch in diameter, and 2 inches long, from the centre of the fasces, supported a globe of silver, about 2 inches in diameter, upon which was an eagle, his claws grasping the globe, and just in the act of flight, his wings somewhat more than half extended. The eagle was massive silver, richly carved. The design was fine, and its whole execution beautiful; the entire height about three feet. The mace was destroyed at the conflagration of the Capitol on the 24th August, 1814, and was not replaced until recently. A temporary one was hastily gotten up (of common pine, and painted) for the then next session of Congress, and was tolerated till the session of 1841-42, when the splendid one now in use was procured. 71. The Sergeant-at-arms shall give bond, with surety, to the United States, in a sum not less than five nor more than ten thousand dollars, at the discretion of the Speaker, and with such surety as the Speaker may approve, faithfully to account for the money coming into his hands for the pay of members.-April 4, 1838. 72. The Sergeant-at-arms shall be sworn to keep the secrets of the House.-December 23, 1811. 73. A Doorkeeper shall be appointed for the service of the House.*-April 2, 1789. 74. The Doorkeeper shall be sworn to keep the secrets of the House.-December 23, 1811. 75. The Postmaster, to superintend the Post Office kept in the Capitol for the accommodation of the members, shall be appointed by the House.†-April 4, 1838. 76. Twenty-eight standing committees shall be appointed at the commencement of each session, viz: A Committee of Elections.-November 13, 1789. To consist of nine members each. *The rule of 1789 provided for the appointment of an assistant doorkeeper, and so continued until Colonel John W. Hunter, the incumbent, died, in December, 1841, and the House, on the 13th of that month, abolished the office. Immediately after the organization of the Government under the present Constitution, a room was set apart in the Capitol for the reception and distribution of letters and packets to and from members of the House, without an order for that purpose, and was called the Post Office. It was superin. tended by the Doorkeeper and his assistants. On the 9th of April, 1814, a special allowance was made to the Doorkeeper to meet the expenses of this office, and he was authorized to appoint a Postmaster. The office continued on this footing till April 4, 1838, when an order was passed, as above, for the appointment of the Postmaster by the House itself. Originally, the Committee of Claims was charged with revolutionary and land claims, and all sorts of pensions. On the 22d December, 1813, the duties of that committee were divided, and a committee was appointed, called the Committee on Pensions and Revolutionary Claims. On the 9th of December, 1825, a separate Committee on Revolutionary Pensions was created, leaving the business of Invalid Pensions to the committee created on the 22d December, 1813. On the 13th December, 1825, four days after its institution, the designation of the Committee on Revolutionary Pensions was changed to the Committee on Military Pensions, and it was charged with both Revolutionary and Invalid Pensions. On the 10th January, 1831, the Committee on Military Pensions became the present Committee on Revolutionary Pensions, and an additional committee was created, called the Committee on Invalid Pensions; and the pension business was apportioned to the two committees, as set out in the duties assigned to the committees. |