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List of speakers of the United States House of Representatives

The speaker of the United States House of Representatives is the presiding officer of the United States House of Representatives. The office was established in 1789 by Article I, Section 2, of the U.S. Constitution. The speaker is the political and parliamentary leader of the House, and is simultaneously the body's presiding officer, the de facto leader of the body's majority party, and the institution's administrative head.[1] Speakers also perform various administrative and procedural functions, all in addition to representing their own congressional district. Given these several roles and responsibilities, the speaker usually does not personally preside over debates. That duty is instead delegated to members of the House from the majority party. Neither does the speaker regularly participate in floor debates. Additionally, the speaker is second in the presidential line of succession, after the vice president and ahead of the president pro tempore of the Senate.[2]

The House elects a new speaker by roll call vote when it first convenes after a general election for its two-year term, or when a speaker dies, resigns or is removed from the position intra-term. A majority of votes cast (as opposed to a majority of the full membership of the House) is necessary to elect a speaker.[1] If no candidate receives a majority vote, then the roll call is repeated until a speaker is elected.[3] The Constitution does not require the speaker to be an incumbent member of the House, although every speaker thus far has been.[4] Altogether, 56 individuals, from 24 states, have served as speaker of the House.

List of Speaker of the United States House of Representatives elections

Party leaders in the United States House of Representatives

History of the United States House of Representatives

presiding officers of legislative assemblies worldwide

List of current presidents of legislatures

. memory.loc.gov. Washington, D.C.: Library of Congress.

"A Century of Lawmaking for a New Nation: U.S. Congressional Documents and Debates, 1774–1875"

. govinfo.gov. Washington, D.C.: United States Government Publishing Office.

"Congressional Record (Bound Edition)"

. Washington, D.C.: Office of the Historian, United States House of Representatives.

"List of Speakers of the House"

Public Domain This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the Federal government of the United States.

(1909) [First edition, 1896]. The speaker of the House of Representatives. New York, New York: Longmans, Greene, and Company. Retrieved March 18, 2019 – via Internet Archive, digitized in 2007.

Follett, Mary Parker

House Document 108–204 – The Cannon Centenary Conference: The Changing Nature of the Speakership

Official website