recently published guides to the House and Senate records housed at the National Archives. These reference works would be essential resources for the Documentary History project. The initial work of the Documentary History would also benefit from association with the "Encyclopedia of Congress Project" (recently funded through the Commission on the Bicentennial of the Constitution), which will complete a two-volume reference work by 1993. The completed documentary series would be the first systematic effort to outline the institutional development of Congress over the past 200 years and establish the historical context of changes within the two bodies of the legislative branch of government. A joint project of the House and Senate historical offices, drawing on the expertise of staff at the Library of Congress and the National Archives, would be able to complete a comprehensive research project that no individual could achieve in a lifetime. The volumes would make available for a wide audience the essential records for understanding the workings of Congress today and throughout its history. 4 I. II. III. IV. ELECTIONS TO THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES The debate on popular election A. Elections practices in the colonial and state B. The Constitutional Convention and ratification The First Federal Elections A. District vs. general elections B. Campaigning for national office Congressional regulation of House elections A. Mandating district elections B. Establishment of uniform election dates C. Suffrage regulations 1. The Reconstruction amendments 2. Women's suffrage 3. Lowering the voting age Contested elections and seating controversies A. The development of House procedures B. Determining vote fraud and Members' qualifications II. III. IV. V. REAPPORTIONMENT AND REDISTRICTING House Series, Volume Two Traditional forms of representation in Great Britain and the colonies A. Territorial B. Population C. Representation in the Continental Congress and the Constitutional order of representation A. First apportionment and the Federal Census B. Proposed amendments for district size The House's role in reapportionment and redistricting B. Methods of apportionment Court Action on reapportionment A. Early appeals to the Supreme Court B. Baker vs. Carr and the decisions of the 1960s Congress and the regulation of state districts I. II. III. IV. V. VI. COMMITTEE ORGANIZATION IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES House Series, Volume Three Historical Sources A. Committees in the British Parliament B. Reliance on committees in the colonial legislatures Origins of Congressional Committees A. Use of select committees B. Function of the Committee of the Whole C. The first standing committees The Rise of the Standing Committees A. Expansion of the committee system, 1800-1840 B. Reliance on committees for consideration of legislation The Challenge of Committee Organization A. Progressive reform B. Legislative Reorganization Act of 1946 C. The reforms of the 1970s 1. The growing influence of subcommittees Committee Chairmen A. From Clay to Cannon--The Speakers' domination of B. The Seniority System C. The Modern Chair Committee Membership A. Early assignment procedure B. The rule of Ways and Means C. Assignments in the wake of the reforms of the 1970s I. PARTY ORGANIZATION AND LEADERSHIP House Series, Volume Four Origins of congressional parties A. Fiscal and foreign policy divisions in the 1790s C. The reign of the caucus II. Parties in the nineteenth-century House III. IV. V. A. Party organization in an age of sectional conflict The reinvigoration of congressional parties A. Speaker Reed and party loyalty B. Party roles in the aftermath of the revolt against 1. The fate of the caucus and conference C. Party structure in the modern House The Speaker of the House A. Evolution of the office 1. Colonial precedents for an active legislator B. The Speaker's authority in the twentieth century The leadership structure A. The advent of party floor leaders B. Role of the whips C. Caucus chair |