Evolution of American Legislatures: Colonies, Territories, and States, 1619-2009

by Peverill Squire

The institutional development of American legislatures, beginning with the first colonial assembly of 1619, has been marked by continuity as well as change. Peverill Squire draws upon a wealth of primary sources to document this institutional history. Beginning with the ways in which colonial assemblies followed the precedents of British institutions, Squire traces the fundamental ways they evolved to become distinct. He next charts the formation of the first state legislatures and the Constitutional Congress, describes the creation of territorial and new state legislatures, and examines the institutionalization of state legislatures in the nineteenth century and their professionalization since 1900.

With his conclusion, Squire discusses the historical trajectory of American legislatures and suggests how they might further develop over the coming decades. While Squire's approach will appeal to historians, his focus on the evolution of rules, procedures, and standing committee systems, as well as member salaries, legislative sessions, staff, and facilities, will be valuable to political scientists and legislative scholars.

432 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2012

About the author

Peverill Squire is the Hicks and Martha Griffiths Chair in American Political Institutions at the University of Missouri, a political scientist well known for his work on legislative institutions, with specific focus on state legislatures. He has written, or co-authored, over 87 unique publications in the form of article and book chapters. He graduated in 1986 with a Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley. Currently he lives in Columbia, Missouri with his wife and dog, Csilla which is Hungarian for star.

Reviews

[Steven Peterson · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a valuable book, tracing the evolution of legislatures in America--from 1619-2009. The work traces the evolution of legislative bodies in the colonies, states, and territories over time. A key theme is legislative institutionalization, a process whereby legislative bodies adapt to their environment and become more structured. Two key aspects of this (page 4): ". . .organizational boundaries and internal complexity."

The author pays a great deal of time to "complexity," including such elements as rules, procedures, standing committees, leadership, compensation, number of staff, and facilities, among other items. We read of the colonial legislatures as the first such bodies in America. Models included parliament, but a lot of the institutionalization was adaptation to the conditions in which such bodies worked.

The book proceeds chronologically--from colonial assemblies, to state legislatures, to territorial legislatures (such as in the Northwest Territories after the Revolutionary War), to odd cases (such as Hawaii, Vermont, and Kentucky). The theme of institutionalization takes flight in Chapter 6, as the author explores the evolution of subnational legislatures in the 19th century. Institutionalization evolved greatly over this period. Starting in the early 1900s, the professionalization of legislatures took off, including increasing staff to support legislators, more complex rules to assist getting things done, more developed committee systems, greater pay, and the like. Finally, the odd case of reducing professionalism starting in the later 20th century. Term limits are one manifestation of this.

All in all, a valuable work on the evolution of subnational legislatures from the colonial era to the present.

[Frank Stein · Rating 3 out of 5]

Like a lot of histories, this one gets bogged down in the details. When you're deep in the archives or in primary sources, every stray fact can seem like a revelation, and without some restraint they can all end up in the final version, which is what seemed to happen here. Every fire that burned down a state capitol (there were dozens), every whiskey-fueled fight (one in the Wisconsin territorial legislature resulted in a gunshot and murder), every stray rule about procedure in a state house (some legislatures banned ministers, bank officers and lawyers from membership) was put in here. The author was aiming for comprehensiveness, which is fine in a work that admittedly breaks new ground, and which seeks to be a reference, but it makes for slow reading.

The book does show the long and surprisingly circuitous history of many of legislative habits, from rules, to staffing, to pay, and so forth. Many practices did come from Parliament in England, but then they diverged. Parliament required three readings of a bill from the 1500s, and the state legislatures adopted this habit. But Parliament had stopped paying its members sometime in the same period, or slightly after, and yet all colonial parliaments created per diems. In 1844 New Jersey began limiting the number of per diems and giving a lower per diem after a set day, with the purpose of preventing extended sessions. Two years later New York cut off all per diems after a certain date. Massachusetts was the first to go for annual salary in 1858, and part of the purpose was to get legislators out of town fast.

In 1833, only 3 states had biennal legislature, Tennessee, Missouri, and Illinois, all of which established them with their first legislatures, but Delaware switched to biennal that year, and it was off the races. By 1890 only 6 states didn't have biennal legislatures, and then Mississippi (in 1890) and Alabama in (1901) went to quadrennial. All right-thinking people agreed this was the wave of the future. But after World War II, almost everyone switched back, so now there are only five states with biennal sessions.

The book is good on the odd sorts of legislatures that populated our histories. The chapter on territorial legislatures explains how Congress created a two stage process, a "district stage," and a second "popular" stage, for these before statehood. Originally too, thanks to the pleas of James Monroe, the upper house was appointed in the second stage, so as give Congress more control. But after Wisconsin in 1838, all territories started as the second-stage, and all started with an elected upper house. The corruption of the "bloody, fighting thirteenth" Arizona legislature, however, led to the Harrison Act of 1886, which limited debt to 1% of property, forbade legislating on toll roads or county seats, and other restrictions. In general, most territorial legislatures focused on where to locate the university, penitentiary, and capitol (some didn't decide until long after statehood. Connecticut's switched every year between New Haven and Hartford, before deciding on Hartford only in 1875, and Rhode Island didn't stick to Providence until the 20th century.) Starting with the Florida Territory, Congress funded the basic territorial per diems, but members had to buy their own pen, ink, and supplies, occasioning much complaint. In general Congress's control of the purse strings allowed them to push biennal sessions and limit membership size.

So some interesting facts here and real stories of institutional evolution, but I had to wade through too much much to find it out. For reference, of course, it can't be beat.