ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the role of leadership in the House from 1869 through 1899, focusing on the contributions of Thomas Brackett Reed to the emergence of a centralized party government regime in the 1890s. It considers Reed's strategic use of the speakership to restructure House rules in 1890, his leadership style and legislative efforts during the three Congresses he served as Speaker, and his decision to resign from the House in 1899. Reed's determination to establish the conditions for party government in the House and his skillful use of the speakership to effect these changes must be taken into account along with contextual factors in explaining the institutional changes that occurred in the Fifty-first Congress. As Speaker, Reed employed all of the powers at his disposal to keep the House in order and advance the legislative objectives of the Republican majority.
