As President of the United States Senate, 1797 to 1801, Thomas Jefferson wrote a Manual of Parliamentary Practice to guide proceedings, rules and to provide fairness to all.
The Manual serves as the premise for contemporary U.S. House and Senate rules – and has trickled down to state legislatures, township boards and city councils.
The following excerpt is from Section I and provides a brief anecdotal maxim in regard to following rules and proceedings.
SEC. I. — IMPORTANCE OF ADHERING TO RULES.
Mr. Onslow, the ablest among the Speakers of the House of Commons, used to say, ‘‘It was a maxim he had often heard when he was a young man, from old and experienced Members, that nothing tended more to throw power into the hands of administration, and those who acted with the majority of the House of Commons, than a neglect of, or departure from, the rules of proceeding; that these forms, as instituted by our ancestors, operated as a check and control on the actions of the majority, and that they were, in many instances, a shelter and protection to the minority, against the attempts of power.’’ So far the maxim is certainly true, and is founded in good sense, that as it is always in the power of the majority, by their numbers, to stop any improper measures proposed on the part of their opponents, the only weapons by which the minority can defend themselves against similar attempts from those in power are the forms and rules of proceeding which have been adopted as they were found necessary, from time to time, and are become the law of the House, by a strict adherence to which the weaker party can only be protected from those irregularities and abuses which these forms were intended to check, and which the wantonness of power is but too often apt to suggest to large and successful majorities, 2 Hats., 171, 172.
And whether these forms be in all cases the most rational or not is really not of so great importance. It is much more material that there should be a rule to go by than what that rule is; that there may be a uniformity of proceeding in business not subject to the caprice of the Speaker or captiousness of the members. It is very material that order, decency, and regularity be preserved in a dignified public body. 2 Hats., 149.
Read the entire document at the U.S. Government Printing Office website, http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/HMAN-105/content-detail.html.
Be prepared to vote in the March 18 Primary.
