Since the organization of the government under the Constitution, on 30 April 1789, there have been 65 Congresses, but owing to the fact that in many cases the same person was several times re-elected to the office, there have been only 35 permanent speakers of the House. Of the 35, four were representatives from Massa chusetts, four from Virginia, four from Ken tucky, three from Pennsylvania, three from In diana, two from New Jersey, two from South Carolina, two from Georgia, two from Maine, two from Tennessee, and one from each of the States of Connecticut, North Carolina, New York, Ohio, Iowa, Illinois and Missouri. The speaker who held the position longer than any other was Henry Clay of Kentucky, who was elected six times; but he did not serve six full terms, having resigned from the office twice before the expiration of the Congresses for which he had been chosen.
Under the Constitution, Congress may pro vide by law for the case of removal, death, resignation or inability, both of the President and Vice-President, designating what officer shall then act as President, and, by a statute passed 1 March 1792, it was enacted that in such a case the president of the Senate, or, if there should be none, the speaker of the House, for the time being should act as President un til the disability should be removed or a Presi dent should be elected. This statute remained in force until 19 Jan. 1886, when Congress passed another act providing that in case of the removal, death, resignation or inability of both the Presi dent and Vice-President, the Secretary of State, or, if there should be none, or in case of his re moval, death, resignation or disability, the Secre tary of the Treasury shall act as President, and that the right of succession shall pass next to the Secretary of War, then to the Attorney General, Postmaster-General Secretary of the Navy and Secretary of the Interior. The De
partment of Agriculture and the Department of Commerce and Labor had not then been created, and, consequently, the secretaries of these de partments are not included in the act and they are not in the line of succession. Although the Act of 1792 remained in force for nearly 95 years, the contingency provided for never oc curred. This was fortunate for the country, because there were grave doubts as to its con stitutionality, and, if the offices of both Presi dent and Vice-President had at any time become vacant, the succession of the president of the Senate or the speaker of the House might have been seriously contested. The questions which would have arisen are: (1) Whether the word used in the Constitution did not mean an officer of the United States; and, if so (2) whether the president of the Senate and the speaker of the House are such officers or are only representatives of the States or the peo ple, chosen by the two branches of Congress to preside over their deliberations.
Follett, M. P., Speaker of the House of Representatives' (1896) •, Fuller, H. B., Speakers of the House> (1909) ; Hart, A. B., Speaker as Premier' in Es says on American Government> (1894) ; Hinds, A. C., of the House of Representa tives> (1907) ; McCall, S. W., The Business of Congress' (1911) ; Reed, T. B., the House Does Business' in North American Re view (CLXIV, pp. 612, 641, 1897) Manual of the House of Representatives) (1909).