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IS THERE A PRESIDENT IN THE HOUSE? (PART I)

© John S. Cooper

Most of our Presidents gained early political experience while serving in Congress. Of our 42 Presidents (remember, Cleveland served twice), all but 18 served in at least one house of Congress. Eleven of them served in both houses of Congress.

James Madison was the first President to have Congressional experience (under the Constitution). Often called “The Father of the Constitution,” Madison had been largely responsible for establishing a strong central government. He was one of the principal authors of the Federalist Papers, encouraging voters to support ratification of the new Constitution. He was elected to the House of Representatives in the first four Congresses, being elected to his fourth term as a member of the newly organized Democratic-Republican Party. Although he started favoring a strong central government, Madison came to agree with Jefferson that it was taking too much power unto itself, and he opposed Hamilton’s economic program.

The district from which Madison was elected to the House of Representatives was also the home district of Thomas Jefferson and James Monroe. In fact, Madison was elected to his first term in the House by defeating James Monroe. Shortly after the election, Madison was elected to the Senate by the Virginia legislature (Senators were elected by the state legislatures of their state until the 17th Amendment changed the method of election in time for the 1914 election), but declined. Madison, who as the principal author of the Constitution knew the Congress well, decided that as a young man with a political future, he would rather serve in the House than accept “honorable retirement” to the Senate. He fully expected the real power to be in the House rather than the Senate. Madison went on to serve as Secretary of State and then President following Thomas Jefferson.

When James Madison declined to accept election to the Senate, the legislature then elected James Monroe to the seat. Monroe accepted. Monroe was actually elected to fill a vacancy caused by the death of Senator William Grayson. Monroe was elected to a full term of his own in 1791. He served from November 9, 1790 until he resigned his seat on May 27, 1794, when he was appointed Minister Plenipotentiary to France. He later served as both Secretary of State and Secretary of War before being elected to succeed James Madison as President.

John Quincy Adams was the first President to serve in both houses of Congress. Son of our second President, John Adams, John Quincy Adams was elected to the U.S. Senate at the age of 36. He almost immediately established his independent stance by siding with the man who defeated his father, Thomas Jefferson, and the hated Embargo Act. Adams felt that the Embargo Act, while harmful to New England’s economy, was the best thing for the nation. For this act of perfidy, the Massachusetts legislature elected his replacement six months early. Adams then resigned from the Senate. He then served in a number of positions, mainly in the diplomatic service. Secretary of State under James Monroe, Adams was elected to succeed Monroe as President. His election was by the House Representatives, as provided in the Constitution, when the Electoral College failed to name a winner. He was defeated for re-election to a second term (it seemed to run in the family) by Andrew Jackson.