A Manual of Parliamentary Practice for the
Use of the Senate of the United States, written
by Thomas Jefferson in 1801, is the first
American book on parliamentary procedure.
As Vice President of the United States, Jefferson
served as the Senate's presiding officer from
1797 to 1801.
Throughout these four years, Jefferson worked
on various texts and, in early 1800, started
to assemble them into a single manuscript
for the Senate's use.
In December 1800 he delivered his manuscript
to printer Samuel Harrison Smith, who delivered
the final product to Jefferson on 27 February
1801.Jefferson's Manual was based on notes
Jefferson took while studying parliamentary
procedure at the College of William and Mary.
A second edition with added material by Jefferson
was printed in 1812.The Manual is arranged
in fifty-three categories from (1) The Importance
of Adhering to Rules to (53) Impeachment.
Each section includes the appropriate rules
and practices of the British Parliament along
with the applicable texts from the U.S. Constitution
and the thirty-two Senate rules that existed
in 1801.
== U.S. Senate ==
The Senate traditionally has not considered
Jefferson's Manual of Parliamentary Practice
to be its direct authority on parliamentary
procedure.
However, starting in 1828 the Senate began
publishing a version of Jefferson's Manual
for their use, removing the Senate Rules from
within the text and placing them in a separate
section.
In 1888, when the Senate initiated publication
of the Senate Manual, a copy of the manual
was included in each biennial edition.
This practice continued until 1977.
== U.S. House of Representatives ==
The House of Representatives formally incorporated
Jefferson's Manual into its rules in 1837,
stipulating that the manual "should govern
the House in all cases to which they are applicable
and in which they are not inconsistent with
the standing rules and order of the House
and the joint rules of the Senate and the
House of Representatives."
Since then, the House has regularly printed
an abridged version of the Manual in its publication
entitled Constitution, Jefferson's Manual,
and Rules of the House of Representatives.
== Impeachment ==
In recent years, Jefferson’s Manual has
been cited to support the idea that state
legislatures can initiate congressional impeachment
proceedings.
While precedent for an impeachment so initiated
does exist, it still requires a direct proposition
to impeach be made by a Member of the House,
who may incorporate the communication of the
legislature in his or her remarks or any impeachment
resolution submitted to the House.
It is commonly repeated that Thomas Jefferson
wrote in Section 603 of his Manual of Parliamentary
Practice for the Use of the Senate of the
United States that “In the House there are
various methods of setting an impeachment
in motion,” including “by charges transmitted
from the legislature of a State or territory."
The source of this error is a misreading of
the House of Representatives' House Rules
and Manual, as disseminated online.
That House document does contain the complete
text of Jefferson's Manual, but it also includes
commentary (and authorities for that commentary)
on subsequent congressional practice.
The assertion that state legislatures can
initiate impeachment proceedings is part of
the House Rules and Manual, but it was never
part of Jefferson’s own text.
The House document (not Jefferson’s Manual)
labels this section “§603 Inception of
Impeachment Proceedings in the House.”
The House document is available online in
both Text and PDF versions.
The text version is the source of the misunderstanding,
since Jefferson’s words on impeachment and
the congressional gloss are indistinguishable.
In the PDF version, however, it is clear that
Jefferson’s Manual is printed in large font,
while the subsequent commentary appears in
smaller type.
Jefferson’s Manual in its original form,
with its final Section LIII on “Impeachment”
may also be viewed online.
The confusion of authorship, however, does
not implicate the validity of the commentary
or the precedents cited.
As §603's notes make clear, the House has
recognized the validity of an impeachment
proceeding initiated by charges transmitted
from the legislature of a State.
(Hinds' precedents of the House of Representatives
of the United States, volume III, section
2469).
== See also ==
Lex Parliamentaria
