Was James Madison the First Majority Leader? (with Jay Cost)

Understanding Congress

The topic of this episode is, “Was James Madison the first majority leader?”

Both the Senate and the House of Representatives have a majority leader. At the time of the recording this podcast, Republican John Thune of South Dakota is the Senate majority leader, and Republican Steve Scalise of Louisiana is the House majority leader.

Now, congressional scholars tend to argue that the majority leader emerged as a position in each chamber in 1899. Democrat Arthur B Gorman of Maryland was the first Senate majority leader, and Republican Sereno Elisha Payne of New York was the first House majority leader.

My AEI colleague Jay Cost has a different view. He thinks the first majority leader appeared on Capitol Hill far earlier, and it was Virginia’s James Madison. So, we’re going to discuss that claim, which you can find in his recent piece, "Icons of Congress: James Madison — The First Majority Leader."

So, we’re going to discuss that claim.

Dr. Jay Cost is the Gerald R. Ford nonresident senior fellow at AEI and the author of the superb book, James Madison: America’s First Politician (2021), and other fine volumes on politics and history. Regular readers of UnderstandingCongress.org no doubt have seen Jay’s various reports and essays, and if you have not seen them, do have a look.

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