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�Awwwww � the Texas Legislature � We Meet Again!� By
Bob Burt, ASSIST State President
One hundred sixty five years ago, on Feb. 16, 1846, the very first Texas Legislature of the new state of Texas convened in Austin. Adopted in 1845, the Texas statehood constitution provided for a legislature composed of a House of Representatives of 45 to 90 members elected from counties, cities and towns to serve two-year terms; and a Senate of from 19 to 35 members elected from districts to serve staggered four-year terms.
Requirements for office included Republic of Texas or United States citizenship, age requirements, (21 for representatives and 30 for senators) and residence requirements which were two years in the state and one in the district prior to election for representatives. For senators it was three years in the state and one year in the district prior to election. Among persons disqualified for office were ministers of gospel and priests, U.S. and certain state officers and persons who engaged in duals.
On that first day, both the Senate and the House called the roll, examined credentials, administered the oath and seated their members. Then they got to work. In the Senate, Edward Burleson was elected president pro tem, H.P. Bee was elected secretary, J.H. Neely was elected sergeant at arms, Francis Hughes was elected as doorman, A.W. Luckett was elected as assistant secretary, and N.C. Raymond was elected as engrossing and enrolling clerk. Both the Senate and the House voted to adopt rules of the 9th Congress of Texas until new rules were adopted. The House elected William E. Crump as the first speaker of the house. James H. Raymond was elected chief clerk, Thomas C. Woodlief as assistant clerk, Ben F. Hill as engrossing clerk, Ira Munson as enrolling clerk, W.N. Hardeman as sergeant at arms and William Cockburn as doorkeeper.
The next day, members of the Senate and the House met jointly to count the votes for governor and lieutenant governor. J. Pinckney Henderson received 8190 votes over James B. Miller who received 1,672 votes for governor. For lieutenant governor, N.H. Darnell received 4,319 votes and Albert C. Horton received 4,271 votes.
The election of William Crump of Austin County as speaker of the house produced somewhat of a drama. All started out well, however, a short time after his election, Crump requested and was granted a leave of absence from March 3 to 16. John Brown of Nacogdoches was duly elected as speaker pro tem, but questions arose regarding the authority of a temporary speaker. Six days after accepting the position, Brown resigned. The House then passed a resolution stating that Crump had vacated his office and declared that Brown, retroactively had served as speaker and not as speaker pro tem. The resolution called for the election of a new speaker and on March 9, 1946, Edward Thomas Branch of Liberty, Texas, was elected speaker.
Branch served as speaker until March 16. That�s when Crump returned. So, Branch yielded the speakership back to Crump. Crump continued to serve as speaker until May 1, 1946, at which time he resigned. This still left 12 days in the session. William H. Bourland was elected to fill the post but he only served for 10 days. Stephen W. Perkins was elected to serve as Speaker for the last two days of the session.
That historic session, despite the drama, did accomplish quite a bit. Congressional districts were established and on Feb. 21, 1846, Sam Houston and Thomas J. Rusk became the first U.S. senators from the state of Texas in the 29th U.S. Congress. On March 30, David S. Kaufman and Timothy Pillsbury were elected as congressmen. In addition, courts were established along with more than 30 counties. Several important rules and procedures were established. Revenue bills had to originate in the House. Open sessions were established, a quorum was defined as 2/3 of the membership, bills had to be given three readings, and the bills must have an enacting clause.
Those early 20 senators and 66 representatives got $3 per day plus $3 for every 25 miles they traveled to and from the capital. Their session was unique in that the transition from independent republic to statehood required special consideration. Many of the early laws were carried over from the republic. In fact, one of the first orders of business in both the senate and the house was to adopt the rules of the ninth Congress of Texas until new rules could be prepared.
The eighth, ninth, and 10th legislatures dealt with the civil war. The 12th legislature was one in which republicans held a majority of seats. That legislature saw the removal of Ira Hobart Evans as speaker of the house (he was replaced by William Henry Sinclair), the arrest of senators by the senate and the forcible return of enough to make a quorum and the expulsion of a senator.
One hundred years ago, during the 32nd legislature, the speaker of the house was none other than Sam Rayburn who later became the U.S. speaker of the house.
The 35th legislature exercised its impeachment power to remove Governor James E. Ferguson from office Aug. 29, 1917. Ferguson has been the only governor to lose office by this process. His wife, Miriam �Ma� Ferguson was elected governor for the 39th legislative session and again for the 43rd legislative session.
The early years of the Texas Legislature are fascinating with many colorful characters but certainly not to be outdone by our modern contemporaries.
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