Congress has always been kind of shitty

I’ve been making my way through Daniel Walker Howe’s What Hath God Wrought: The Transformation of America, 1815-1848. It’s an extraordinary piece of historical non-fiction, spanning the era between the end of the War of 1812 to the Mexican American War. I have the paperback edition, and it’s quite simply too large to handle comfortably. But, as its Pulitzer would attest, an incredible and magnificent tome.

In any case, I thought I’d pass along an anecdote that I hadn’t heard before but found entirely amusing.

It’s important to note that the 26th amendment, which prohibits congress from giving itself pay raises, was not in force at the time. Although meant to be the 2nd amendment and passed by the 1st Congress, it was not ratified by the states until 1992.

The 14th Congress was an extremely productive congress. After the War of 1812 came to a close, they, led by such luminaries as Henry Clay and  John Calhoun, passed a still-historic amount and breadth of legislation.

So, of course, they voted themselves a modest pay raise. And, as a result, two-thirds of the congress (sure makes that 2010 “wave” seem more like a mild current) were either voted out of office or declined to seek reelection.

Now, here’s the balls maneuver. At the time, the so-called “lame duck” session was almost a year long, as the next congressional term didn’t begin again until December (the 20th amendment, much later, dialed it back to January). What did these brave men do with the lame duck? They repealed the pay raise for the next congress, while keeping it for themselves.

Related posts:

1. Supreme Court casts kind-of hurdle in way of corporate person-hood
2. Why do we even have a debt limit?
3. That Do-Nothing Congress