Decorum in the House, or Lack Thereof....

In Senator Thomas Hart Benton's (D-MO) book, Thirty Years' View, he responded to what he believed was an error in Alexis de Tocqueville's view of why the House of Representatives was a less capable body than the Senate. Benton quotes de Tocqueville as saying:

On entering the House of Representatives at Washington, one is struck with the vulgar demeanor of that great assembly. The eye frequently does not discover a man of celebrity within its walls. Its members are almost all obscure individuals, whose names present no associations to the mind; they are mosty village lawyers, men in trade, or even persons belonging to the lower classes of society. In a country in which education is very general, it is said that the representatives of the people do not always know how to write correctly. At a few yards' distance from this spot is the door of the Senate, which contains within a small space a large proportion of the celebrated men in America. Scarcely an individual is to be found in it, who does not recall the idea of an active and illustrious career. The Senate is composed of eloquent advocates, distinguised generals, wise magistrates, and statesment of note, whose language would at all times do honor to the most remarkable parliamentary debates of Europe. What the, is the cause of this strange contrast? and why are the most able citizens to be found in the one assembly rather than in the other? wy is the former body remarkable for its vulgarity, and its poverty of talent, whilst the latter seems to enjoy a monopoly of intelligence and of sound judgment? Both of these assemblies eminate from the people. From what cause, then, does so startling a difference arise? Teh only reason which appears to me adequately to account for it is, that the House of Representatives. is elected by the populace directly, and that of the Senate is elected by the indirect application of universal suffrage; but this transmission of the popular authority through an assembly of chosen men operates an important change in it, by refining its discretion and improving the forms which it adopts. Men who are chosen in this manner accurately represent the majority of the nation which governs them; but they represent the elevated thoughts which are current in the community, the generous propensities which prompt its nobler actions, rather than the petty passions witch disturb, or the vices which disgrace it. The time may be already anticipated as which the American republics will be obliged to introduce the plan of election by an elected body more frequently into their system of representation, or they will incur no small risk or perishing miserably among the shoals of democracy--Chapter 8 (205).

Of course, Benton stated that de Toqueville made an error because the Frenchmen saw the houses as "two different order of beings-different classes-a higher class and a lower class." The senator also expressed that "the Senate is almost entirely made up out of the House!" If Monsieur de Toqueville looked at the House some years prior, he would have witnessed almost all of the senators "to whom his exclusive praise is directed" sitting in the House (206).

Unfortunately, the House bashing does not stop at Alexis de Tocqueville's remarks. Charles Dickens visited the United States Capital in the 1840s and wrote the following passage concerning the House in his American Notes for General Circulation:

On my initiatory visit to the House of Representatives they divided against a decision of the Chair; but the Chair won. The second time I went, the member who was speaking, being interrupted by a laugh, mimicked it, as one child would in quarrelling with another, and added, 'that he would make honourable gentlemen opposite, sing out a little more on the other side of their mouths presently.' But interruptions are rare; the Speaker usually being heard in silence. There are more quarrels than with us , and more threatenings than gentlemen are accustomed to exchange in any civilised society of which we have record: but farm-yard imitations have not as yet been imported from the Parliament of the United Kingdom.

It is somewhat remarkable too, at first, to say the least, to see so many honourable members with swelled faces; and it is scarcely less remarkable to discover that this appearance is caused by the quantity of tobacco they contrive to stow within the hollow of the cheek. It is strange enough too, to see an honourable gentleman leaning back in his tilted chair with his legs on the desk before him, sharpening a convenient "plug" with his pen knife, and when it is quite ready for use, shooting the old one from his mouth, as from a popgun, and clapping the new one in its place.

I was surprised to observe that even steady old chewers of great experience, are not always good marksmen, which has rather inclined me to doubt that general proficiency with the rifle, of which we have heard so much in England. Several gentlemen called upon me who, in the course of conversation, frequently missed the spittoon at five paces; and one (but he was certainly short-sighted) mistook the closed sash for the open window, at three (53).

Frances Trollope, a British novelist, visited the United States ca. 1827. Upon her return to England, she had her American writings published under the title Domestic manners of the Americans (1832). On one of her many visits to the House chamber she wrote about the manners concerning the House members versus those she found in the Senate.

...I could only follow one or two of the orators, whose voices were peculiarly loud the and clear. This made it really a labour to listen; but the extreme beauty of the chamber was of itself a reason for going again and again. It was however, really mortifying to see this splendid hall, fitted up in so stately and sumptuous a manner, filled with men sitting in the most unseemly attitudes, a large majority with their hats on, and nearly all spitting to an excess that decency forbids me to describe. Among the crowd who must be included in this description, a few were distinguished by not wearing their hats, and by sitting on their chairs like other human beings, without throwing their legs above their heads. Whenever I inquired the name of one of these exceptions, I was told that it was Mr. This, or Mr. That, of Virginia.
The Senate Chamber is like the Hall of congress, a semicircle, but of very much smaller dimensions. It is most elegantly fitted up, and what is better still, the senators, generally speaking, look like gentlemen. They do not wear their hats, and the activity of youth being happily passed, they do not toss their heels above their heads. I would I could add they do not spit; but alas! "I have an oath in heaven," and my not write an untruth (184-85).