A cartoon from Puck illustrating the end of the 51st Congress summed up the incoming majority’s feelings about the previous leadership, headed by Speaker Thomas Brackett Reed of Maine. Reed’s Republicans lost 93 seats in the most recent election. His famed “Reed’s Rules”—changes to the House Rules that limited minority leverage in the legislative process—were viewed so autocratic that they earned the Speaker the nickname “Czar Reed.” Here, he is unceremoniously foisted from his throne, his crown and ermine-trimmed cloaked falling away, by an allegorical figure representing the “Popular Verdict,” holding a banner reading “Congress IS a deliberative body.” Cowering below the flying figure are Appropriations Committee Chairman Joe Cannon and Ways and Means Committee Chairman William McKinley, both of whom spoke on the day of Reed’s deposal.
