Procrastination is everywhere, even in government.
Brian Alexander, associate professor of politics at Washington and Lee University, explains a mistake that was corrected hundreds of years later.
Brian Alexander, Ph.D., is associate professor of Politics at Washington and Lee University and director of the W&L Washington Term, an experiential learning program for undergraduates in Washington, DC. He is author of “Jefferson’s Manual of Parliamentary Practice,” (Arcadia Books 2025), “A Social Theory of Congress” (Rowman & Littlefield 2021), and “The Folkways of Congress” (Brookings Institution Press, 2026). He served as American Political Science Association Congressional Fellow and a research fellow at Monticello’s International Center for Jefferson Studies.
Like all academics, I am uniquely skilled at the art of procrastination. For me, a visit to my university’s library, when I should have been grading papers, led to a discovery about Thomas Jefferson and new ideas about his efforts to shape the rules – and the power – of the U.S. Congress.
As vice president of the United States, Thomas Jefferson presided over the Senate. To improve its procedures, he wrote the book, A Manual of Parliamentary Practice, first published in 1801, and the basis for the rules of Congress ever since. Little known to history, Jefferson made handwritten notes in personal copies of the 1801 Manual, as in the rare example I found at my library.
In 1812, based on those handwritten notes, Jefferson published a second edition of the Manual, marking his final word on the book. But Congress continued to use the 1801 edition -- effectively the wrong version. Now, in 2025, based on discoveries that started in a university library, the House of Representatives updated its “House Rules and Manual” to account for this centuries-old oversight.
Will Jefferson’s additions fix what ails the modern Congress? Alas, probably not. But by adhering to Jefferson’s final word, we pay tribute to the importance he placed on rules for orderly debate. We also recognize Jefferson’s lifelong belief in the value of a strong legislature in representative democracy -- a concern that drives our politics to this day.
Read More:
[Arcadia Publishing] - Jefferson’s Manual of Parliamentary Practice
[The Hill] - Thomas Jefferson would expect much more of Congress today
