Who is Robert, and Why Does He get to Make the Rules?
- Daniel J. Earheart-Brown
- Nov 11, 2019
- 3 min read
Have you ever wondered who Robert is, and why he gets to make the rules? Most Americans have heard of Robert’s Rules, but few know the story of where they came from. Our denomination (the Cumberland Presbyterian Church) has, for over 100 years, used Robert’s Rules as our parliamentary authority. So it is important for those who want to participate in the government of the church to know something about Robert’s Rules. I intend in this recurring column to answer questions about parliamentary procedure as a way to help ministers, elders, women's ministry leaders, youth, and general members to participate fully in the government of the church.
Robert’s Rules of Order takes its name from a military officer and engineer named Henry Martyn Robert. Born in 1837 to a Baptist minister and his wife, Henry Robert was raised in Ohio and graduated with honors from the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1857. He served until 1901 has an army engineer, retiring with the rank of Brigadier General. His father, who after the Civil War would serve as the first President of Morehouse College, named him for a famous Anglican missionary to Persia and India.
Major Robert was stationed in the coastal town of New Bedford, Massachusetts, in 1863 when he was called on to preside over a community meeting to organize the defense of the town from the threat of a Confederate attack by sea. He would later state that he had no idea how to preside over a meeting, but felt it his duty to accept. The fourteen hour meeting was a mess, and Robert was deeply embarrassed that he wasn’t better prepared for such service.
He was later transferred to the booming city of San Francisco, where he was active in many church and civic organizations. People were coming to California from all over the country, and everyone had a different idea about how to run a meeting, depending on where they came from. Robert’s earlier embarrassment led him to seek out every book he could find on parliamentary law, to help bring order to the chaos.
Finally, after several years of study, Henry Robert published, largely at his own expense, a book he titled, A Pocket Manual of Rules of Order for Deliberative Assemblies in February 1876. His rules were largely based on the rules of Congress, but were simplified for voluntary organizations. The publisher chose to simplify the title for the cover of the book, on which was printed Robert’s Rules of Order. The author expected the 4,000 copies printed to last at least 4 years. Instead, it sold out in three months. The second revised edition was published in July of 1876.
Robert’s Rules of Order, in its over 100 printings and 11 editions, has been in publication continuously for the past 143 years. Henry Robert until his death in 1923, his son, his daughter-in-law, his grandson, and their associates have continued to revise the work over that time in response to concerns raised by users of the work. Henry Martyn Robert III, the original author’s grandson, died in January of this year at the age of 98, after having served as one of the custodians of his grandfather’s work. There have been over 5.5 million copies printed across all editions. The little book Henry Robert wrote as a guide for church and civic groups to help them have better organized meetings has become the most widely used parliamentary authority in the English speaking world.
Henry Robert’s great desire was to help people of this country learn how to participate in democratic organizations to the best of their ability for the building of a better world. He was convinced that knowledge of basic parliamentary procedure was one of the most important building blocks of democratic society. I hope in future articles to answer your questions about parliamentary procedure in our church to better equip leaders for the work God has called us to do. Send your questions to the editor of the CP magazine, and I will respond to them as I am able.
Jay Earheart-Brown
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