Today, the Speaker of the House gets a bad rep. As leader of the House of Representatives, the Speaker is responsible for all the House does. Both the good and the bad. But Frederick Muhlenberg, the first and third Speaker was not nearly as controversial as his modern day counterparts.
A member of the now-defunct Pro-Administration Party, and later the Anti-Administration Party and its successor the Democratic-Republican Party, Muhlenberg codified many of the traditions the Speaker still does and was loved by allies and rivals alike!
