The Birthplace of Robert’s Rules of Order Carl Nohr, PRP

The Birthplace of Robert’s Rules of Order

By Carl Nohr, PRP

In 1863, Major Henry M. Robert attended the annual general meeting of the First Baptist Church in New Bedford, Massachusetts. He had been transferred there to recover from recurrent tropical fever. At the meeting, he was elected chairman pro tem. Unfortunately, there was a contentious issue regarding local defense concerns, and the meeting lasted fourteen hours. Major Robert was embarrassed because, by his own description, he did not know how to run a meeting. It was that experience that prompted him to begin studying parliamentary law, as he resolved he would never find himself embarrassed at a meeting again. He developed a process to accumulate observations and thoughts about parliamentary procedure, which culminated in the publication of the first edition of his book, Robert’s Rules of Order, in 1876.

This experience of Major Robert at the First Baptist Church is described in the biography, Henry Martyn Robert: Writer of Rules, An American Hero, by Joseph F. O’Brien, compiled, edited, and expanded by Leonard M. Young, PRP, National Association of Parliamentarians, 2019.

“I attended a meeting one neverto-be forgotten evening, and to my surprise I was elected chairman.

My embarrassment was supreme.

I just did not know what to do. My life at West Point, on the Frontier, and service in the Civil War had made it so that I had never had anything to do with any deliberative assembly. I did not know the least thing about the difference in rank of motions, which were debatable, or which could be amended. In fact,

I was just as ignorant as anyone could be. I felt that to decline would probably not let me out of the dilemma, as I would have been forced to serve and then I would only have called attention to my ignorance, thus making my critics more alert. So I plunged in, trusting to Providence that the assembly would behave itself. But with the plunge went the determination that I would never again attend any meeting until I knew something on the subject of parliamentary law.”

In his proposed, but unpublished preface to the Rules of Order, he credits this meeting directly with having started him off on the study that led to his manual. “…[F]or four years afterwards

I kept in my pocketbook a small slip of paper giving a list of the ordinary motions arranged according to rank, a list of debatable questions and of those that could not be amended. But experience soon showed that this was not enough to enable one to act

intelligently in a meeting where there were troublesome members; and furthermore, that many chairmen had entirely different notions about rules of order. This led to a fuller investigation of authorities and finally to a conviction that there ought to be prepared a very brief pocket manual, so cheap that every member of a church or society could own a copy and so arranged as to enable one quickly to find when any particular motion could be made; and also to ascertain to what extent a motion is debatable and whether it could be amended.…”

Further information from another perspective is available from a book on the history of the First Baptist Church of New Bedford written by congregation members Avis M. Pillsbury and Mildred E. Hatch, titled, First Baptist Church of New Bedford Massachusetts (the author thanks Paul McClintock for this material).

“Many of the [church] members had names still common today in New Bedford…. ...Many were active in the Civil War period, and in 1862 a man came in from outside the city, and made a niche for himself among them. Little did anyone know that this man was to become nationally and internationally known.... ...Henry

Martyn Robert was this man—a graduate, fourth from the top, in the Class of 1857, at West Point. In 1862, the U.S. Army assigned this young lieutenant engineer to New

Bedford, where he was responsible for the construction of the Fort at

Clark’s Point (Fort Taber)—and for coordinating local harbor defenses, during the turbulent Civil

War period. Sometime during 1863, he was chosen to be moderator of a public meeting which was held in the First Baptist Church, (supposedly, according to all available records)—to discuss the

Port of New Bedford’s defense against possible Confederate raiders.

The long meeting, said to have lasted fourteen hours, got out of hand and was cantankerous. It is said that Mr. Robert vowed ‘If he got out of the meeting alive, he would learn to control the next one he became involved in.’”

Fortunately, he did get out of the meeting alive, learned how to control meetings, and has shared that learning with us to the benefit of innumerable deliberative assemblies.

That is the history of the birthplace of Robert’s Rules of Order. What is the current condition of the First Baptist Church? It is a prominent landmark, and is a key corner building that anchors City Hall Square in the heart of downtown New Bedford, currently a city of 95,000. The meeting house was added to the National Register of Historic Places and designated a National Treasure by the National Trust for Historic Preservation in 2015, due to its history in the creation of parliamentary procedure.

Unfortunately, like so many vintage buildings, the Church has fallen into disrepair. The steeple, roof, exterior, and interior all need major reconstruction and renovation, and some of this work is in progress. Using the principle of innovative repurposing, a local association has

undertaken to restore the building and make it useful once again as a gathering place. The Waterfront Historic Restoration League,1 known by the acronym WHALE, has developed a project to create a collaborative performance venue, Steeple Playhouse,2 while retaining meeting space for the church congregation. WHALE was established in 1962. Over the past 58 years, WHALE has facilitated the completion of more than 70 restoration and preservation projects in the New Bedford area.

For more information regarding the plans for the church and how you can help, see https://www.waterfront league.org/portfolio-item/first-baptistchurch/. To respect the site as the birthplace of Robert’s Rules of Order, a Robert’s Exhibit is contemplated. This exhibit could showcase historical materials and provide information about parliamentary procedure. A video of the restoration project, showing the interior of the church can be viewed at https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=y9Xnk5RkuS4.

The legacy started by this sentinel moment in the history of parliamentary procedure has provided immeasurable benefit to generations of individuals and associations seeking to hold effective meetings by respecting the parliamentary principles of regard for the rights of the majority, of the minority, of individuals, and of absentee members. Now in a 12th edition, and spanning almost 150 years, Robert’s Rules of Order continues to be an invaluable guide for those seeking to make fair and effective decisions at meetings. General Henry M. Robert transformed the embarrassment he experienced at that meeting in the First Baptist Church into a publication that has helped so many of us avoid a similar experience. The birthplace of Robert’s Rules of Order is truly a place of historic importance. NP

1 https://www.waterfrontleague.org/ 2 http://steepleplayhouse.org/ Scan this code to read about plans for the church and how you can help.

Scan this code to watch the video about the resoration project.

Carl Nohr, M.D., PRP, is a member of the NAP Board of Directors. (The board recently appointed a special committee to investigate options for supporting the Waterfront Historic Area League restoration project in New Bedford, MA.)