An American Hero

A Book Review

Elizabeth Wong

Professor Joseph F. O’Brien, Henry Martyn Robert: Writer of the Rules, An American Hero. Compiled, Edited, and Expanded by Dr. Leonard M. Young, PRP. Independence, Missouri, 2019, National Association of Parliamentarians®, 275pp.

Heroes of the nineteenth century in America include many notable persons. One additional person who should be added to this list is Henry Martin Robert (HMR) (1837-1923).

He wrote Robert’s Rules of Order (now in its 12th Edition) and Parliamentary Law in addition to several other books . His contribution to American society was to improve the process of democracy at the grassroots level . Being taught to understand parliamentary principles and procedure has not only provided the average person with the tools to conduct meetings fairly and efficiently, it has also improved organizational performance . The importance of learning parliamentary principles and procedure cannot be overstated .

As the son of three generations of Huguenot pastors beginning with Pastor Pierre Robert, who came to America in 1686 to “worship God as he chose”, HMR would have undoubtedly heard the biblical verse, Hosea 4:6 “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge” during a church sermon reminding the congregation to remember your past . HMR’s birthplace, Robertville, South Carolina, was named after his great-grandfather and the War for Independence (a .k .a . Revolutionary War) hero John Robert, who served under Swamp Fox General Francis Marion . His son, James Jehu Robert, owned a plantation and was the Minister for the local Baptist church for 50 years . One of his 19 children, Dr . Joseph Thomas Robert, became a physician, an ordained Baptist minister, a college teacher, and president of Burlington University in Iowa . Dr . Robert is reported to have taken on much of the responsibility for educating his three children,

including HMR . In this respect, HMR was fortunate to receive an excellent education that contributed greatly to his life and the development of our fledgling Judeo-Christian Constitutional Republic .

In 1853, HMR entered the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York, whose superintendent was Robert E . Lee, known for his “famous” and “infamous” exploits during the Civil War . The discipline and dedication that HMR displayed during this time helped to hone his exemplary mathematical skills which he applied to becoming a member of the Army Corps of Engineers and a soldier . He served in the U .S . Army for 44 years, earning the rank of “Brigadier General and Chief of Engineers .” His engineering accomplishments included forts, wagon trails, bridges, harbors, and the Galveston Sea Wall . During the time he was sent to Fort Cascade, Washington Territory to build a bridge over the Columbia River, HMR also found time to teach Sunday School at the Methodist Church . After a three-year courtship with Miss Helen Marie Thresher of Dayton, Ohio, during which time he saved $2000, he felt confident enough to propose . They were married in 1860 and eventually raised three children .

In the midst of HMR’s career and marriage, Fort Sumter, South Carolina, was fired upon on April 12, 1861, which set off the Civil War . A serious decision had to be made as to whether HMR would fight for the Confederacy or the Union . Despite the fact that his family lineage was originally from France via South Carolina, the Robert family was ardently against slavery and set an example by freeing all of their slaves in 1850 . The family believed that “all people were their brother’s keepers .” As his conscience would permit, HMR made the fateful decision to fight for the Union, where he designed and helped build batteries at the Delaware breakwater and seaports in Massachusetts .

During the Civil War in 1863, HMR was stationed in New Bedford, Massachusetts, and continued with extracurricular activities that included a reading circle where he was elected chair . He believed that he was woefully unprepared to be the chair as he “did not know the least thing about the difference in rank of motions, which were debatable, or which could be amended” and was, in fact, “just as ignorant as anyone could be” about parliamentary principles and rules of order . His ignorance and embarrassment did not prevent him from performing his duty as he appealed to Providence to help him lead the group . After the meeting, HMR determined that he would not be placed in such an awkward

position again . He began educating himself about the proper rules of “ordinary motions according to rank, debatable questions, and of those that could not be amended . ”

Writing a biography about a prominent person is a daunting undertaking, but O’Brien and Young tackled this task by compiling numerous historical documents.

In addition, they interviewed HMR’s family members who provided his personal correspondence for review . They used this information to provide insight into how this great achiever critically examined his life experiences and applied his knowledge in a creative manner to solve a problem that benefitted himself and others into posterity . One example that O’Brien and Young provided included a time (1870-1871) when HMR was working full-time as an engineer while simultaneously serving as the Chair for both the Society for Fallen Women and the Chinese Sabbath School of the First Baptist Church in San Francisco, California . A handwritten report by HMR to the Chinese Sabbath School committee is the first parliamentary document obtained that demonstrated organizational skills and parliamentary acumen that HMR honed over the ensuing years after his initial reading circle debacle .

Subsequently, HMR served on the board of several organizations and recognized the need for a set of standardized rules of order for the lay person . He began an analytical study of the parliamentary manuals of his day that included, Barclay’s Digest of the Rules of the House of Representatives and Rules of the U. S. House of Representatives and Senate; Cushing’s Manual Rules of Proceedings and Debate in Deliberative Assemblies; Wilson’s A Digest of Parliamentary Law; and Robinson’s Warrington Manual . Notable differences between legislative bodies and ordinary societies began to take shape in his mind which would require HMR to modify parliamentary principles and procedure for the lay person . One such example contrasts legislative practice, wherein the two-party system requires that the parties are in nearly constant opposition, while the exact opposite—or cooperation—is required in ordinary societies . After his earnest study, he drafted A Pocket Manual of Rules of Order (1876) that every church or society member could use as a reference .

The Pocket Manual was a rousing success and sold over 11,000 copies by 1890 . Over the ensuing years, HMR was in demand as a presiding officer and served on twenty-five boards of engineers in addition to church and community organizations . He received numerous questions in-person and by mail regarding

parliamentary principles and procedure . These inquiries, as many as thirty to forty per week, and HMRs thought-provoking responses helped to guide the subsequent revisions of his original work now titled, Robert’s Rules of Order . In effect, HMR became the de facto teacher of parliamentary principles and procedure to our nation . One year before his death, HMR published Parliamentary Law, where he describes the principles by which “the rules and customs governing deliberative assemblies” aid in ascertaining the will of the group on a question placed before it . Of note is the extensive Question and Answer section that is currently used by parliamentarians as a reference of professionalism when responding to inquiries .

O’Brien and Young are to be commended for furnishing insight into the life of HMR, whose early education provided him with a biblical world view of fairness, order, and hard work . He demonstrated this ethos by the way he conducted his life— not only serving in the military as an engineer, but also serving as a volunteer board member for numerous organizations . Two organizations have been developed to carry the torch lit by HMR: the Robert’s Rules Association (robertsrules .com), which continually updates the Robert’s Rules of Order now in its 12th edition, and the National Association of Parliamentarians® (NAP) (parliamentarians .org), whose mission is “To educate leaders around the world in effective meeting management through the use of parliamentary procedure” . NAP boasts a global membership, and uses Robert’s Rules of Order as its parliamentary principles and procedure bible . These two organizations, in addition to the books he wrote for the benefit of society worldwide, are evidence that Brigadier General Henry Martyn Robert is a true unsung hero of democracy and should be posthumously considered for the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honor, or the Presidential Citizen’s Medal and/or the Congressional Gold Medal on the 100th anniversary of his death in 2023 .

The reviewer appreciates Teri Lentvogt, Vivian Jung, and Gerald Olsen, Retired Registered Parliamentarian, for reviewing the manuscript.

Elizabeth Wong (left) and gerald olsen, Retired Registered Parliamentarian (right). In 2010, Elizabeth became a member of the Zeta Chi / Channel Islands Unit, California Association of Parliamentarians, and NAP Member-at-Large. This book review is an effort to combine several passions: a love of reading, an interest in U. S. history, and an appreciation of Henry Martyn Robert’s life’s work and the benefit that it has provided in improving democracy for organizations in the U. S. and worldwide.