the one given. The date of the special election is mentioned in a note to the list below, when that date is not used as the seniority date by the Biographical Directory. Representatives who returned to the House, after having previously served, are credited with service equal to one less than the total number of terms they served. When a representative has served a prior term of less than two terms (i.e. prior term minus one equals less than one), he is ranked above all others whose service begins on the same day. Leadership In this Congress the only formal leader was the Speaker of the House. Two Speakership ballots were held on May 22, 1809 and Joseph B. Varnum (DR-MA) was re-elected for a second consecutive term. The title Dean of the House (sometimes known, in the nineteenth century, as Father of the House) was held by the member with the longest continuous service. It was not a leadership position. Standing committees The House created its first standing committee, on April 13, 1789. There were nine standing committees, listed in the rules initially used by the 11th Congress. Committees, in this period, were appointed for a session at a time by the Speaker. This list refers to the standing committees of the House in the 11th Congress, the year of establishment as a standing committee, the number of members assigned to the committee and the dates of appointment in each session, the end of the session and its chairman. Chairmen, who were re-appointed after serving in the previous Congress, are indicated by an *. The first session was May 22, 1809-June 28, 1809 (38 days), the second session was November 27, 1809-May 1, 1810 (156 days) and the third session was December 3, 1810-March 3, 1811 (91 days). List of representatives by seniority A numerical rank is assigned to each of the 142 members initially elected to the 11th Congress. Other members, who were not the first person elected to a seat but who joined the House during the Congress, are not assigned a number. One Representative-elect was not sworn in, as he did not qualify before he resigned. The list below includes the Representative-elect (with name in italics), with the seniority he would have held if he had been sworn in. Party designations used in this article are DR for Democratic-Republican members and F for Federalist representatives. Designations