America was ready to make nice. Ten years after the end of the Revolutionary War, tensions

with Great Britain remained. George Washington, fearful any simmering resentment could lead

to another war and keen to leverage the economic advantage of a friendly relationship, dispatched

Chief Justice John Jay across the Atlantic as an emissary.

Under the terms of the subsequent Jay Treaty, the British would leave the northwest territory

and open up trade routes. In return, America would settle pre-war debts with British merchants.

It promised a fresh start for the former enemies, but many thought it gave too many concessions

to Great Britain. Much of the American public hated the treaty and it only squeaked through

Congress. In the House, the deciding vote in favour was cast by the nation's first speaker,

Frederick Mullenberg. But his anti-British brother-in-law was so angry he stabbed him. Mullenberg

survived and the brother-in-law was sent to prison for a year. 53 Americans have held the

role of speaker since Mullenberg. If the midterm elections go as polls, pundits and our

election forecasting model predict, the 55th speaker of the House of Representatives will

likely be the current Republican minority leader, Kevin McCarthy.

With 38 days to go until the midterm elections, I'm John Prado and this is checks and balance

from the economist. Each week, we take one big theme shaping American politics and explore

it in depth. Today, what would Republicans do with control of the House?

House Republicans gathered in Pennsylvania last week to launch their legislative agenda

for the next Congress. The commitment to America is fairly brief, pretty unspecific, and

filled with standard Republican platitudes around tax cuts and curbing wasteful spending.

Kevin McCarthy calls it a new direction for America. But with the checks of the Senate

and President Biden, what would House Republicans actually be able to achieve in the 118th Congress?

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