Editing Howell Cobb (section)

===Speaker of the House===
{{Main|31st United States Congress|Zachary Taylor#Presidency (1849–1850)|Presidency of Millard Fillmore}}

After 63 ballots,<ref>{{cite book|last1=Jenkins|first1=Jeffery A.|last2=Stewart|first2=Charles Haines|title=Fighting for the speakership the House and the rise of party government|date=2012|publisher=Princeton University Press|location=Princeton, N.J.|isbn=9781400845460|page=167}}</ref> he became Speaker of the House on December 22, 1849, at the age of 34.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Hamilton|first1=Holman|title=Prologue to Conflict : The Crisis and Compromise of 1850|date=2015|publisher=University Press of Kentucky|location=Lexington|isbn=978-0813191362|page=42}}</ref> In 1850—following the July 9 death of [[Zachary Taylor]] and the accession of [[Millard Fillmore]] to the [[President of the United States|presidency]]—Cobb, as Speaker, would have been [[United States presidential line of succession|next in line to the presidency]] for two days due to the resultant [[Vice President of the United States#Vacancies|vice presidential vacancy]] and a [[president pro tempore]] of the Senate vacancy, except he did not meet the minimum eligibility for the presidency of being 35 years old. The Senate elected [[William R. King]] as president pro tempore on July 11.