John Griffin Carlisle was an American attorney and Democratic Party politician from Kentucky. He represented Kentucky in the United States House of Representatives from 1877 to 1890, serving as the 31st Speaker of the House from 1883 to 1889, and served in the United States Senate from 1890 to 1893. He served as the 41st Secretary of the Treasury, in the second administration of President Grover Cleveland, from 1893 to 1897—a period that included the Panic of 1893. As a Bourbon Democrat he was a leader of the conservative, pro-business wing of the party, along with Cleveland.

The speaker of the United States House of Representatives, commonly known as the speaker of the House, is the presiding officer of the United States House of Representatives. The office was established in 1789 by Article I, Section II, of the U.S. Constitution. By custom and House rules, the speaker is the political and parliamentary leader of the House and is simultaneously its presiding officer, de facto leader of the body's majority party, and the institution's administrative head. Speakers also perform various other administrative and procedural functions. Given these several roles and responsibilities, the speaker usually does not personally preside over debates—that duty is instead delegated to members of the House from the majority party—nor regularly participate in floor debates.