...ssue #1 Each state should be represented in congress by the two houses of representatives. The first house of representatives defended the Virginia plan that each state should be represented by the state's population. Wilson created the plan so that states that had a big population wouldn't have a the part as a state with very little population. just like as wilson said “It seemed absurd to claim that the 68,000 people of Rhode Island should have the same voice in congress as Virginia's 747,000 inhabitants.”(Article 1) So the bigger the state the more representatives they had. The second house of representative was senators. This house of representative defined the New Jersey plan. The New Jersey was the ideal that each state should represented...
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...1) There are 535 members in Congress. 2) The minimum age of House member is 25 years. For Senate, this number is 30 years. 3) The dominant prior occupations of most Congress members are law and business. 4) Women are underrepresented in Congress due to sexism and family burden. Women are not as likely to get nominated from the party as men are and have a harder time getting votes in elections. The majority of them also has to take care of children and therefore do not have time for Congress. Women are also less likely to take risks if the odds are against them. 5) Incumbents are members who are already holding office. In congressional election, these members usually win with the reelection rate of 90%. They provide stability in Congress. 6) The reelection bids for House favor incumbents. Incumbents in House are already well known with financial backing. In Senate, the odds of re-election are not as good as in the House due to a larger base of opposition. Senators also have less personal contact with their constituency. In order to win against incumbents, challengers must take advantage of scandals and the reassignment of incumbents into unfamiliar turfs. 7) Case work is the act of helping constituents by cutting through bureaucratic red tapes. 8) A bicameral legislature is a two house legislature. It applies for every American state except for Nebraska. Each state is guaranteed two senators, and number of representatives is decided based on population. Bicameral legislature...
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...delegates were ready to leave. After many days of discussion the Great Compromise was adopted on July 16. It provided for a national congress of two houses. In the Senate, each state was given two representatives, thereby satisfying the small states' demand for equal representation. In the House of Representatives, the larger states were favored by basing representation on population; each state was first allowed one representative for every 40,000 inhabitants, later changed to one representative for every 30,000 inhabitants....
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...Confederation was adopted by the continental congress on November 15, 1777. It was considered the first constitution for the United States and it did not come into effect until March 1, 1789. It was appointed by the second continental congress, which began on the 12 of July in 1776, and the approved version was later sent to the states for ratification in late 1777. For those that signed the document, their delegates agreed to the form of government that is called The Article of Confederation, which means that they agreed to be committed permanently to the union of the states, which is now called the United States. Some of the major issues debated at the convention are slavery and the representation of the congress. The...
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...Current Event Amy Alcorn 3AB Since 2012, there have been an extreme number of cases of gerrymandering. The reason for this being the unequal amount of distributed seats in Congress. Democrats tend to have less representation than Republicans, and therefore tend to be gerrymandered quite a lot. Having all the Democrats in one place so a safe seats can be guaranteed, but at the same time it doesn't help the much. For the Republicans still tend to get more seats due to this. Therefore Republicans tend to end up with more seats in the house than Democrats or any Independent house (not that they got a huge amount of representation anyways). The point is, gerrymandering does not do good for any party because then the number becomes unequally distributed,...
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...Role of Congress Congress is the Bicameral Legislature of the Federal Government of the United States that includes the two chambers: the Senate and House of Representatives. People are familiar with Congress and its primary role to create and pass new laws. But, most don’t realize how important it is that we have the two chambers. This Legislature was created in 1789, but why? What caused the framers to create two different chambers and what is it that causes them to be so different? Also, and most importantly, what role does Congress and the two chambers play in our Government? The creating of Congress, requirements of Congress, and the role of Congress will all be discussed. There remain two main reasons of how and why Congress was created. Early on, the framers’ envisioned how a singular legislature body could become...
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...There is a definite need for Congress in the United States. It serves many roles such as making laws, implementing national policy and watching over the other two branches of government. These are just a few of the duties of our U.S. Congress. Although they are essential to our government, there are potential problems. People are not always satisfied with the length of time involved in passing a law as well as the deadlock Congress can experience on an issue. Another potential problem people see with Congress is representation. Not all Americans feel that they are equally represented. The Congress of the United States is viewed by many as the largest branch in government. Some people might even say it is the most important. This is due to the roles Congress pays in our government. Congress is responsible for the lawmaking in our country as well as implementing national policy. The power to make laws was given to Congress by our forefathers when they constructed our constitution. Passing laws is very important to our country because without them we would be living in chaos. Of course, all our laws are not perfect but for the most part our Congress does a good job at keeping this country under control. The problems with lawmaking that most people see is the time involved in getting a law passed. In order for a bill to become a law it must first be "introduced to the House or Senate, or both, then referred to a committee." (Cummings / Wise 479). This can be a very...
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...the thirteen colonies. The Articles of Confederation, as Sage (2016) states, designated no executive power and congress had very little power over the states. The Articles of Confederation strongly believed in small government and limited powers. According to Winkler (2012), The United States Constitution was implemented as a progressive, innovative document. The United States Constitution expanded on the idea of government and designated more powers to congress in order for them to handle national affairs efficiently. Despite the differences between the two documents, they relate in the idea that for a nation to function a government must be established. When the Articles of Confederation were in place, an executive did not have powers. Though Feldmeth (1998), says that the President would manage the congress. It is evident that the Articles of Confederation wanted nothing to do with powerful government that threatened their newly claimed...
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...ow effectively does Congress fulfil its constitutional roles? (45) Congress has many constitutional roles to fulfil such as the power of the purse, oversight, foreign policy and legislation. It can be argued that Congress does fulfil its constitutional roles as it may deliver effective over sighting, legislation, money bills, representation and foreign policy that may provide good checks and balances. However, most would argue that congress may not carry its roles effectively or sometimes not effectively enough which leads to poor scrutiny, and sometimes over-scrutinising, which leads to ineffective fulfilment of constitutional roles. I believe that the level of effectiveness will be the role of circumstances such as divided governments and united governments which can determine the effectiveness of congress for certain roles. Congress has the role to pass legislation, scrutinise and emend bills for an effective fulfilment of the role. Congress will often amend bills which are initiated by the president in order to check the balance of power. With Congress commonly amend bills, it shows evidence of effective fulfilment of this role to scrutinise the work of the president. Congress will also take a vote on a bill which allows further scrutiny as bills may be passed or rejected by Congress. However, it can be argued that these roles are not effectively fulfilled. For instance, many bills get amended and sometimes heavily amended in such a way that bills come out the other...
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...Plan were the most appealing to those at the convention. The Virginia Plan recommended proportional representation while the New Jersey Plan wanted equal representation. The United States government would be shaped in a completely different way today if the Framers had not put forth each of the two plans which formed the Great Compromise. The Virginia Plan was put forth by James Madison, who had been working on it for a while. He proposed that for the national government to be strong it should have more power than the states. Madison had the idea that Congress should...
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...they are both a significant part of the American government. This dual chamber form of government was a compromise of two opposing ideas. The Virginia plan advocated for a bicameral legislature where the national legislature would be represented based on population size. This was created on a bias for the larger states. Conversely, the smaller states, fearing underrepresentation under the Virginia Plan, proposed the New Jersey Plan. This plan called for a unicameral legislature where each state would have equal representation, regardless of population size. With these ideas, the Great Compromise came and settled on a decision. It established a bicameral legislature, mixing elements of both the Virginia and New Jersey Plans. The House of Representatives would be apportioned based on population size, satisfying the concerns of the Virginia Plan, while the Senate would have equal representation for each state, incorporating the ideas of the New Jersey Plan. The people of Congress can decide between two ways of representing...
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...| Historical Essay: | Confederation and Constitution | | Jason Sherman | | | The Articles of Confederation, the first constitution of the United States, was adopted by the Continental Congress on November 15, 1777. However, sanction of the Articles of Confederation by all thirteen states did not occur until March 1, 1781. The Articles created a loose confederation of sovereign states and a weak central government, which resulted in most of the power residing with the state governments. The need for a stronger Federal government soon became apparent and eventually led to the Constitutional Convention in 1787. The present United States Constitution replaced the Articles of Confederation on March 4, 1789 (Researchers, 2013). Some weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation that ultimately resulted in failure were the fact that each state only had one vote in Congress, regardless of size, Congress did not have the power to tax, Congress did not have the power to regulate foreign and interstate commerce, there was no executive branch to enforce any acts passed by Congress, there was no nation court system, Amendments to the Articles of Confederation required a unanimous vote, and laws required a 9/13 majority to pass in Congress. Under the Articles of Confederation, states often argued amongst themselves. They also refused to financially support the national government, who was also powerless to enforce any acts it did pass. Some states began making agreements...
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...The United States Congress: The Legislative Branch of United State’s Government Ilhan Abdi Class title: Date: 10/29/2012 To write anything about the history of the United State’s Congress, one must illustrate the entire formation of the American Republic. Because, this was the first branch of the US government, where the formation of the rest of the institutions will stem from. This is a big topic that requires much time and resources. However, in this essay, I will briefly look over the major events and milestones that led to the formation of the United States, as a nation, while at the same time focusing on the history, the role, and the transformation of the United States congress. In 1770, what has begun as a simple...
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...Constitution evolved but it served well for the United States. The Great Compromise was a formal agreement for both large and small states to have two representatives in the upper house for each state. The Connecticut Compromise or as it is most likely known as The Great Compromise, was written in 1787 during the Constitutional Convention by Oliver Ellsworth and Roger Sherman. The Constitutional Convention set up it to where each state would be able to have their own congressional representation and legislative structure. The Great Compromise also required that each state be represented by two representatives within the upper house and that representation in the lower house be equal between all states. This congressional congress session went on for seven long weeks and was almost ruined or destroyed by the issue of representation. The states still argues that they were providing more of a contribution to the financial and defensive resources and so therefore they attested they deserved more representation in the Senate. By July 16, 1787 the congressional convention members accepted The Great Compromise by a mere one vote. “As the celebrants duly noted, without that vote, there would likely have been no Constitution.” (The United States Senate, n.d.). After Thomas Jefferson helped to write the Declaration of...
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...Tania Hutchins Civics and Economics Honors Leah Tonissen March 10, 2015 Increasing the Current Approval Rating For Congress In today’s society, our approval ratings for Congress are extremely low. According to Congressional Performance, Congress’ current approval rating started off as 16% in the year of 2015, and it is now at 18%. Although this is an increase, many of today’s Americans are not satisfied with congress and their ideas, how they handle the different situations we are in, or how they run our country. The amount of dissatisfaction with the government stems from the fact that there are officials in congress who are appointed versus being elected, public opinion is not being surveyed enough, and also, voter turnout also has depreciated significantly due to these things. According to You Can’t Vote Everyone in Congress Out. So, What Can You Do, 60 percent of those polled would “replace almost every member in the house, including from their own state,” in the next election if they could. This is due to the fact that many of the officials in the government are appointed, and those that aren’t appointed, vote and select other officials or judges into high positions that have to do with citizen’s daily lives. This does not demonstrate accurate representation of the people because although the people appointed into congress are usually appointed by an official the people voted for, it is not a direct relationship which lessens the amount of approval...
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