Bicameral Legislature Dbq Essay

The motive for creating a bicameral legislature in the US Constitution was to ensure that there is fair representation for both large and small states. The Senate is based on equal representation while the House of Representatives is based on the population of each state. Furthermore, Ancient Rome influenced the US Constitution because it used a system known as checks and balances. Checks and balances is a system where each branch had the power to work against another branch if that branch were to abuse its power or become too powerful. Ancient Rome used this system in order to prevent government corruption and to have a balance of power throughout the government. Polybius, who was a Roman politician, wrote 40 volumes of work that make up The Histories. “For when one [branch] having grown out of proportion to the others aims at supremacy and tends to become too predominant, …[that branch] ...can be counter worked and thwarted by the others” (Document C). The US Constitution also includes checks and balances where the executive, judicial, and legislative branches can check the power of each

76) With this in mind the framers carefully and purposefully crafted a Constitution that divided federal powers between the legislative, executive, and judicial branches. This division of power gave each branch the ability and authority to control the others through a specific system of checks and balances. One check on Congress was the design of a bicameral system where Congress was divided into the House of Representatives and the Senate. Members of the House of Representatives would be elected by majority popular vote making them the direct representative of their constituencies. Members of the Senate would be elected by state legislatures making them direct representatives of the states, and proponents of the state’s rights and sovereignty. Joseph Story (1833) suggests that one main reason for the mode of appointing the Senate was to introduce a powerful check upon rash legislation, and prevent the national governments encroachment on the powers of the states (p.183). However, in passing the 17th Amendment the mode of electing the Senate as a means of partitioning federal and state power collapsed leaving the states unprotected from abuses of the central government.

Despite the fact the founding fathers advised contrary to the establishment of political factions as the Constitution withstood the ratification process, a rift amongst men in President George Washington’s cabinet instituted the move toward the conception of political party. During the time period between 1791 and 1833, a two-party system had begun that demonstrated the philosophy of the Federalists and Democratic-Republicans. Although these two political groups were unyielding in their original ideas and beliefs, both had to change a few of their initial standpoints on numerous topics as they dealt with the truth of the government.

Our Legislative Branch has two chambers or as some will call it bicameral. The chambers consist of the Senate and the House of Representatives just like the National Legislative Branch. In our Senate we currently have a total of 31

All three of the documents A, B, and C have quality that’s appreciable for vocables as evidence. The ones that produce the quality that is needed as a reliable source would be document A and document C combined. It’s because both answer questions that are practical. Document A, has very crucial data about affirmative ways for the representative government they possess in that era . Document C, lists the negatives to the representative government they’d possessed. But it didn’t possess enough of the constructive quality that contributes to the representative government laws that cease to exist today.

Both houses need each other in order to function as they are both part of the legislative branch of government however there are many arguments to suggest that senate is more prestigious that the house of representatives.

While both houses were intended to have new members regularly with each election, the House of Representatives was especially supposed to change. James Madison wrote, in The Federalist No. 57 (1788), “[Representatives] will be taken from that class of citizens which will...be most likely to aim at an ambitious sacrifice of the many and the aggrandizement of the few.” Whereas Senators were

Senators represent an entire state, as members of the House of Representatives only represent districts, highlighting from the outset their different abilities to

The Senate and House of Representatives both need to be on the same page. No bill will be passed if there is a disagreement between the two. However, they both have different abilities. For example, the House initiates revenue bills and can implement impeachment procedure which the Senate cannot do. The Senate can approve treaties and can provide insight to the President’s actions. It seems as though the Senate has more weight, being casually called the “upper” house, and the House of Representatives called the “lower” house.

The limitations on and difficulties of passing laws are very, very important. The split legislature creates a more complicated maze through which laws must find their way before being passed. First, a law must be introduced in either the House of Representatives or the Senate, the former having sole power to introduce laws concerning revenue. After the law is introduced, it must be approved by the other house, who may agree with, amend, or discard the law. Once

Under the US Constitution our legislature is a bicameral containing a House of Representatives and a Senate. The Australian constitution has a parliamentary system, which is not bicameral, although their system has a house of representatives and a senate; these two houses have to share power with the Queen. The Prime Minister leads the legislature.

I find that all of the readings of the bills, as well as the ability to amendments to the bills, allows the politicians to know exactly what they are voting for, and does not allow for much confusion. I also think that the lopsided favour to the majority governments is a good thing in some cases, as it allows the party that won over the most Canadians to create laws that the people who voted them in want much quicker than possible in any other type of government, keeping the masses happy. Lastly, I find that the Senate is useful in some circumstances, as it doesn't allow majority governments to produce quite as many laws as they would like, which helps to balance out the power of all of the political

The legislative branch is the most powerful branch in government. The legislative branch is in charge of making and passing laws. They have the power to override a president’s decision, stop laws from being passed, and basically control all decisions the governments makes. The legislative branch, also called the congress, consists of the House of Representatives and the senate. The reason for two houses of congress is to balance out the concerns of smaller but more populated states against states that are larger but with less population (www.Usgovinfo.com).

The causes for bicameralism no longer apply to the United States of today, and this is why we must operate as we did before to make the three branches of government more efficient. On account of, the Straight Dope Message Board submits a controversial question that is vital to the conflict which states “In terms of political theory, what is the point of having two different legislative bodies which in principle both represent the very same sovereign electorate?”4 This question supports the notion of eliminating the unnecessary aspects of our government, which in turn, makes this change a necessary one that shall be implemented in the constitution of the United States. With that being said, the constitution should then say that “All states are to operate under a unicameral legislature, with also a separate body and council to revise any decisions set forth by the one house, appealing to the needs and wishes of all the American

The Role of the Senate and House of Representatives The Congress of the United States consists of the Senate and the House of Representatives which means the USA is bi-cambial. The Congress of the United States was created by Article I, Section 1, of the Constitution, adopted by the Constitutional Convention on September 17, 1787. The Senate is composed of 100 Members, 2 from each State, who are elected to serve for a term of 6 years.