U.S. Congress
The United States Congress is the legislative body of the United States of America. It comprised the Continental Congresses (1776-1789) under the Articles of Confederation and the U.S. Congress (1789 to present). following the close of the Revolutionary War.
First and Second Continental Congress
see Articles of Confederation In September 1774, delegates from twelve of the American colonies gathered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in response to British punishment of Massachusetts. This "First Continental Congress" talked but did not legislate. It issues "The Declaration of Rights and Grievances," and encouraged the boycott of British goods to add economic punch to their philosophical arguments for more home rule.
The First Continental Congress called the Second Continental Congress, which met in Philadelphia from May 1775. It declared independence on July 4, 1776 and supervised the war effort and diplomacy. The Third Continental Congress (1776-1781) prosecuted the war and made an alliance with France. It drafted the Articles of Confederation in 1777; although not officially adopted until 1781, the Articles were used as the nation's constitution. Each state legislature selected a delegation, and it cast one vote. Nine votes were needed to pass a bill, and all 13 states had to ratify any amendments.
The Confederation Congress
The Confederation Congress (1781-1789) operated with the same rules as before. It convinced the states to cede it their claims to western lands. Its most notable legislation was the Northwest Ordinance of 1787, which created the Northwest Territory. This Congress authorized the Constitutional Convention that met in Philadelphia in 1787 to draft a new Constitution. Congress set out the rules for ratification; every state ratified and the new Constitution of the United States of America took effect in 1789, with George Washington the first president.
The United States Congress
The United States Congress was created by Article 1 of the United States Constitution. The Congress is bicameral (two houses), unlike its unicameral (one house) predecessor. Members vote as individuals rather than as states. The new House of Representatives represented the people, giving states seats proportional to their total population (counting 3/5 of the slaves and all the whites.) State equality was the rule for the Senate, where each state has two senators.
In addition to the new structure provided in the Constitution, the Congress was provided with far more power than ever before. This shift from state-centric power to national power was the result of the experience gained from watching the Confederation Congress operate. For example, in many cases, legislation that would have benefited the entire country was rejected by the negative vote of one or a few states. For another example, amendment of the Articles of Confederation had to be unanimous - in the Constitution, amendment is affected by three fourths of the states.
The powers of the Congress are tempered by the creation of two other branches of the government - the executive, embodied in the President and Vice President, to carry out the laws passed by Congress; and the judiciary, in the form of the Supreme Court and other inferior courts, to interpret the laws passed by Congress. This separation of power was designed to ensure that no one branch accumulated too much power, and a system of checks and balances was created to provide remedies to abuses of power.
Bibliography
- Congressional Quarterly. Guide to Congress, 5th ed. (2000).
- Baker, Ross K. House and Senate, 3rd ed. New York: W. W. Norton. (2000).
- Michael Barone and Richard E. Cohen. The Almanac of American Politics, 2006 (2005), elaborate detail on every district and member; 1920 pages; new edition every 2 years since 1976
- Davidson, Roger H., and Walter J. Oleszek. (1998). Congress and Its Members, 6th ed. Washington DC: Congressional Quarterly.
- Dennis Hastert, Tom Daschle, and David Silverberg. Congress for Dummies (2002)
- Lee, Frances and Bruce Oppenheimer. Sizing Up the Senate: The Unequal Consequences of Equal Representation. University of Chicago Press. (1999).
- Rimmerman, Craig A. "Teaching Legislative Politics and Policy Making." Political Science Teacher, 3 (Winter 1990): 16–18.
- Ritchie, Donald A. "What Makes a Successful Congressional Investigation." OAH Magazine of History, 11 (Spring 1997): 6–8.
- David R. Tarr and Ann O'Connor. Congress A to Z (CQ Congressional Quarterly) (4th ed 2003) 605pp
History
Membership
- American National Biography (1999), contains biographies of all politicians no longer alive.
- Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1774-2005. 2005. biographical entries for every person who ever served; Biographical Directory online.
- Barone, Michael, and Grant Ujifusa, The Almanac of American Politics 1976: The Senators, the Representatives and the Governors: Their Records and Election Results, Their States and Districts (1975). revised every two years
Scholarly secondary sources
- Alexander, De Alva Stanwood. History and Procedure of the House of Representatives. (1916) online edition
- Carroll, Holbert N. The House of Representatives and Foreign Affairs 1958 online edition
- Davidson, Roger H., Susan Webb Hammond, Raymond W. Smock, eds; Masters of the House: Congressional Leadership over Two Centuries Westview Press, 1998 online edition
- Galloway, George B. History of the House of Representatives 1962 online edition
- Herrick, Rebekah. "Gender effects on job satisfaction in the House of Representatives." Women and Politics, (2001). 23 (4), 85–98.
- Hunt, Richard. (1998). "Using the Records of Congress in the Classroom," OAH Magazine of History, 12 (Summer): 34–37.
- MacNeil, Neil. Forge of Democracy: The House of Representatives (1963) popular history by a well-informed journalist online edition
- Remini, Robert V. The House: The History of the House of Representatives (2006) the standard scholarly history
- Ritchie, Donald A. (1997). "What Makes a Successful Congressional Investigation." OAH Magazine of History, 11 (Spring): 6–8.
- Zelizer, Julian E. On Capitol Hill: The Struggle to Reform Congress and its Consequences, 1948-2000 (2004)
- Zelizer, Julian E. ed. The American Congress: The Building of Democracy (2004), essays by leading scholars