CHAPTER III. ARTICLE I: THE LEGISLATIVE DEPARTMENT. SECTION I. "All legislative powers herein granted shall be vested in a congress of the United States, which shall consist of a senate and house of representatives." The legislative department is in some respects the most important branch of our government. This department consists of: (1) The senate. (2) The house of representatives. (3) The president (with the veto power). In the several states the law-making power consists of (1) The senate. (2) The house of representatives. (3) The governor (with the veto power in many states). In the national legislature the senate represents the states, and the house of representatives represents the people. In the states these two houses, which are sometimes called the upper and lower house, form what is in many states called the general assembly, sometimes the legislature, or the general court. In the states the house of representatives usually represents the population; and the senate, counties or districts. There are advantages in dividing the legislative power between two houses. Among them are the fol lowing: Hasty legislation under some temporary excite ment is checked by the delay necessary in considering a bill in two separate bodies of men. Ample time is thus secured for reflection and inquiry. Laws are less likely to be passed from private and personal influence, and for private and personal ends. The laws are likely to be framed more wisely, because after being passed by one house, they may be altered and revised in the other. SECTION 2, CLAUSE I. "The house of representatives shall be composed of members chosen every second year by the people of the several states, and the electors in each state shall have the qualifications requisite for electors of the most numerous branch of the state legislature." Here are three statements: (1) The members of the house are chosen for two years. (2) They are chosen by the "people of the several states." (3) The qualifications for voting for a representative in congress are the same as the qualifications fixed by each state, for voting for a member of the house of representatives in that state; that is, whoever is qualified under the state law to vote for a member of the house of representatives in that state, is qualified according to this constitution to vote for a member of the national house of representatives. The first congress went into operation March 4, 1789, the members of the house holding their seats for two years. On the 4th of March, therefore, in every second year, in other words, in all the odd years, gress begins its term. - a new con CLAUSE 2. "No person shall be a representative who shall not have attained to the age of twenty-five years, and been seven years a citizen of the United States, and who shall not, when elected, be an inhabitant of that state in which he shall be chosen." The qualifications for a member of the national house are three: (1) He must be at least twenty-five years of age. (2) He must have been for seven years a citizen of the United States. (3) He must be an inhabitant of the state in which he shall be chosen; that is, he must be living in that state at the time of the election. It is not necessary that he should have lived there long enough to have acquired a legal residence. These are the only qualifications for a representative required by the constitution, and the states have no right to require additional qualifications. ARTICLE XIV. OF THE AMENDMENTS, SECTION 2, CLAUSE I. "Representatives shall be apportioned among the several states according to their respective numbers, counting the whole number of persons in each state, excluding Indians not taxed." This clause takes the place of the third clause in the section we are now considering. this basis of Here was one The original constitution included in representation three-fifths of the slaves. of the compromises between the free states and the slave states in the formation of the constitution. Happily slavery is now abolished, and the amendment as stated above is now in force. SECTION 2, PART OF CLAUSE 3. "The number of representatives shall not exceed one for every thirty thou sand, but each state shall have at least one representative." The number of representatives, which is fixed by a law of congress once in ten years, has increased from sixty-five, in 1789, to three hundred and twenty-five for the present decade, 1883 to 1893. The population for one representative has increased from thirty-three thousand in 1789 to one hundred and fifty-one thousand nine hundred and twelve for the present decade. CLAUSE 5. "The house of representatives shall choose their speaker and other officers, and shall have the sole power of impeachment." The speaker is the presiding officer of the house, and the other officers are: (1) Clerk. (2) Sergeant-at-arms. (3) Door-keeper. In case the president or any officer of the United States is to be impeached, the articles of impeachment are framed by the house of representatives, and the senate has the sole power to try the person impeached. If it is proposed that an officer should be impeached, the house appoints a committee to inquire into the conduct of that officer. If it reports in favor of impeachment, the house votes upon that question; and if a majority vote for impeachment, then articles are prepared, which embody the charges made, and a vote is taken upon these charges. A committee is then appointed to prosecute the impeachment before the senate. |