I Evolution of the Modern Congress 1 The legislative branch was introduced it was untried and unknown with no real procedures for functioning 2 The idea for the legislative branch stemmed from Great Britain A The English Heritage 1 2 Medieval European was the start of the national scale of representative institutions There are four identified stages of the evolution of assemblies into legislative representation a The assemblies of estates into the representative b Tax voting bodies c Parliaments began to absorb lawmaking and taxing powers from the king d Representation expanded beyond the privileged to included all men and women B The Colonial Experience 1 Representation government was brought to the new world by Europeans 2 3 1619 Virginia colonists elected twenty two delegates 1630 Massachusetts Bay Company began the governing body of Bay Colony with annual elections 4 The governing bodies exercised full lawmaking powers and could veto 5 6 After strong distain for the Stamp Act of 1765 Congress adopted a fourteen point 1760 Britain wanted to tighten the reins on American colonies Declaration of Rights and Grievances 7 The Boston Tea Party revolt caused Britain to close the Boston port and pass Intolerable Acts 1774 First Congressional Congress meet in Philadelphia 8 9 Congress passed a declaration of war and on October 22 Britain declared a state of rebellion 10 The Second Congress declared independence from Britain II Congress In The Constitution 1 The Constitution began a energetic central government that functioned independently of states with divided power among three branches C Powers of Congress 1 Three branches to share power legislative executive and judicial 2 Article 1 expresses provisions of congressional authority and independent 3 Legislative branch was the chief of government powers 4 Power of the purse held by Congress tax and spending 5 Congress is to provide for common defense and general welfare regulate interstate and foreign commerce coin money incur debts post offices roads patients copyrights armed forces and call upon military to make all laws which shall be necessary and proper 6 Legislator is to define the structure and duties of the other branches 7 8 Civil War Amendments ensure former slaves the same rights as others Judiciary one supreme court and lower courts D Limits on Legislative Power 1 Tenth Amendment reserves all powers neither delegated by nor prohibited by the 2 First Amendment No national religion free exercise of religion freedom of speech Constitution to the states or people press assembly and petition 3 President key in lawmaking and helps shape the policies has the ability to the veto a bill carrying out laws is his duty take care that the laws be faithfully executed ability to appoint officers of the United States with advice and consent 4 Congress has the power to impeach with a two third majority vote Judicial Review 1 2 Interprets and applies the laws Judicial Review requires the judiciary to adjudicate a claim that a particular law or regulation violates the Constitution Chief Justice John Marshall E III Institutional Evolution G Workload a It is emphatically the province and duty of the judicial department to say what law is b Supreme Court has the duty of weighting laws against the Constitution 3 Congress typically reacts to judicial review in two ways a Does nothing b Amends the statute to comply with the Court s holding F Bicameralism 1 Congress is divided into two chambers 2 The Constitution created a bicameral legislator a Large states wanted population based representation b Smaller states wanted equal representation It was decided that the House should represent the many 3 4 The Senate reflected the concerns about controlling popular pressure 5 Senate ratifies treaties and approves presidential nominations 6 House originate all revenue measures and appropriation bills 1 2 Increased workload has been an important factor in institutional change Increases have came from outside the institution and from members seeking to make a name for themselves H The Size of Congress 1 With a larger Legislator greater problems are faced agenda control time 2 House has 435 members 3 House leadership has to rely on committees limit on floor debates strict handling of the flow of business 4 Less stringent rules in the smaller Senate I Conflict with the Executive Branch 1 Legislative Reorganization Act of 1946 was a way to redress the imbalance of power within the branches by deducing the number of committees and regularizing jurisdictions 2 Congressional Budget Office CBO Congress to form a national budget on their own relying on the President s budget or executive branch s Office of Management and Budget Partisan Interests 1 Parties did not play a role in the original constitutional blueprint 2 Parties started in the first presidential in 1790 with Alexander Hamilton 3 Reed s Rules 1890 granted Speaker of the House control over the order of business and curbed the minority party s ability to obstruct the floor agenda J 4 Majority still controls the institution today K Members Individual Interests 1 Members have individual goals to prove they are effective 2 Members want the rules and processes to serve them as individuals and representatives IV Evolution Of The Legislator s Job L The Congressional Career 1 At first congressional service was seen as odious duty than as rewarding work with high turn over rates where a lot of legislators didn t make it two years 2 Today most senators serve over eleven years and the House member nearly ten 3 The most senior legislators used to receive the most honored positions 4 Now expended service in office generally is a prerequisite for top party and committee roles but not required M Professionalization 1 Members of Congress are now full time professional politicians 2 Now have large staffs N Constituency Demands 1 Early legislators had a difficult time communicating with constituents because of the lack of communication where the only choice was letters to their districts 2 Now with the fast access to internet representatives are able to keep in closer contact with their constituents The book spoke about how in the first meetings of Congress issues were passed by addressing them one on one and then compromising While this is relatively the same procedure used today the incentive for compromise doesn t seem to be with the legislature on most issues It took the early legislators a long time to figure out