Admin Table of Contents
- 1 What does the Constitution say about the houses of Congress?
- 2 What 3 things is Congress forbidden to do by the Constitution?
- 3 Why has the House of Representatives grown so much faster than Senate?
- 4 Do members of Congress have to live in the district they represent?
- 5 Why is the House of Representatives the closest to the people?
What does the Constitution say about the houses of Congress?
To balance the interests of both the small and large states, the Framers of the Constitution divided the power of Congress between the two houses. Every state has an equal voice in the Senate, while representation in the House of Representatives is based on the size of each state’s population.
What 3 things is Congress forbidden to do by the Constitution?
No State shall enter into any Treaty, Alliance, or Confederation; grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal; coin Money; emit Bills of Credit; make any Thing but gold and silver Coin a Tender in Payment of Debts; pass any Bill of Attainder, ex post facto Law, or Law impairing the Obligation of Contracts, or grant any Title …
What is the purpose of section 6 in Congress?
To ensure the separation of powers among the legislative, judicial and executive branches of government, Article I, Section 6, prohibits a senator or representative from holding any other federal office during his or her service in Congress.
What is the purpose of section 7?
Article I, Section 7 of the Constitution creates certain rules to govern how Congress makes law. Its first Clause—known as the Origination Clause—requires all bills for raising revenue to originate in the House of Representatives.
Why has the House of Representatives grown so much faster than Senate?
Why has the House of Representatives grown so much faster than the Senate? The number of senators allowed per state has been routinely reduced. Fewer and fewer representatives have been re-elected to additional terms. The Constitution requires the number of representatives to increase each decade.
Do members of Congress have to live in the district they represent?
It leaves the matter up to the states themselves; most require elected municipal and legislative officials to live in the districts where they were elected. States cannot, however, enact laws requiring members of Congress to live in the districts they represent because state law cannot supersede the Constitution.
What are the qualifications to serve in the House of Representatives?
The Constitution requires that Members of the House be at least 25 years old, have been a U.S. citizen for at least seven years, and live in the state they represent (though not necessarily the same district). And Article VI, clause 3 requires that all Members take an oath to support the Constitution before they exercise the duties of their office.
Why do we have term limits in the House of Representatives?
Powell v. McCormack (1969); U.S. Term Limits, Inc. v. Thorton (1995). To ensure that House members were accountable to the people, Article I, Section 2 provided for relatively frequent elections, to take place every two years. This contrasted with the terms of Senators under Article I, Section 3, which take place every six years.
Why is the House of Representatives the closest to the people?
The Constitution placed notably few hurdles between ordinary citizens and becoming a Member of the U.S. House of Representatives. The founders wanted the House to be the legislative chamber closest to the people—the least restrictive on age, citizenship, and the only federal office at the time subject to frequent popular election.