Relationship Between Congress And Congress

The Constitution of the United States is one of the oldest living documents in the entire world. It has spawned a civilization to the height of power that world haven’t seen since the days of Caesar and the old Roman Republic. Many years has passed since then, and the founding fathers drawing from that failed republic, endeavored to create a government that could withstand internal and external forces that inevitably leads to its demise. Drawing from two renowned thinkers of the time, Baron de Montesquieu and Brutus (pen name), the face of the anti-federalists, the founding fathers tried to grapple with the immense of task of creating a government from scratch. The failed Articles of Confederation, proved the fact for the need of a stronger executive

Congress is a very crucial piece that ties in with the U.S. government, it’s considered the most important representative institution in American government. The three main functions of Congress include representing Americans, lawmaking, and impeachment. Representing the citizens of America, members of Congress work to serve their constituents. With bicameral legislature that the Constitution has granted them consists of the House of Representatives and the Senate. Throughout the nation, different

This written report is appertaining to the book How Congress Works and Why You Should Care, written by Lee H. Hamilton. This book is published by Indiana University Press in Bloomington, IL, it was copyrighted in 2004 by the publisher.

The concept of power is a divisive matter in the American political system, as the actors holding it are sometimes unable to impose it as a result of their limited authority to do so. The legislative, executive, and judicial branches in the national government depend on each-others point of view. Part of the Constitution was designed with the purpose of making it impossible for either of these three to become more powerful than the others. Each of them has the ability to check and balance the way that the other two function. In spite of the fact that this system was created with the intention of preventing power from being shared unequally in the country, it sometimes serves as a tool for political gridlock, considering that the judicial branches can debate in regard to a particular topic for unlimited amounts of time before actually reaching a conclusion regarding the respective issue.

James Madison quotes, “The accumulation of all powers, legislative, executive and judiciary in the same hands whether of one, a few or many...may be justly pronounced the very definition of tyranny.” James Madison is saying absolute power corrupts absolutely. Accordingly, to obtain liberty the “three great departments of power should be separate and distinct.” Our bicameral Legislature makes laws, Congress consists of a Senate and a House of Representatives. “The executive power shall be vested in a President”, the President carries out the laws while in office during the term of four years. Consequently, the Judicial power evaluates laws and is “invested in one Supreme Court”. The separation of powers guards the community against tyranny because each branch holds each other

The government of the United States of America has been around for over 2 centuries, in this time the original setup has been little altered. The government is composed of three individual branches: judicial, executive, and legislative branches. All three branches are held together using a system of checks and balances. While each branch has some kind of trump or has control over another branch, some branches are arguably more powerful than others. The main focus of this paper will be on where the executive branch stands power-wise. When our founding fathers first started building our nation from the dust, they had in mind a system of branches where no one branch was more powerful than the others. The decision of whether or not they hit

Although there are strengths in the way the United States Congress is built to deal with issues, there are many weaknesses that counteract these strengths. Congress is a bicameral legislature that is made up of both the House of Representatives and the Senate. The strengths are in the way Congress has clearly established rules. The three branches of government were created to make a separation of powers so that no one branch can be more powerful than the next; which is known as checks and balances. The clearly established rules that Congress has to follow is a major strength, and although these checks and balances are beneficial, they tend to cause many dilemmas making the contemporary Congress a relatively weak institution of American national

With comparison between a small and large government, James Madison argues that a larger government, like the one proposed by the new United States Constitution, would protect from the tyranny of the majority that would likely be the result of maintaining a small government. He argues that voters are more likely to elect “fit” representatives, as compared to the higher corruption plausibility present in a smaller government. Madison formulates an important argument in favor of the government presented by the Constitution.

Lastly, it is impossible for any certain branch to gain too much power because of something called “checks and balances”. With checks and balances, each branch has the power to cancel another out and keep its power balanced. “In framing a government, which is to be administered by men over men, the great difficulty lies in this: you must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place, oblige it to control itself.” Here, James Madison is stating that first, the issue is to convince the people that they need laws for the country to run properly and smoothly, and second is to explain to the people that the educated elite will not receive too much power. This will be achieved by giving each branch the power to overrule one another. For example, the legislative branch can impeach the president and Supreme Court, the president vetoes laws and nominates the Supreme Court, and the Supreme Court declares laws and acts unconstitutional. This way, not one single branch will be the main source of government.

In this essay, I will be writing about how the power relationship between the United States Congress and the presidency has changed during the past two hundred years. I will be talking about how the executive branch is more powerful than the legislative branch and how the changing relationship between Congress and the president affected American democracy in a good way.

“...Power over any one thing, if not limited by some obvious and precise affinity, may amount to a Power over every other.”-James madison. James Madison’s ideas about the American Constitution (considering he wrote the first draft) clearly reflects his opinion about how one branch should not have more power than another, and if one happens to be able to exploit a specific power, or given to much power; it will have power over everything. This is crucial to the inner workings of America’s government because without Branches constantly checking each other, America is just a good as a Monarchy.

Congress is a complex lawmaking function that runs the country. In other words is the legislative body of our country made up of a Senate and a House of Representatives. Difficulties that are involved by the representation function have to do with Congressmen wanting to be reelected, opposition between the two parties, and the lobbying that takes place. These three difficulties are what causes the conflict with the lawmaking function of Congress.

Throughout history, there have been many factors that seem to have influenced the operations of Congress. Some of these factors have been the committee system, seniority, and political parties. These are only a few of the factors that actually have an influence on Congress’s decisions of certain operations.

Over 200 years ago the United States’ Founding Fathers created a unique system of government that allowed a balance to exist between both the federal government and the separate state governments. Through the three branches of government, specifically the executive and legislative branches, the United States has been able to act as a unified body with several varying individual parts. With the executive branch and the legislative branch each having outlined powers of their own the Founders were able to equally balance the power of the national government and the state governments. Although this system has managed to stay in tact for two centuries and has allowed the United States of America to become a dominate player in international affairs, there has consistently been a battle of power between the president in the executive branch and the two houses of congress in the legislative branch. As the United States continues to evolve and face multiple obstacles, so does the relationship between these two branches.

The inter workings of Congress have been studied extensively by Richard Fenno and David R. Mayhew. Mayhew’s study of Congress took place in Washington, while Richard Fenno conducted his research by following politicians within their congressional district. Mayhew attributes three primary goals to congressmen- getting reelected, achieving influence within Congress and making “good Policy”. Fenno also attributes three basic goals, having influence inside the House than other congressmen. Second, helping their constituents and thereby insuring their reelection, and lastly helping make good policy. The purpose of this paper is to research a member of Congress and to make a direct connection between his activity in Washington and his home district. The paper will answer whether the congressmen is a delegate or trustee. Are the actions a pursuit for reelection? Are the committee assignments a path for movement within the House or outside? What legislation has he/she sponsored or co-sponsored and does it directly reflect his/her districts political view. And finally, do major industries and interest groups within his/she district affect the way he/she votes.