Term Limits For Legislators Essay

76) With this in mind the framers carefully and purposefully crafted a Constitution that divided federal powers between the legislative, executive, and judicial branches. This division of power gave each branch the ability and authority to control the others through a specific system of checks and balances. One check on Congress was the design of a bicameral system where Congress was divided into the House of Representatives and the Senate. Members of the House of Representatives would be elected by majority popular vote making them the direct representative of their constituencies. Members of the Senate would be elected by state legislatures making them direct representatives of the states, and proponents of the state’s rights and sovereignty. Joseph Story (1833) suggests that one main reason for the mode of appointing the Senate was to introduce a powerful check upon rash legislation, and prevent the national governments encroachment on the powers of the states (p.183). However, in passing the 17th Amendment the mode of electing the Senate as a means of partitioning federal and state power collapsed leaving the states unprotected from abuses of the central government.

upon the states to contribute forces, and however in the new system Congress could raise an army for military situations. There was also interstate commerce, which could be controlled by congress in the Constitution, and alike, disputes between states could now be dealt with by the federal Court system instead of a complicated system of Arbitration. Passing laws was yet another point of change, where only 9/13 votes were needed to approve legislation before, the Constitution needed

Along with the Constitution we have the Articles of Confederation. Under these Articles congress was a single house where each state had 2 to 7 members but only one vote. They selected executive judges and military officers as well as having power to make war and peace and conduct foreign affairs. The ability to have money Congress could borrow and print money, but they could not collect taxes or enforce laws, precisely it had to rely on the states to provide and enforce. Articles of Confederation was written to be a “framework for the government of the United States, it established a firm league of friendship among the states rather than a government of the people.” (book)

The legislative branch is the most powerful branch in government. The legislative branch is in charge of making and passing laws. They have the power to override a president’s decision, stop laws from being passed, and basically control all decisions the governments makes. The legislative branch, also called the congress, consists of the House of Representatives and the senate. The reason for two houses of congress is to balance out the concerns of smaller but more populated states against states that are larger but with less population (www.Usgovinfo.com).

The congress is subject to congressional term limits. George Washington. These term limits have been around since the constitution. The presidential two term limit was informal until 1951 with the 22nd Amendment. The 22nd Amendment states “No person shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice, and no person who has held the office of President, or acted as President, for more than two years of a term to which some other person was elected President shall be elected to the office of the President more than once.” This came after Roosevelt served four terms. Term limits are needed to control power, give regular citizens a chance to run, and make politicians think more and do more with their limited office time.

The main difference between the House and the Senate is that the house puts all responsibility on the national government while the Senate positions the responsibility onto the states when it comes to creating their health insurance exchanges. It seems as though that if a state fails to do it they are then under the hand of the House and not the Senate. While both bills are aiming towards a similar result they go about it in different ways. Exclusivity of the health insurance exchange is one way they differ. , The Senate wants non-group health insurance to be sold outside of the exchange where it will be less regulated. The House calls for all non-group health insurance coverage to be sold through the health insurance exchange.

Congressional terms have no limits. Controversy exists between those who think the terms should be limited and those who believe that terms should remain unlimited. The group that wants to limit the terms argues that the change will promote fresh ideas and reduce the possibility of decisions being made for self-interest. Those who oppose term limits believe that we would sacrifice both the stability and experience held by veteran politicians. They also point out that our election process allows the voter to limit terms, at their discretion. While experience and stability are important considerations, congressional terms should be limited to a maximum of two.

The primary vehicle for term limits in Congress is H.J.Res. 14, which would amend the Constitution to limit House members to three terms and U.S. senators to two terms. Yet only a handful of members have joined the joint resolution’s author, Representative Matt Salmon, R-Arizona, in co-sponsoring

Also, how could we protect one aspect of the current system that we have in place so we never have all freshman Senators and Representatives in office. The danger would potentially lead to them possibly be persuaded into corruption by outside influences.

One of the most interesting events that occurred in the early days of Congress occurred when George Washington brought the Senate the very first treaty to be ratified. Upon his delivery of this treaty Washington expected, being the President, an immediate ratification. However, before this instance a treaty had never been ratified by the Senate, so they informed Washington that they would have to discuss it. Thereafter, Washington paced the halls of the Capital Building, until the Senate, establishing their newfound power, informed him it would take a day or two to be finished (Burns, 1988). This interaction between the President and the Senate, is a crucial example of how early adaptations of power in America allowed for the

The feebleness of Congress was a major weakness of the Articles of Confederation. When the Articles of Confederation were adopted in 1777, they created a “loose confederation” of states (Pageant, 181). This meant that each state was independent and sovereign, linked by Congress only to deal with common problems and foreign affairs. Congress was meant to be part of a united central power of the government, but due to the abuse suffered from the king, the states so limited the powers of the central government to the point of powerlessness.

The time for a new government came about in times of fear, many men such as William Livingston wondered “if the republic could even survive another decade” for Henry Knox made an excellent point in declaring “Our present federal government is a name, a shadow,

Assess the extent to which incumbents have an adage over challengers in congressional elections. (25marks)

The powers of Congress have evolved throughout the multiple proposed plans for a structured government. In the first proposed plan The Articles Of Confederation congress held the power to create alliances with other countries, control and maintain the military, and dealt with the financial element of the country. In The Articles Of Confederation it was favored to be state sovereignty exclusive since many of the states favored this because they were represented equally. This also allowed for a unicameral legislature to be constructed. In the virginia plan the powers of congress differed from the articles of confederation when they became a bicameral legislature that consisted of two chambers of congress. In the virginia plan congress would have

The Articles of Confederation, a written agreement that ensured each state’s sovereignty, freedom and independence, led America to victory over the British centralized government. During the late eighteenth century, the empowered government terrified the Americans, hence the thirteen colonies decided to spread governance powers equally to all functional states. The states had absolute dominance over the Congress due to the Articles of Confederation. While the localized power of states seemed to be promising, the system posed great threat to the major components of a democratic government, which are coercion, revenue, and legitimacy (Lecture 1 - The Roots of Government). The system of localized power did not ensure legitimacy, which referred to people’s recognition of national government. Congress’s lack of power to control each state’s actions caused great chaos. Eventually, national government’s lack of power and inability to unify the states exposed multiple flaws in the Articles of Confederation; consequently, a new supreme law, the Constitution was established by the founding fathers. The new supreme law successfully altered the imbalanced system into a novel democratic government.