How is our legislature bicameral

Once a Congressman is elected, the campaigning never ends until they leave office, which could be many terms later. Congress establishes the number of House members by enacting legislation. In , there were 65 members, and the founders anticipated that House members would never represent more than 30, people.

In , the current number of representatives was reached. The number of people represented by a single member has increased from , in to , in and , in The US Census Bureau calculates these apportionment figures, which can be viewed on an interactive map on its website. This number of people per congressional district is projected to top , in House members are elected in districts whose lines are drawn by state legislatures after the census, which takes place every ten years.

States can gain or lose representatives if there are population shifts. Redistricting can be controversial as legislators seek to draw district lines that advantage their own political parties. In , the process of redrawing congressional district lines in Texas attracted national media attention. Democratic state legislators twice fled to neighboring states to prevent a vote on a redistricting plan that they felt favored Republicans. The media depicted the fugitive Democratic legislators hanging out on the balcony of a cheap hotel in New Mexico as the infuriated Republicans threatened to call out the Texas Rangers to forcibly return them to the state.

The media attention did not stop the redistricting plan. Democratic members of the Texas state assembly garnered national press attention by fleeing to a neighboring state to avoid having to vote on a redistricting plan they felt would give seats to Republicans. The framers felt that the Senate should be constituted as an elite body that would act as a check on the House, the branch closest to the mass public.

Senators serve six-year terms of office, and like the House, there are no limits on the number of terms they can serve. Senators, in theory, should have more time than House members to think about something besides reelection. However, as the cost of elections has grown and Senate elections have become more competitive, fundraising has become a constant concern for many senators.

House members often hold safe seats and do not face serious challenges to reelection, so they often hold office for years. House members are chosen in districts whose boundaries can cut across media markets and other political jurisdictions, such as county or city lines.

Some parts of Maryland and Virginia receive most of their news from the District of Columbia, and their House members are given limited coverage. As a result, it can be difficult for local television news to cover House members and their reelection challengers. Senators, having won statewide races, receive more attention. Their opponents also are likely to receive significant media coverage, which often makes for hotly contested elections.

The House and Senate are institutions that have decidedly different characters. Because of its large size and more frequent turnover in membership, the House is an impersonal institution. The House operates under formal rules. It is hierarchical, and seniority is important.

Members serve for a long time before they become leaders. Senior members have more influence over decision making than their junior colleagues. The Senate does not rely as heavily on hierarchy as the House. It is less rule-bound and operates more loosely and unpredictably than the House, especially as it requires unanimous consent for any bill to be taken up.

This means that a lone senator has the power to stop legislative action, a power that House members do not possess. Senators serve long terms and get to know their colleagues. Seniority is less meaningful, as junior senators have considerable power to make decisions along with their senior colleagues. The smaller size of the chamber allows members to pursue a fast track to leadership and increased public visibility early in their careers.

The differences between the House and Senate are reflected in their respective chambers. The House meets in the largest parliamentary room in the world. Members do not have assigned seats and take any available place on padded benches. Few members spend time in the chamber other than when they are speaking or voting. The Senate chamber is smaller and more ornate. Senators are assigned desks and chairs, many of which have been held by distinguished members. Since the introduction of television to the Senate chamber in , senior senators have taken back-row seats, which provide favorable camera angles against a flattering blue backdrop and have space for displaying charts and graphs.

In a bicameral system, the two chambers of the legislative body can have different organizations, rules, methods of selecting members, and designated powers regarding the legislation and oversight of the other branches of the government. In the U. There are both practical and historical reasons to have two houses of the legislature. A practical reason for a bicameral system is to function as part of the larger system of checks and balances that balance the power of different parts of a government or a society.

By dividing power within the legislative branch, bicameralism helps prevent the legislative branch from having too much power—a kind of intrabranch check. Within the legislative body, bicameralism has historically functioned to balance the power of different social classes or groups within a society. The bicameral system arose in medieval Europe. Sharp class distinctions between the nobility, the clergy, and the commoners meant that these classes were represented by separate groups of representatives, which were charged with advising the king on matters related to and representing the interests of their respective social spheres.

In the modern U. The U. The bicameral system in the U. Article 1, Section 1 of the U. Constitution establishes that the U. Congress consists of the Senate and the House of Representatives. In an agreement known as the Great Compromise, the founders decided to incorporate both elements: the bicameral system was established.

Like the two houses of the English Parliament, the two chambers within the U. The Senate was designed to represent the interests of the States Senators were originally appointed by the state legislatures, not elected , and the House of Representatives was intended to be elected by and represent the interests of the common people. This is also reflected in the powers delegated to each house by the Constitution, with the Senate given a more deliberative, advisory, and oversight role, while the House of Representatives was given primary authority over the taxation of their constituents.

Members of the U. House of Representatives serve two-year terms. This system is called proportional representation. Alabama, for example, has seven representatives, while California has The first instance of British bicameralism occurred in When the Commons met separately from the nobility and clergy for the first time, an Upper Chamber and a Lower Chamber were effectively created.

Each state also has two Senators a system called equal representation who are directly elected by voters and serve six-year terms. Before the Seventeenth Amendment to the Constitution was ratified in , the state legislatures got to choose Senators. These positions tended to be held by the elites. Each house has different requirements to serve. Senator, you must be at least 30 years old, a U. Each house also has unique powers.

Only members of the House of Representatives can criminally indict impeach the President and other federal officials; the Senate then reviews the case. The House also decides presidential elections if no candidate wins a majority of electoral college votes. And any bill that increases taxes originates in the House, which is why the House of Representatives is said to have the "power of the purse. The size, term of office, and method of election directly elected, indirectly elected, appointed, or other for each chamber of a bicameral system will vary by country.

Unicameral systems became more popular during the 20th century, and some countries, including Greece, New Zealand, and Peru, switched systems from bicameral to unicameral.

Bicameral literally means "two chambers," and in practice refers to a government structure involving two houses, or two legislative bodies, that are separate in deliberation from one another. The Founders of the U. At the constitutional convention, larger states mostly in the South and smaller states in the North began to quarrel over which should wield more power at the federal level.

As a compromise called "The Great Compromise," Roger Sherman, a delegate from the colony of Connecticut, proposed bicameralism. This way, smaller states got equal representation with larger states with each having two senators.

At the same time, the house of representatives assigns members of congress proportional to the population. All states in the U. The one exception is Nebraska, which has just a one-chamber legislature. Fiscal Policy. Federal Reserve. Your Privacy Rights. To change or withdraw your consent choices for Investopedia. At any time, you can update your settings through the "EU Privacy" link at the bottom of any page.