Chapter 10 The Legislative System

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Chapter 10The Legislative System

• Main Idea
• Section 1 Congress, made up of the senate/H.O.R.
  is the natl govts legislative branch

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Bell Work

• Get book
• Get Notes packet and worksheets in back
• Clean out folders in back
• These will need to be put to greater use!!
• Read/answer Section 1 Essentials
• Have stuff ready to begin lecture on Chapter 10
• Chapter homework grades will come from Completed
  Essentials as well as various review completions

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Why Bicameral?

• What is a Bicameral?
• Means that congress is made up of two houses!
• Senate and H.O.R.
• Why?
• Historical
• Practical
• Theoretical

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Why Bicameral?

• Historical Reason
• Framers of the constitution were familiar w/
  British two house system
• 11/13 early colonies used bicameral colonial then
  state legislatures

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Why Bicameral?

• Practical Reason
• Needed to settle conflict b.t. N.J. and
  Philadelphia plans
• Seats based on proportion vs. equality
• Bicameral reflects federalism
• Each state gets equal representation and
  proportionate representation
• Theoretical
• Idea that one house would act as a check to the
  other
• Idea that a divided congress would prevent it
  from overwhelming the other two branches
• Look _at_ concept on page 263

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Congressional Terms

• Term is the length of time an official serves
  after election
• Each term now begins on January 3 of every odd
  numbered year.
• Each term lasts for two years
• 111th Congress just convened and will meet until
  when?
• Jan. 3 2011

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How have sessions changed?

• Session meeting period when congress conducts
  business
• Two sessions to each term of congress.
• 1 each year
• Sessions used to be 4-5 months of each year
  before adjourning (ending)
• Now congress meets year round w/ short breaks
• President may call special sessions to deal w/
  emergency matters
• Bail-out plan

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Section 1 Lesson Closing

• L-J 1
• Answer section 1 assessment (keep in folders)
  Keep these to turn in at end of Chapter
• 1-5 omit 4 In complete sentences
• This is on an Exit Card to leave class

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Bell Work

• Get Books
• Get Worksheets out
• Answer these two review ?s
• How long is a term in the H.O.R.?
• 2 years
• When congress adjourns it?
• Ends a session
• Read Section 2 Essentials
• Answer 2 ?s at bottom

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What are the size/terms of the House?

• Constitution directs the of the house be
  apportioned (distributed) based on pop.
• Size
• Currently the house sits at 435 members
• Each state is awarded at least one representative
• D.C., Guam, V. Islands elect delegates but they
  are not full-members

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What are the size/terms of the House?

• Terms
• Art. I of the const. says that reps should be
  chosen every second year
• H.O.R. members serve two year terms
• Ensures that they always have election and
  district in mind when conducting business
• No Constitutional limit on terms

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How are seats reapportioned?

• Reapportion
• Redistribute
• Art. I of const. directs reapportion to occur
  every decennial (10 year) census.
• Problems of s led to the Reapportionment Act of
  1929
• Congress set limit at 435
• Basically population is divided by 435 now and
  that represents the population per rep.
• Approx. 650,000 per representative

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Congressional Elections/Districts

• Times, places, and manner for holding election is
  determined by states legislature
• Can be changed by congress if needed
• Election
• Date All held on same day in every state
• Tuesday after the 1st Monday in Nov. of every
  even year
• Off-year elections Elections that occur b.t.
  presidential elections
• Usually party in power loses seats in congress
  here
• Look at pg. 269 and answer caption

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Congressional Elections/Districts

• Districts
• All rep.s are chosen in separate congressional
  districts
• Two methods
• General Ticket seats filled at large by whole
  state
• Done away w/ bc unfairWhy?
• Single-member district Voters in each district
  elect one rep. from those running
• Gerrymandering became a problem here..Why?

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Qualifications

• Formal are set out in the constitution
• Formal (All refereed by the House )
• At least 25
• U.S. citizen for 7 years
• Inhabitant of state elected from
• Custom of living in district as well
• Informal
• Vary from state-state and district-district
• Party identification, name familiarity,
  ethnicity, political experience.
• Think Tom Osborne from years ago

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Lesson Closing

• Class work Exit Card
• Answer 1-4 of assessment (pg.273) as well as
  answer caption on page 272

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Bell Work

• Get books
• Get worksheets out
• Read/Answer Section 3
• L-J 2

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What is the size of senate

• Constitution states that the senate shall be
  composed of two senators from each state.
• A. Today the number is 100 b/c there are 50
  states
• Framers intentions were to keep the senate small
  so it would be a more enlightened body than the
  house
• One reason why it is often referred to as the
  upper house

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Their elections past/present

• Past
• Constitution orig. stated that they would be
  chosen by the state legislatures
• Often choose popular and qualified
• Problems arose when leaders started to buy leg.s
  votes to win a senate seat. Millionaires Club
• Present
• Those problems resulted in the 17th Amendment
• Elected from the state in the at-large method
• All eligible voters for the most numerous
  branch are eligible to vote here too

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How/Why are their terms different?

• How?
• Terms are for 6 years at a time
• No term limits for re-election
• Terms are staggered so that only 1/3 expire
  every 2 years
• Why?
• 6 years gives them more job security and takes
  them away from day-day politics
• Allows them to avoid pressures of public opinions
  and special interest groups
• Staggered Elections Designed so that the upper
  house is a continuous body so a majority (66) of
  members have experience.

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Qualifications

• 30 years of age
• Citizen of U.S. for 9 years
• Resident of that state

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Lesson Closing

• For Grade tomorrow
• Using colored pencils/markers and colored paper
• Create a concept map or web tree giving
  information about both the upper and lower
  houses
• Can be informative giving election,
  qualification, numbers details for each
• -Or- Can be in a compare/contrast form w/
  sim.s/diff.s
• Congress Video

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Bell Work

• Get Books
• Turn in Concept Maps for completion Grade
• Read Section 4 Essentials
• Answer 2 ?s as well

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Duties performed by Congress

• 5 overall duties as explained in the constitution
• Legislators, representatives of their
  constituents, committee members, servants of
  their constituents, and politicians
• A. Representatives of their people
• 4 voting roles (options)
• Trustees decide votes based on merit, own
  judgments
• Delegates Vote according to folks back home
• Partisans Vote in-line with their party
• Politicos Attempt to have balance of other three.

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Duties performed by Congress

• B. Committee members
• Proposed laws are referred to committees
• Committees made of both houses
• They decide which will make it to floor which not
• C. Servants
• Act as servants to their constituents
• Why?
• Have to perform all sorts of duties to get
  re-elected.
• Read passage on pg. 282 (notice all the things
  they may feel obligated to do!!)

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Compensation/Privileges of Members

• Constitution provides that congress shall
  receive a compensation for their services, to be
  ascertained by law.
• Means they decide/vote on their compensation
• Compensation
• Salary around 158,000 some more
• Speaker of house, Pro Tem, Majority/minority
  leaders all get a little more
• Fringe Benefits like cheap insurance, travel
  allowances, tax deductions for 2 residences
• Franking Privilege Benefit that allows them to
  mail letters/materials postage free.

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Compensation/Privileges of Members

• Privileges
• Early Art. I Section 6 Cant be arrested while
  attending sessions
• Why?
• To prevent King from harassing legislators when
  U.S. was still under colonial rule
• Present
• Cant be ?ed outside of either house about their
  speeches/debates
• Designed to give protection to members while in
  debate over laws/bills
• Protects their freedom of opinion during
  legislative process

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Lesson Closing

• L-J 3
• Ch. 10 Quiz on Mon.
• HW Packet due Monday for Grade
• Finish Movie 1600 on
• Chapter 10 Review (This will help you w/quiz)
• 2 Choices 1 is due Monday for HW grade
• Pg. 286 1-10 Vocab.
• 12, 13, 14, 16, 17, 19, 22, 23
• Complete Study Guide from back