A Civics for Elementary Schools (Paperback)

Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER III. THE SENATE, OR UPPER HOUSE OF THE CONGRESS OF THE UNITED STATES. Section 3. Clause 1. " The Senate of the United States shall be composed of two Senators from each State, chosen by the Legislature thereof for six years; and each Senator shall have one vote." We have learned that the number of votes that each state has in the House of Representatives depends on the population of the state. New York, to-day, has thirty- seven votes, and Delaware only one. Independence of the Senate. ? This apportionment of Representatives has the tendency to give the larger states more power than the smaller, but this is to a great extent overcome by giving each state two voters in the Senate; and the Senators, being elected for six years, are more independent of popular clamor, as their re-election does not depend so much on following the popular outcry. For these reasons, the Senate acts as a check on the House of Representatives. An instance of this is the passing of the "Wilmot Proviso" by the House of Representatives, in 1846. It failed to pass the Senate. The House which passed the bill had just been elected by the people, whereas many of the Senators had been in office for four years, and some of them for nearly six, The Senators are chosen by the Legislature of the state they represent, as it is thought they are thus removed from popular influence. Many statesmen to-day, however, think it would be wiser to have the Senators elected directly by the people. Clause 2. "Immediately after they shall be assembled, in consequence of the first election, they shall be divided, as equally as may be, into three classes. The seats of the Senators of the first class shall be vacated at the expiration of the second year; of the second class, at the expiration of the fourth ...