Congress The First Branch Of Government Essay

The political theorists David R. Mayhew, Gary W. Cox, and Matthew D. McCubbins argue on how the US Congress functions. They focus on the members of Congress and their actions. The basis of disagreement between the theorists lies in what Congress members find of importance. Mayhew argues that members of Congress, primarily concern themselves with reelection, as such, any action taken only benefits that. Cox and McCubbins’, however, formulate that Congress functions on the basis of majority party control and unity. These arguments present different perspectives, however, they do have agreements amongst them. Overall, Mayhew presents an argument that is believable and shows the truth of members of the US Congress.

Because these appeals often connect directly with the electorate, they can be an effective way to increase name recognition and spread policy messages to inattentive voters who feel like they have been forgotten by their representatives. Unfortunately, because amateur candidates do not have the strategic resources to support and defend their populist agenda, professional politicians are often able to use their political experience to regain the confidence and support of voters.

The role of the Congress is to enact legislation, approve treaties and foreign policy related budget spending. It has equal power to the President, although their respective influence varies over time.

James Madison’s Federalist 10 was written amid criticisms that a republican form of government had never been successful on a large scale. Madison’s argument was that a well-constructed union could control factions. He argued that in order to control factions from their causes, we would need to either give up liberty or free thought. Since we cannot infringe upon these two natural rights, we must move on to controlling the effects. A republic, Madison argues, would be able to do this because the people choose the representatives, and they choose representatives who they feel best represent their opinions. The representatives would be the voices of their constituents, leaving them with the responsibility of making decisions for the public good.

There are many differing views on the powers congress holds, and congress itself, one such point of view is on whether or not congressmen should have a limited number of terms they are capable of serving, similar to how the president is only capable of serving two terms, and whether or not it would benefit both the people and the government. Congress itself is the legislative branch of the federal government, and as such holds a large amount of authority and power, including putting laws into effect, declaring war, taxing, impeachment, and many other important duties that can be carries out only by congress. Furthermore, members of congress do not have limits on the amount of terms they are allowed to serve, only limits on the length of each term, for those in the house of representatives each term is two years, while in the senate, each term is six years long. I find this to be a matter of public concern because many

The first article of the Constitution says "ALL legislative powers...shall be vested in a Congress." The second article then reads "the executive power...in a President." The third article gives the "judicial power of the United States in one Supreme Court" and "in such inferior Courts as the Congress...may establish." The Constitution is still relevant today because it separates the power each branch of government has in the United States. The separation of powers serves several purposes. The separation prevents concentration of power, seen as the form of tyranny, and provides each branch with weapons to fight off encroachment by the other two branches. As argued by James Madison in the Federalist Papers (No. 51), "Ambition must be made to counteract ambition." James Madison created the separation of powers to maximize

writing prompt #6: Explain why the media has been called the fourth branch of government. Include your opinion of whether this is an accurate portrayal.

When the constitution was written it was written so that no one person could have all the power of the government. The constitution wanted to make sure that all people could have the benefits of the federal government but still live with separate state laws. Because no man is immune from enticements of evil, none can be trusted and invested with limitless power. (Lapeer, RUsseell W. issue 6 p. 2). In order to make sure that no one person was able to have all the power they created the different branches of government and the three branches that were created were the executive, the legislative and the judicial branches. The three branches of government worked together with checks and balances to make sure the power was equal within the government and fair.

Out of all the branches the legislative branch has the most power. They have to over view the president 's actions and decisions, if they don 't agree with it they can stop him. They control the taxes money, and relationships between states. They have the power to declare way, and make their own laws. The other branches have limited power and higher supervision, but the legislative branch has enough power to control itself. They make the rules for the country and they can make it to benefit

As our nation first formed, there was much concern about the role of our nation’s leader and how powerful they should be. When the Articles of Confederation were written in 1781, it did not provide for an executive branch. In 1787, at the first Constitutional convention, the delegates agreed that there had to be an executive branch which would be separate from the legislative branch. They felt this would avoid any corruption and would provide for checks and balances to prevent dictatorial rule by this branch of government. Though small, the executive branch plays a crucial role in running the United States.

The Articles of Confederation created a confederation. The National Government consisted of a single legislative body, called Congress. The National Government had certain powers for the Articles of Confederation. At first there was no judicial or executive branch under the Articles. Problems came about because the government under the Articles of Confederation didn 't have enough power. States started to print their own money behind the laws back, they participated in foreign trade negotiations, and they organized their own armed forces. All of these issues led to the Constitutional Convention. Delegates wanted to divide power in the federal government. They refused to let the powers be taken over by just one man or group. They were scared of power falling into a small groups hands and the United States being under the power

Congressional term limits have been what restricted the amount of time that anyone can work in office whether it be to a representative, senator, or even the president. People have debated over keeping or losing the term limits, since each come with their own benefits and faults at the same time. In the argument for term limits, some may argue that they are necessary because, “Congress will be more responsible toward their constituents because they will soon be constituents themselves” (Weeks). The validity in this statement proves to be one of the strongest arguments because the creation of laws is mean to serve all people, and if the people in office had complete immunity, it would serve unfair and unjust to the rest of society. For this reason, it always will make those in office consider how impactful and

When the three branches of government were created a system of “check and balances” was built into the Constitution in order to keep one branch of government from becoming too large and too powerful. Actions that are taken by one branch of government affect the other branches, thereby introducing “oversight”. The intelligence community has both internal and external oversight. The internal oversight comes from the CIA Inspector General that is embedded within the intelligence community. The external oversight comes from both the executive and legislative branches of the government. The legislative branch, or Congress, provides this checks and balances through the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence and the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence.

The Continental Congress had three issues to deal with while they created a new national government. The first issue was representation of states with different sized populations. This first issue was settled by giving each state one vote. The second issued had to do with the distribution of power in the government. This second issue was dealt with by creating two levels of government—state and national. The third issue involved the land west of the Appalachian Mountains. The third problem was solved by dividing the land into territories and allowing those territories to apply for statehood when their population reached 60,000.

The First Continental Congress happened during the period of September 5, 1774 to October 26, 1774. This marked the first time that the all of the colonies, except Georgia, were together. The purpose of this meeting was to address the issues they had with Britain. Specifically, they discussed the situation of the Intolerable Acts that the British Parliament enforced on Boston due to the incident of the Boston Tea Party. One of the results of this First Continental Congress was the delegates explained to King George III that there were issues with how the colonies were being treated. The delegates told King George III that if he didn’t put an end to the Intolerable Acts,