And the Birth of Democracy
A bicameral legislature was established as the result of a Great Compromise that created two legislative houses with two different constituencies. This model creates a system of checks and balances that helps to guarantee that the rights of the people will protected against the tyranny of a majority or a minority.
The House of Representatives was created to give a voice to the people in all of the states and the Senate was a second house created to give the states a seat at the bargaining table
Congress consists of two separate and distinct constituencies; they are the people and the states. Delegates from the states wrote the Constitution and created a federal government where the power was divided between the states and the people. The Constitution, contains a short list of delegated powers to Congress ,the President and the Supreme Court and reserved all other powers to the states and the people.
One of the main purposes of the senate was to provide the states with ability to prevent the members of House of Representatives from violating the Constitution. The ratification of the 17th Amendment transformed our federal government into a national government.
With the direct election of senators mandated in the 17th amendment the states were no longer able to participate in the government that they had created.This amendment essentially created a Congress with two houses both representing the same constituency and the days of checks and balances and a bicameral legislature came to an end.
Ideally, all legislation should be introduced in the House of Representatives and it should be the responsibility of the senate to decide if the legislation did not violate the Constitution.
- The first action to dismantle the Constitution took place on May 13, 1912 when Congress proposed the 17th Amendment,
- The second action occurred on February 3, 1913 the 16th amendment was declared to have been lawfully ratified .
- The third treasonous act of Congress took place on December 23, 1913 when Congress passed the Federal Reserve Act.
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