Article II, Section 1
The Citizens delegate legislative power to a Congress made up of two chambers: the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Senate represents the voice of each State as a whole body, and the Representatives represent the people directly.
This paragraph establishes the structure of Congress. It also explains the role of each chamber.
It begins by flatly stating that Congressional power isn't inherent. It doesn't have power because it is part of the government. It has its powers because the citizens have delegated those powers to it. This continues the Charter's theme of citizen sovereignty.
Next, it explains the representative function of each chamber. It isn't anything new or different from the existing Constitution of 1789. It’s still two separate chambers with different functions. The difference is that those functions are explicit in the document, rather than implied. The House of Representatives is intended to be the voice of the people (especially the citizens). The Senate represents each state as a unified body.
The powers of Congress exist only to protect the Rights of the People through laws made with their consent.
Thomas Jefferson wrote, “That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men.”[1] Congress, as a major part of the government, only exists to secure our rights. His prose goes on, “…deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed…”[2] In this context, that means laws that Congress makes must have our consent.
But what does this “consent” look like? It certainly doesn’t mean we participate in every Congressional debate or vote on every bill. This is a democratic republic, not a direct democracy. What it does mean is that Congress is answerable to us. Not only are they answerable for reelection, but their legislation is subject to our review under the Challenged Review provision in Article I.[3] We send Senators and Representatives to Congress to do a job. Like any employer, if they don’t meet our expectations, we can hold them and their work accountable.
[1] Declaration of Independence para 2 (U.S. 1776).
[2] Id. This is one of the scholarly citations I mentioned in the preface that is difficult for the layperson. It means this citation points to the same source as the one immediately preceding it. In this case, the second paragraph of the Declaration of Independence.
[3] See Article I, Section 3.B.2.
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