Congress
Why do we have both a House and a Senate?
How do they differ?
During the American Revolution, the newly formed US government operated under its first “constitution,” the Article of Confederation.1 The Congress under the Articles had a single chamber in which each state had one vote, regardless of the size of the state’s delegation.2 This gave disproportionately more power to the states with smaller populations, (eg, the Carolinas, Georgia, and New Jersey), rather than the larger states, such as Massachusetts, New York, Pennsylvania and Virginia. This imbalance frequently contributed to Congress’s inability to make important decisions quickly, if at all — for example paying the Continental army. Congress also lacked the authority to impose taxes of any kind, including import taxes, to regulate interstate commerce, and to create a national currency, among other powers normally associated with a national government. With the War’s end and the states operating under the confederated political system,3 the Article’s deficiencies manifested themselves. Many historians mark Shay’s Rebellion as one of the crystallizing events that dramatically demonstrated the seriousness of the Article’s weaknesses.4 By 1787, enough states were calling for a special meeting to amend the Articles that Congress passed a resolution calling for a convention of state representatives, but not of their current congressional delegates, to meet in Philadelphia that summer, to consider repairing the Articles. Now known as the Constitutional Convention, this gathering produced our present Constitution, which was publicly announced on September 17, 1787.
Many amendments were debated over that summer, but the first and most important concerned the legislature, in particular the states’ representation in the legislature as well as the legislature’s ability to exercise authority over the states. Prior to the convention’s opening, James Madison drafted an extensive list of amendments that basically created an entirely new government. Though he was a Virginia delegate, Madison asked fellow Virginian Edmund Randolf to introduce his proposal, which thereafter dominated floor debate for weeks. The Virginia Plan, as it was called, included a two-chamber legislature in which the size of all states’ delegations in both chambers was based on population, a chief executive (there was no such office under the Articles), and a national court system (also lacking in the Articles). Not to be outflanked, William Patterson of New Jersey offered, on behalf of the small states, a plan for a single chamber legislature with each state receiving one vote, a plural (multi-person) executive, and a national court system. The New Jersey Plan did, however, extend more authority to Congress and the national government.
By mid-July, with the Convention deadlocked on the question of legislative representation, Connecticut’s Roger Sherman proposed a compromise: in the lower chamber, representation based on population (benefiting the large states) while, in the upper house, equal representation — two votes — for each state regardless of its size (satisfying the small states). An important question remained, however: who should be counted in a state’s population? States with large slave populations argued that a slave be counted as a whole person despite being unable to vote and not having any rights afforded citizens. Though there were slaves in nearly every state, northern states resisted this idea and countered that slaves should not be counted at all. The scheme that resolved the dispute, the odious Three-fifths Compromise, is found in Article I, section 2.5 The anti-slavery delegates did, however, extract a small concession: the end of the slave trade by 1808 (Article I, section 9).6
There is one visible difference between the House and Senate: their size. Currently, the House has 435 voting members7 while the Senate has 100, though only the number of Senators will increase should new states be admitted.8
Several other generally recognized differences are the method of election: House members are elected by district9 and Senators at-large;10 their term lengths: House members are elected every two years while Senators serve for six years;11 and the ages and citizenship status to be elected: House members must be at least 25 and a citizen for at least five years; Senators must be at least 30 and a citizen for a minimum of nine years.
Each chamber has a different, constitutionally prescribed presiding officer. The Senate’s is the Vice President, who may vote on any bill or resolution, but the vote is only counted when necessary to break a tie. In the Vice President’s absence from the Senate, which occurs frequently, the President Pro Tempore (or Pro Tem, an elected position within the chamber), becomes the leader. The Pro Tem is always from the majority party and usually the most senior member of the body. The Speaker of the House is its presiding official and is elected by the entire House. Thus far in our history, the Speaker has always been a member of the majority party.
Only the House may initiate an impeachment against the president, a federal judge or any other federal officer by passing a bill of impeachment, which is essentially an indictment that lists the charges against the person and the reasons for the charges. The Senate alone may try any impeached individual, ie, serve as a jury, with a two-thirds vote of those present required to convict the person, thereby removing the person from office.12
All revenue (tax) bills must originate in the House, though the Senate also considers the bill if a tax bill passes the House (Article I, section 7). Given the colonies’ experience under the English (“No taxation without representation!”), the Framers placed this critical responsibility in the House, the members of which are directly elected by the people.10
In Article II, section 2, the Senate is assigned responsibility for giving advice and consent to the President for ratifying treaties. This requires two-thirds vote of the whole number of Senators to pass. Additionally, Senators have the authority to confirm the president’s nominees for the following positions: all US ambassadors, consuls and other high-ranking representatives to foreign nations, all federal justices and judges, all cabinet members and their highest-ranking undersecretaries, and any other federal offices created by Congress that it determines require Senate confirmation.
- The first Continental Congress began work on the Articles in June 1776 in Philadelphia, but did not complete the document until November 1777. The Articles were eventually ratified by all the states on March 1, 1781. ⇧
- Each state independently decided how many representatives it would send to Congress. Each state also determined the compensation of its delegates and paid them from the state’s treasury. ⇧
- A confederation is a political system that has strong components or units, like states, and a weak central government. Historically, few confederated systems have survived for any significant time, except for Switzerland. Alternatively, a system with a strong central government and weak component units is a centralized system, such as France, Italy and Israel. ⇧
- Daniel Shay of Massachusetts was an officer in the Continental Army who, like many of his fellow soldiers, had not been paid for his service at the War’s end. Shay gathered other veterans to his cause, and they took up arms to demand their back pay, marching from western Massachusetts toward Boston. Because Congress lacked the power to respond to this show of force, Governor Bowdoin handled the crisis alone. ⇧
- “Representatives and direct Taxes shall be apportioned among the several States which may be included within this Union, according to their respective Numbers, which shall be determined by adding to the whole Number of free Persons, including those bound to Service for a term of years, and excluding Indians not taxed, three-fifths of all other Persons.” This clause was superseded with the passage of the 14th Amendment. ⇧
- “The Migration or Importation of such Persons as any of the States now existing shall think proper to admit, shall not be prohibited by the Congress prior to the Year one thousand eight hundred and eight, but a Tax or duty may be imposed on such Importation, not exceeding ten dollars for each Person.” nb. Nowhere in the Constitution do the words “slave” or “slavery” appear. ⇧
- There are also non-voting delegates in the House from the District of Columbia and five permanently inhabited US territories: American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands. (The Puerto Rican delegate has the title “Resident Commissioner.”) Typically, when Democrats are in the majority, they extend voting privileges to delegates in committee meetings and to the D.C. delegate for floor votes dealing with the District. When Republicans are in the majority, these voting privileges are removed. ⇧
- Unable to reach a compromise on how to apportion seats following the 1920 census, which revealed a significant increase in population, the House passed the Permanent Apportionment Act in 1929. It permanently set the total number of seats at 435. For a full discussion of the apportionment and redistricting processes, see “What are apportionment and redistricting?” on this website. ⇧
- There are currently seven states that have only one representative: Alaska, Delaware, Montana, North and South Dakota, Vermont and Wyoming. Their representatives are elected at-large. ⇧
- The Constitution’s original language had Senators chosen by each state’s legislature. By the turn of the 20th Century, however, the Senatorial election process in many states was widely considered to be corrupt. A state’s dominant interest groups, typically its major industries (eg. copper mining in Montana, coal in Kentucky, Pennsylvania and West Virginia, and steel in Ohio and Pennsylvania) contributed heavily to the election campaigns of state lawmakers, making them susceptible to “suggestions” from their financial benefactors concerning who they would like to have in the US Senate. Progressive reformers pressed for direct election of Senators, which finally occurred with the ratification of the 17th Amendment in 1913. ⇧ ⇧
- Many people assume that representatives and Senators are paid different amounts with Senators earning more. In fact, all receive the same salary: currently (2025) $174,000. House and Senate majority and minority leaders earn $193,400 as does the Senate President Pro Tempore, while the House Speaker is paid $223,500. ⇧
- If the individual being impeached is the president, then the Chief Justice serves as the trial judge. For any other person impeached, the Senate’s presiding officer may either serve as the trial judge or appoint another person. ⇧