FrontPage: Turn in Constitution WQ to back box.

Last Word: Read/OL page 124-127 for tomorrow

The Statue of Freedom

Introduction to CongressChapter 5, Section 1

The only difference between death and taxes is that death doesn't get worse every time Congress meets.

"If con is the opposite of pro, is

Congress the opposite of progress?"

From Charlie Wilson's WarJoanne Herring: "Why is Congress saying one thing and doing nothing?"Charlie Wilson: "Well, tradition mostly."

“In my many years I have come to a conclusion that one useless man is a shame, two is a law

firm, and three or more is a congress.”

Creating the Legislative BranchOne of the central questions at the drafting of the

Constitution dealt with how representatives in the legislature would be given to each state…Some believed in an equal number for each state

What types of states liked this idea? Some felt that the more people a state had, the more

representatives it should receive. What types of states liked this idea?

And so the fate of the Constitution and the new nation hinged on this initial question…

The Great Compromise – Thinking Win-WinAnd so, in order to

compromise between both sides, it was decided that the legislative branch would have 2 separate housesOne house would have an

equal number per stateOne would have

representation based on population

This compromise became known as the “Great Compromise” because it solved one of the most important conflicts in the drafting of the Constitution…

Our 2-house Congress – A “Win-Win”…

And so, our legislative branch, responsible for making laws, was divided into 2 houses to give both large and small states a “win”…