Why was Congress created?
The founders of the American republic believed that the bulk of the power that would be exercised by a national government should be in the hands of the legislature. The leading role envisioned for Congress in the new government is apparent from its primacy in the Constitution. Article I deals with the structure, the powers, and the operation of Congress, beginning in Section 1 with an application of the basic principle of separation of powers: “All legislative Powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress of the United States, which shall consist of a Senate and House of Representatives.” These legislative powers are spelled out in detail in Article I and elsewhere.
The bicameralism of Congress – its division into two legislative houses – was in part the result of the Connecticut Compromise, which tried to balance the large state population advantage, reflected in the House, and the small state demand for equality in policymaking, which was satisfied by the Senate. Beyond that, the two chambers of Congress also reflected the social class biases of the founders. They wished to balance the interests and the numerical superiority of the common citizens with the property interests of the less numerous landowners, bankers, and merchants. They achieved this goal by providing in Sections 2 & 3 of Article 1 that members of the House of Representatives should be elected by the people whereas members of the Senate were to be chosen by the elected representatives sitting in the state legislatures, who were more likely to be elite. The latter provision was changed in 1913 by the passage of the 17th Amendment, which provides that Senators also are to be elected directly by the people.
