Elements of Civil Government Part 14

CONGRESS.--The legislative authority of the national government is vested in the Congress of the United States, consisting of a senate and a house of representatives. The senators represent the States, and the representatives represent the people. Congress holds annual sessions at the city of Washington, the seat of the national government. A measure must pa.s.s both houses, and be approved by the President, in order to become a law; or if vetoed, it fails, unless it again pa.s.ses both houses by a two thirds vote.

Senators and representatives receive an annual salary of seven thousand five hundred dollars each; and are allowed mileage, or traveling expenses, of twenty cents for each mile in going to and returning from the session of Congress.

PRIVILEGES OF THE HOUSES.--There are certain const.i.tutional privileges guaranteed to Congress in order that its action in legislation may be free from undue influence from other departments of the government.

"The times, places, and manner of holding elections for senators and representatives shall be prescribed in each State by the legislature thereof; but the Congress may, at any time, by law, make or alter such regulations, except as to the places of choosing senators.

"Each house shall be the judge of the elections, returns, and qualifications of its own members;" that is, each House declares who are ent.i.tled to membership therein.

"Each house may determine the rules of its proceedings, punish its members for disorderly conduct, and with the concurrence of two thirds expel a member."

Each house keeps and publishes a journal of its proceedings, "excepting such parts as may, in their judgment, require secrecy; and the yeas and nays of the members of either house, on any question, shall, at the desire of one fifth of those present, be entered on the journal."

"Neither house, during the session of Congress, shall, without the consent of the other, adjourn for more than three days, nor to any other place than that in which the two houses shall be sitting."

PRIVILEGES AND DISABILITIES OF MEMBERS.--The Const.i.tution of the United States sets forth the following privileges and disabilities relating to membership in both the Senate and the House of Representatives:

(1) "The senators and representatives shall receive a compensation for their services, to be ascertained by law, and paid out of the treasury of the United States.

"They shall in all cases except treason, felony, and breach of the peace be privileged from arrest during their attendance at the session of their respective houses, and in going to and returning from the same; and for any speech or debate in either house they shall not be questioned in any other place."

(2) "No senator or representative shall, during the time for which he was elected, be appointed to any civil office under the authority of the United States which shall have been created, or the emoluments whereof shall have been increased, during such time; and no person holding any office under the United States shall be a member of either house during his continuance of office."

The purpose of the first part of this clause is to prevent members of Congress from voting to create offices, or to affix high salaries to offices, with the hope of being appointed to fill them.

(3) "The senators and representatives before mentioned, and the members of the several State legislatures, and all executive and judicial officers both of the United States and of the several States, shall be bound by oath or affirmation to support this Const.i.tution; but no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States."

(4) "No person shall be a senator or representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any State, who, having previously taken an oath as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any State legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the Const.i.tution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid and comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may, by a vote of two thirds of each House, remove such disability."

The purpose of the clause was to exclude from office all those who had sworn, as officers of the State or the nation, to support the Const.i.tution of the United States, and who afterward engaged in war against the Union. An act of Congress enabling them to hold office was called a removal of their disabilities. This clause of the Const.i.tution is practically void as regards all past offenses, as the disabilities of nearly all to whom it applied have been removed by Congress.

POWERS OF CONGRESS.--Congress has power:

(1) To _levy and collect taxes_, duties on imported goods, and revenues from articles of manufacture, "to pay the debts and provide for the common defense and general welfare of the United States."

(2) "To _borrow money_ on the credit of the United States."

The usual method of borrowing money is to issue government bonds, which are promises to pay the sums specified in them at a given time, with interest at a given rate. The bonds are sold, usually at their face value, and the proceeds applied to public purposes. United States bonds can not be taxed by a State.

(3) "To _regulate commerce_ with foreign nations, and among the several States, and with the Indian tribes."

(4) "To establish a uniform rule of _naturalisation_, and uniform laws on the subject of bankruptcies, throughout the United States."

(5) "To _coin money_; regulate the value thereof, and of foreign coin; and fix the standard of weights and measures."

(6) "To provide for the _punishment of counterfeiting_ the securities and current coin of the United States."

(7) "To establish _post-offices_ and post-roads."

(8) "To promote the progress of _science and useful arts_, by securing for limited times, to authors and inventors, the exclusive right to their respective writings and discoveries;"

That is, to grant _copyrights_ to authors, and to issue _patents_ to inventors.

(9) "To const.i.tute _tribunals_ inferior to the supreme court."

(10) "To define and punish _piracies and felonies_ committed on the high seas, and offenses against the law of nations."

_Piracy_ is robbery committed at sea.

(11) "To _declare war_; grant letters of marque and reprisal, and make rules concerning captures on land and water."

_Letters of marque_ are commissions issued to private parties, authorizing them to cross the frontiers of another nation, and to seize the persons and property of its subjects.

_Reprisal_ is the forcible taking of the property or persons of the subjects of another nation, in return for injuries done to the government granting the letters. Vessels carrying letters of marque and reprisal are called _privateers_.

(12) "To raise and support _armies_."

(13) "To provide and maintain a _navy_."

(14) "To make rules for the government and regulation of the land and naval forces."

(15) "To provide for calling forth the _militia_ to execute the laws of the Union, suppress insurrection and repel invasions."

(16) "To provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining the militia, and for governing such part of them as may be employed in the service of the United States."

(17) "To exercise exclusive legislation" over the _District of Columbia_, "and to exercise like authority over all places purchased by the consent of the legislature of the State in which the same shall be, for the erection of forts, magazines, a.r.s.enals, dockyards, and other needful buildings."

(18) "To make all laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into execution the foregoing powers and all other powers vested by this Const.i.tution in the government of the United States, or in any department or officer thereof."

(19) "Congress may determine the time of choosing the _electors_" for President and Vice President of the United States, "and the day on which they shall give their votes, which day shall be the same throughout the United States."

(20) "Congress may, by law, provide for the case of removal, death, resignation, or inability of both the President and Vice President, declaring what officer shall then act as President."

(21) "The Congress may, by law, vest the appointment of such _inferior officers_ as they think proper, in the President alone, in the courts of law, or in the heads of departments."

(22) "The Congress shall have power to declare the punishment of _treason_."

(23) "Full _faith and credit_ shall be given in each State, to the public acts, records, and judicial proceedings of every other State.

And the Congress may, by general laws, prescribe the manner in which such acts, records, and proceedings shall be proved, and the effect thereof."

(24) "_New States_ may be admitted by the Congress into this Union, but no new State shall be formed or erected within the jurisdiction of any other State, nor any State be formed by the junction of two or more States, or parts of States, without the consent of the legislatures of the States concerned, as well as of the Congress."

(25) "The Congress shall have power to dispose of, and to make all needful rules and regulations respecting the _territory_ or other property belonging to the United States; and nothing in this Const.i.tution shall be so construed as to prejudice any claims of the United States or of any particular State."

(26) Congress has "power to enforce, by appropriate legislation," all provisions of the Const.i.tution.

Under the authority "to provide for the general welfare of the United States," Congress exercises powers which are implied--that is, understood--but which are not expressly named in the Const.i.tution. The grants of public lands to railway and ca.n.a.l companies, the annual appropriations for the improvement of rivers and harbors, and numerous similar laws are based upon implied powers.