bicameral legislature

Examples of bicameral legislature in the following topics:

• Bicameralism

  • Bicameral legislatures tend to require a concurrent majority to pass legislation.
  • The Founding Fathers of the United States favored a bicameral legislature.
  • During the 1930s, the Legislature of the State of Nebraska was reduced from bicameral to unicameral with the 43 members that once comprised that state's Senate.
  • Ventura argued that bicameral legislatures for provincial and local areas were excessive and unnecessary, and discussed unicameralism as a reform that could address many legislative and budgetary problems for states.
  • The U.S. has a bicameral legislature in Congress, consisting of the House of Representatives and the Senate

• Constitutional Issues and Compromises

  • The Virginia Plan was a proposal by Virginia delegates for a bicameral legislative branch .
  • There was to be a bicameral legislature made up of a Senate and a House of Delegates.
  • The plan featured a bicameral legislature, the lower house elected by the people for three years.
  • State governors would be appointed by the national legislature, and the national legislature had veto power over any state legislation.
  • The Pinckney Plan proposed a bicameral legislature made up of a Senate and a House of Delegates.

• The Powers of State Government

  • The legislative branch of the states consists of state legislatures.
  • Every state except for Nebraska has a bicameral legislature, comprised of two chambers.
  • In the majority of states, the state legislature is called the Legislature.
  • The rest of the states call their legislature the General Assembly.
  • The structure of courts and the methods of selecting judges are determined by each state's constitution or legislature.

• The Virginia and New Jersey Plans

  • The Virginia Plan proposed a legislative branch consisting of two chambers (bicameral legislature).
  • The dual principles of rotation in office and recall would be applied to the lower house of the national legislature.
  • Members of one of the two legislative chambers would be elected by the people and members of that chamber would then elect the second chamber from nominations submitted by state legislatures.
  • The New Jersey Plan, on the other hand, proposed a unicameral legislature in which each state, regardless of size, would have one vote, as under the Articles of Confederation.
  • Perhaps the most important of these was introduced by the Connecticut Compromise, which established a bicameral legislature with the U.S.

• State Constitutions

  • They had also elected conventions and "legislatures" that existed outside of any currently established legal framework.
  • Bicameral legislatures, with the upper house serving as a check on the lower
  • Strong governors with veto power over the legislature and substantial appointment authority
  • In 1790, conservatives gained power in the state legislature, called for a new constitutional convention, and rewrote the constitution.
  • The new constitution substantially reduced universal white-male suffrage, gave the governor veto power and patronage appointment authority, and added to the unicameral legislature an upper house with substantial wealth qualifications.

• Amending the Constitution

  • There are two additional ways to approve an amendment: One is through ratification by three-fourths of state legislatures.
  • Those in favor of ending Prohibition feared that the 21st Amendment (set to repeal the 18th Amendment prohibiting the sale and consumption of alcohol) would be blocked by conservative state legislatures.
  • Thus it was proved that a constitutional amendment can be stopped by one-third of either chamber of Congress or one-fourth of state legislatures.
  • It called for a bicameral legislature along with proportional representation in the lower house, but required the upper house to be weighted equally between the states.This agreement led to the Three-Fifths Compromise, which meant less populous Southern states were allowed to count three-fifths of all non-free people toward population counts and allocations.

• A New Constitution

  • One of the key debates during the drafting of the Constitution regarded state representation in the legislature.
  • Delegates also accepted the need for either a unicameral (one-house) or a bicameral (two-house) legislature.
  • This plan also proposed a bicameral legislature.
  • This plan proposed a unicameral legislature in which each state, regardless of size, would have one vote.
  • However, the Connecticut Compromise proposed by Roger Sherman outlined a system of bicameral legislation that included both proportional and equal representation.

• How a Bill Becomes Law

  • A bill is introduced by a member of the legislature, read through, debated, and then passed to become a law.
  • A bill is introduced by a member of the legislature.
  • In the U.S. system, where the executive is formally separated from the legislature, all bills must originate from the legislature.
  • This refers to the historic practice of the clerical officers of the legislature reading the contents of a bill to the legislature.
  • The U.S. has a bicameral legislature in Congress, consisting of the House of Representatives and the Senate

• Decisions, Decisions!

  • Which is the better way to arrange a legislature, unicameral or bicameral?

• The Structure of the Government

  • Delegates largely accepted without dispute the need for a bicameral (two-house) legislature, similar to the British Parliament.
  • However, since the United States had no natural aristocracy (no equivalent to a "House of Lords") they were uncertain as to the character of an American bicameral representative body.
  • However, the "Connecticut Compromise" (more popularly known as the "Great Compromise") proposed by Roger Sherman outlined a system of bicameral legislation that included both proportional and equal representation.
  • The delegates also agreed that the executive office should be comprised of a single individual elected for a fixed term, in which foreign affairs, control over the armed forces, and the appointment of federal officers (including judges) would be consigned. in order to ensure that the executive would be independent of the national legislature and of the enfranchised population, the delegates created an extensive electoral college system, whose members were chosen by state legislatures.
  • At the end of the Convention, most delegates were in favor of sending the final draft of the Constitution to the state legislatures for ratification.