【美国精神】第17期

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Explanation:   

   In the United States, the word Congress is used to refer to (or talk about) the legislative¹ (or lawmaking) part of American government. Most people know this meaning of the word.  But did you know that there is another meaning of the word congress? Congress also means a meeting of legislators (or the people who make laws). In the U.S. government, you will hear both meanings of this word used.  In fact, a new congress—meaning a new meeting—starts every two years.  The first congress was held in 1774. The current congress, then, is the 110th Congress, which first convened² (or met) on January 4, 2007. 

 

   When the first congress was held in 1774, Congress was still unicameral, meaning that it had only one part or group of legislators. However, the leaders of the country very quickly realized (or noticed) that the new American government was not very efficient (or didn’t do things very quickly or very well), so they wanted to change the system.  

 

   One of the major disputes (or disagreements) about Congress was how the 50 states would be represented in the federal (or national) government. People from small states thought that each state should be represented equally (or in the same way). People from large states thought that states with a higher population (or more people living there) should have more power to make decisions. The solution (or the way to fix the problem) was to write a new constitution (or document that creates the government for a country) and make the Congress become bicameral³ (or with two parts).   

 

   How does a bicameral Congress allow people in large and small states to have better representation?  The answer is in how the Congress works.  The two parts of the Congress are the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Senate has equal representation, which means that each state has two representatives. The House of Representatives is different: larger states have more representatives and smaller states have fewer. The Senate and the House of Representatives have to work together to make new laws. This way, neither big nor small states have more power than other states. With this solution, both sides of the dispute were satisfied (or pleased).

 

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