Political Awareness

Founding and Evolution

Before the formation of the House of Representatives and Senate as we know them today, the United States had three different iterations of Congress. Although some of these iterations were short-lived and served different purposes than our current Congress, they laid the foundation for how our current system would be structured and passed significant pieces of legislation that allowed the United States to survive its battle for independence. 

First Continental Congress (1774)

The First Continental Congress was a meeting convened in 1774, made up of 56 delegates from 12 different colonies. The purpose of this meeting was to address the “Intolerable Acts” being carried out by the British Empire against the original colonies of the United States, specifically Massachusetts. These acts were a British retaliation for the damage caused by the Boston Tea Party. The retaliation included the closure of Boston Harbor, restriction of local town meetings, and an increase in British troop quartering. The Continental Congress responded to these acts by initiating a boycott of British-made goods and drafting a declaration of rights.

Second Continental Congress (1775-1781)

In 1775, the Second Continental Congress convened. This body functioned as the provisional government of the United States during the Revolutionary War. Major accomplishments of the Congress include the creation of the Continental Army, the approval of the resolution of independence, and the eventual formal Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776. In its final years, the Congress also passed the Articles of Confederation, which would go on to structure a new government and replace the Continental Congress with the Congress of the Confederation in 1781. 

Congress of the Confederation (1781-1789)

The Articles of Confederation were the first governing documents of the United States, which created the Congress of the Confederation as a one-house legislature in which each state received one vote regardless of size. This body ended the Revolutionary War via the Treaty of Paris and established federal departments for foreign affairs, finance, and war. As well as passing the Northwest Ordinance of 1787, which allowed for the admission of new states. Despite successes, this body struggled to assert federal power, lacking authority to regulate interstate commerce or effectively enforce its laws. Delegates created the Constitutional Convention of 1787 to address these shortcomings. This convention drafted the Constitution as a replacement for the Articles of Confederation. The articles outlined in this Constitution developed the structure for the House of Representatives and Senate we currently employ.

House of Representatives (1789-Present)

After the Constitution took effect in 1789, the first House of Representatives convened on April 1. The members immediately began to structure the federal government and establish executive departments. They then proposed the first ten amendments to the Constitution, which were later ratified and known as the Bill of Rights on December 15, 1791. While undergoing some significant changes throughout the years, such as membership size and the power of certain positions like Speaker of the House, the House of Representatives still stands as the only federal body that has been directly elected by the people since its inception.

Present Day

Today’s 435-member House represents about 770,000 people each. In 1789, 65 members represented roughly 35,000 people each. Demonstrating the increase in scale and representation that has occurred through the years.

Powers and Committees

Much of the legislative work of the House is conducted via committees, where members review, amend, and advance proposed legislation. There are roughly twenty permanent standing committees, most of which are divided into smaller subcommittees that further specialize in various topics. Through this committee system, the House exercises some of its most consequential powers, including initiating articles of impeachment against the president and drafting revenue-creating legislation via tax increases or tariffs. Additionally, if no candidate in the presidential election receives a majority of electoral votes, the House also has the power to elect the president by allotting each state delegation one vote. 

Roles and Partisanship

The House is more partisan today, with both parties increasingly ideologically uniform and geographically sorted than at its founding. As the parties have unified, the leadership positions have centralized their authority. The Speaker of the House is the presiding officer and leader of the House, while the Majority and Minority leaders manage floor operations. As a result, these roles have considerably more power now as they have evolved from largely administrative to some of the most influential positions in modern politics. Despite these changes, the constitutional foundation has remained the same throughout the years. This continuity highlights the lasting durability of the Constitution’s original design. 

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