Originally posted by Unknown Debator
i deserve it
The Continental Congresses
The Congress of the United States derives from First Continental Congress, a meeting of representatives of twelve of Great Britain's American colonies, in the autumn of 1774. The Continental Congress sent a list of grievances to King George III. When the King failed to respond, and the American Revolutionary War commenced in April 1775. The Second Continental Congress was convened—this time with thirteen colonies in attendance. A year later, on 4 July 1776, the Continental Congress declared the thirteen colonies free and independent states, referring to them as the "united States of America." The Second Continental Congress, which was formed May 10, 1775, was the national government until March 1, 1781, supervised the war and diplomacy, and adopted the Articles of Confederation before the States ratified it in 1781. One common term for patriot was "Congress Man"--a supporter of Congress against the King. The Congress of the Confederation governed the United States for eight years (March 1, 1781 to March 4, 1789). There was no chief executive or president before 1789, so Congress governed the United States.
[edit] Congress before the Constitution
Under the Articles of Confederation, Congress was a unicameral body in which each state was equally represented, and in which each state had a veto over most actions. States could, and did, ignore laws that Congress enacted. The ineffectiveness of the federal government under the Articles led Congress to summon the Convention of 1787.
Originally intended to revise the Articles of Confederation, the Convention ended up writing a completely new constitution. All states except Rhode Island agreed to send delegates. One of the most divisive issues facing the Convention was the structure of Congress. James Madison's Virginia Plan called for a bicameral Congress; the lower house would be elected directly by the people, and the upper house would be elected by the lower house. The plan drew the support of delegates from large states such as Virginia, Massachusetts, and Pennsylvania, as it called for representation based on population. The smaller states, however, favored the New Jersey Plan, which called for a unicameral Congress with equal representation for the states. Eventually, a compromise, known as the Connecticut Compromise or the Great Compromise was reached; one house of Congress (the House of Representatives) would provide proportional representation, whereas the other (the Senate) would provide equal representation. To preserve further the authority of the states, the compromise proposed that state legislatures, rather than the people, would elect senators. The Constitution was ratified by the end of 1788, and its full implementation was set for March 4, 1789. Also, the US Constitution was the main issue for Americans until the 1792 elections, and consisted of a battle between the US Federalist Party (Pro-Administration Party), which supported the US Constitution and the US AntiFederalist Party (Anti-Administration Party), which opposed the US Constitution; and between 1792 and 1800 the struggle over Congress came between Alexander Hamiliton's Federalist Party- which was popular through the successful First Bank of the United States, until 1792- and Thomas Jefferson's Democratic Republican Party. Jefferson's party managed to finally gain control over the US House of Representatives after the 1792 elections, thanks in part to one of the top Federalists, James Madison, uniting with Anti-Federalist Thomas Jefferson to form the Democratic Republican Party, as Madison became an opposer to Secretary of Treasury Alexander Hamilton's First Bank of the United States, but the Democratic Republican Party. However, the Democratic Republican Party lost in the 1796 US Presidential and Congressional election after it was revealled that the party strongly supported the unpopular French Revolution[1], though the Democratic Republican Party still could obtain second place victories in these elections- which made Jefferson the US Vice President- as well; Washington, however, was supported by almost every American, and even though he ran under the Federalist ticket, he still was not an official Federalist and was easily re-elected US President unanimously in 1792 as well, and John Adams was elected Vice President (President of the Senate) due to Democratic-Republican electors voting, against nominee George Clinton, for Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr.
[edit] Nineteenth century
The early nineteenth century was marked by frequent clashes between the House of Representatives and the Senate. After victory in the 1800 US elections, Jefferson's Democratic-Republican Party dominated both the US Senate and US House of Representatives, as well as the presidential elections; this was because states rights became a popular issue after the Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions outlawed the Federalists Alien and Sedition Acts. [2].Henry Clay of Kentucky was the Speaker of the US House of Representatives, and dominant leader over Congress, during the 1810s.
A careful numerical balance between the free North and the slaveholding South existed in the Senate, as the numbers of free and slave states was kept equal by a series of compromises, such as the Missouri Compromise of 1820. That broke down in 1850 when California was admitted as a free state, but the Compromise of 1850 postponed a showdown. Meanwhile the North was growing faster and dominated the House of Representatives, despite the rule that counted 3/5 of non-voting slaves in the population base of the South.
The victory of John Quincy Adams in 1824 was challenged by Andrew Jackson, who argued a corrupt bargain between Clay and Adams had cheated Jackson; Jackson lead both electoral votes and popular votes, but had no majority in the electoral college, and Clay, who strongly opposed Jackson for his "total war" policy- which happened at the Battle of New Orleans-, he used while he (Jackson) served as a US General, and gave his votes in the House of Representatives to the candidate who was closest to Jackson, in both electoral votes and popular votes, John Quincy Adams. Jackson and his (as yet unnamed) followers easily dominated the 1826 Congressional Election and took complete control of the 20th United States Congress. As the Second Party System emerged, the Whigs and Jacksonians (called "Democrats" by 1834) battled for control of Congress. In the 1832 Senate elections, the National Republican gained control of the US Senate after President Jackson broke with his Vice-President John Calhoun, and gained Senate seats in parts of the Southern US, and maintained control over Senate until 1835, when Jackson's popular bank policies could help the Democrats regain control of Congress again; this break between Jackson and Calhoun was over whether or not South Carolina could avoid the Tariff of 1828, which Calhoun strongly opposed, and resulted in Calhoun's new Nullifier Party uniting with Henry Clay's National Republican Party to form the US Whig Party in 1834. The Whigs swept into power in 1840 but with the death of president Harrison, John Tyler became president and broke bitterly with Clay, and the Whigs in Congress, after he continuously vetoed Clay and the Whig Party's bills for a national banking act in 1841; this 1840 victory for the Whig Party was thanks in part to the fact that President Martin Van Buren became unpopular after he continued to fail at bringing the US out of the depression started by the Panic of 1837, and even lost in his home state of New York [3]. The Whigs were even still able to maintain dominance over Congress in the 1842 by ending the five year depression by stablizing ties with Britain through the Webster-Ashburton Treaty, which was a resolution to the dispute of the Maine-New Brunswick border between the US and the then-British colony Canada.
Democrats regained control of Congress in the 1844 elections, as well, thank to the huge support of the annexation of Texas [4], as the 29th United States Congress, but the Whigs were back in 1846, thanks in part to the opposition of the Mexican-American War. The Democrats were able to regain control of Congress in 1848, thanks in part to the US successfully winning the Mexican-American War; the Democrats now had complete control over the 31st United States Congress, dispite the break between the anti-slavery (Free Soil Party) and pro slavery Democrats. In the 1854 elections, the Kansas-Nebraska Act, sponsored by Senatoir Stephen Douglas against vehement opposition, led to the formation of the new Republican party. In 1856, the Know Nothing Party assembled nativists and former Whigs but the Democrats regained control over Congress, through the 35th United States Congress, thanks in part to the division of the Know-Nothing Party and the Republican Party in this election, but the Know Nothing Party and Republican Party were able to reunite after this election and elect a Republican Speaker of the House of Representatives. The Know Nothings soon collapsed, and in the North were absorbed by the Republicans, who dominated most states and took control of the US House of Representatives in the 1858 elections, as abolitionist Know Nothings joined the Republican Party after the controversial Dred Scott ruling occurred in 1857. In 1860, Abraham Lincoln led the Republicans to a victory based entirely in the anti-slavery North, and the Republican Party now took full control of Congress.
Congress played a major role in the American Civil War, as the Republicans were in control of both chambers; after the war ended in 1865, Reconstruction was controlled by President Andrew Johnson, who broke with the Radical Republicans (led by Congressman