The American Congress is divided into the Senate and the House of Representatives, a division which was made because our Government was founded upon the model of England, whose Parliament consists of a House of Peers and a House of Commons. The Senate is supposed to play the same part in American legislation which the House of Peers does in Britain. It is a sort of governor in the machinery of the body politic which exerts a conservative and prudent influence on law-making. The Senate originally, although that meaning has been largely neglected, meant the conclave of the sovereign States of the Union, a council which was to look more closely after the general and external affairs of the confederacy, while the House of Representatives was to represent the people of the whole Union. This meaning, it has been said above, has been largely lost in the course of time, but the fiction remains, and the division of the powers of Government between the two bodies illustrates the purpose which the fathers of the Government had in the original separation into two Houses.

The Senate

The Senate consists of two Senators from each State of the Federal Union. These Senators are chosen by the Legislatures of the respective States and hold office for six years. There was a strong effort made at the time of the drafting of the Constitution to extend the term for life, but this was believed to savor too much of aristocracy, and after long debate six years was agreed upon as a compromise measure. The pay of Senators is $5,000 per year. The Senate is presided over by the Vice-President, and when he has for any cause vacated his office a President pro tempore of the Senate is elected. There are now (1893) eighty-six Senators. All impeachments are tried by the Senate, and when the President of the United States is on trial the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court must preside. The Senate must approve of treaties made with foreign governments by the President before they can become binding, and the consent of the Senate is necessary to the appointments to all the great offices of the State made by the President. The Senate is the only permanent body in the United States Government, the elections being always so ordered that two-thirds of the Senators hold over.

The House

In the early days of the Federal Union the only legislative body was the Continental Congress, which exercised both the executive and legislative functions of government, and which occasionally performed judicial duties also. The old Congress piloted the nation through the Revolutionary war, but, although effective for its original purpose, it was not able for the work which fell upon its shoulders under the articles of confederation. The articles themselves were unsuited to the land, and in a little while it became evident that the United States experiment would end in disaster and disappointment unless something was done to give it shape and direction.

The man that had led the Continental Army to glory and freedom through the Revolution again came forward and preserved by his wise statesmanship the Republic which his military genius had founded. At the call of George Washington the American Constitution was born, and the keystone of the Constitution is the House of Representatives. This body is the brain of the nation; on its floor all the momentous issues of the Republic have been settled; no higher office can a citizen win than a seat in the council of the Nation, none greater in the influence which it wields, not for America alone, but for the future of the human race.

The number of Representatives is decided by the census; which is taken every ten years. As soon as this is done Congress decides upon the number of Representatives for the ensuing decade. The number since the establishment of the Constitution has been as follows:

These Congressmen are paid $5,000 a year, with certain additions in the shape of mileage, stationery, etc., etc. The qualifications of a Representative are fully explained in the Constitution,