The United States Congress

1. The United States Congress Views of Representation

2. Qualities of the Ideal Representative • Name three qualities you would like your representative to have. • Does your own representative possess these qualities? Why or why not?

3. Popular Attitudes about Congress • The “Two Congresses” • Most polls show Americans have a negative attitude towards Congress • Most polls show Americans have a neutral to positive attitude towards their own representatives. • Congressional Power underestimated • Slow to decide? • Diffuse? • Less significant than other branches?

4. The Federalist on Representatives • Federalist #57 • Representatives are Provincial • “They will enter into the public service under circumstances which cannot fail to produce a temporary affection at least to their constituents” • Representatives are Ambitious • “His pride and vanity attach him to a form of government which favors his pretensions and gives him a share in its honors and distinctions” • Representatives are Factious • Care must be taken that Congress “can make no law which will not have its full operations on themselves and their friends, as well as the great mass of society.”

5. The Congressman’s View of Representation • Trustee • The duty of the legislator is to use info and deliberation to “enlarge and refine the public will” • From Edmund Burke—the representative hails from the people, but is not necessarily dependent on their will • John Calhoun—Have the people of this country snatched the power of deliberation from this body? Are we a body of agents and not a deliberate one? • Delegate • The duty of the legislator is to act in accordance with the will of his constituents • Delegates answer “Yes” to Calhoun—the voters give “marching orders” • Elbridge Gerry—To say the sovereignty rests in the people and that they have not a right to instruct and control their representatives, is absurd to the last degree.

6. The Congressman’s View of Representation • Politico • A legislator may follow his own sense of what is appropriate until the public becomes involved in the issue, where he may be instructed. • J. William Fullbright— “The average legislator early in his career discovers there are certain interests or prejudices of his constituents which are dangerous to trifle with…” • Conscience • A legislator follows the will of his constituents in most cases, until his conscience dictates otherwise • Sherwood Boehlert’s “pillow test” • Symbolic Representation • The claim that a group of citizens is best represented by a legislator who belongs to that group • “When a member of an ethnic or racial group goes to Congress, it is a badge of legitimacy for the entire grouping…Moreover, there can be tangible gains in the quality of representation.” Davidson & Oleszky, Congress & Its Members, 10th ed. (2004)