What Does the Constitution Say?

ARTICLE I, SECTION 1: CONGRESS

CLAUSE 1

Congress, our federal legislature, has 2 chambers: the House of Representatives and the Senate. Only Congress can write our laws (not the president, the courts, your teachers, or your aunt Muriel—unless, of course, she’s a member of Congress).

DID YOU KNOW?

We don’t live in a true democracy! In ancient Greece, every male citizen voted on every issue. But it would be hard for all 330 million of us to do that and keep a day job. Instead, we elect senators and representatives to Congress who vote on our behalf (a republic). This makes the United States both a representative democracy AND a constitutional republic. The authors of the Constitution wanted us to hold the power, but they were also a little afraid of what we might do with it. This way felt safer.

DID YOU KNOW?

Like Congress, each state has its own 2-part “state legislature,” which has a house and a senate (except for Nebraska, which has only a senate). To make it easy, we’ll lowercase state legislatures (“house” and “senate”) when we talk about them. State legislatures make laws only for their state—including business laws, marriage laws, and even no-selfies-with-tigers laws. Yes, it’s true. Since 2014, it has been illegal to take a selfie with a tiger in the state of New York. It’s fine in New Jersey.

ARTICLE I, SECTION 2: THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

CLAUSES 1–2

Members of the House (or “representatives”) are up for reelection every 2 years. To run for the House of Representatives, a candidate must be:

CLAUSE 3

Each state’s population determines its number of representatives. More people equals more representatives. States get at least 1 representative, even if the state has more cows than people (*cough* Nebraska).

BACKGROUND BIT Who counted when determining the population? When the Framers wrote the Constitution, they fought a lot about this. Eventually they had to compromise. It was decided that a “free” person counted as 1 person, a person temporarily working without pay (like an indentured servant) counted as 1 person, a Native American (who didn’t pay taxes) didn’t count as a person, and an enslaved person counted as ⅗ of a person. That means 100 enslaved people equaled 60 free persons. Pretty messed up!

Here’s how many U.S. representatives your state has (as of September 2021).

DID YOU KNOW?

To determine the population, we count the people in every state with a census. It’s done every 10 years. The most recent census was in 2020.

CLAUSE 4

If a representative quits, dies, or gets kicked out before their term ends, the governor of that state calls for a special election. No empty seats!

CLAUSE 5

The leader of the House is called the speaker of the House, and he or she is selected by House members. Also, only the House has the power to impeach a president (or some other federal official).

DID YOU KNOW?

Impeachment is confusing, but it’s NOT a go-straight-to-jail card. Impeachment only means the House accuses a federal government worker of committing a high crime or misdemeanor and votes to formally charge him or her.

BACKGROUND BIT There are no rules for who can be the speaker of the House. If the House voted for your aunt Muriel, then congrats! She wouldn’t even have to be a member of the House to get the job! Or it could be a celebrity, or your sister, or ANYONE. But so far it has always been a member of the House.

ARTICLE I, SECTION 3: THE SENATE

CLAUSE 1

Each state gets 2 U.S. senators. Senators are up for reelection every 6 years.

BACKGROUND BIT State legislatures (state houses and state senates) used to pick U.S. senators.

BACKGROUND BIT Senators originally represented the states, not the people. (The people were represented in the House.) To the authors of the Constitution, the people change their minds too quickly, which is also why senators were given longer terms (6 years instead of 2).

CLAUSE 2

The Senate is divided into thirds. Every 2 years, ⅓ of the Senate is up for reelection. If a senator quits, dies, or gets kicked out before his or her term ends, in most states the governor can appoint a temporary senator. Again, no empty seats!

BACKGROUND BIT If every House and Senate seat were up for reelection at the same time, it would be chaotic. Policies would change constantly. The only commercials we’d see would be political ads (not cool if you love a good jingle). That’s why senators are divided into 3 groups, with each group having a different start and end date for its terms.

CLAUSE 3

Senate candidates must be:

CLAUSES 4–5

The vice president is also the president of the Senate but doesn’t get to vote unless there’s a tie. If the vice president isn’t available on a given day, the Senate has its own “president pro tempore” to keep things running smoothly.

DID YOU KNOW?

“President pro tempore” is a fancy Latin term for “president for a time” (as in, temporarily). Also, like the speaker of the House, there are no constitutional requirements for the job. Make sure to tell Aunt Muriel!

BACKGROUND BIT The 1st vice president, John Adams (who was also our 2nd president), called being vice president “the most insignificant office” ever imagined. Before the 25th Amendment, the office of vice president could go vacant for years at a time and no one bothered to fill it!

CLAUSE 6

After the House impeaches a government official, the Senate puts that impeached person on trial.

CLAUSE 7

If the government official is convicted, the only possible punishments from this trial are removal from office and not being allowed to hold federal office ever again. The person can also be taken to regular court and tried for those (or other) crimes.

BACKGROUND BIT To date, 3 presidents have been impeached by the House: Andrew Johnson, Bill Clinton, and Donald Trump. All 3 were acquitted in the Senate, meaning none of them were removed from office or banned from holding future federal office. Most people think Richard Nixon was impeached and removed from office, but this is a trick trivia question! Richard Nixon resigned before the House could vote to impeach him.

ARTICLE I, SECTION 4: CONGRESSIONAL SESSIONS

CLAUSE 1

States decide when, where, and how to hold elections for senators and representatives, but Congress can change their decisions.

DID YOU KNOW?

In 1845, Congress decided that everyone will vote for representatives and senators on the 1st Tuesday after the 1st Monday of November. They made it the same day so that one state’s results wouldn’t influence another’s. But they also chose this day so that farmers could be done farming and have more time to vote. We’ve kept this date for over 175 years!

CLAUSE 2

Congress must go to work at least once a year, and they can pass a law to choose the specific day.

DID YOU KNOW?

They meet more than once a year, but they do schedule themselves plenty of breaks.

BACKGROUND BIT The Constitution says this day should be the 1st Monday in December, but this was later changed.

ARTICLE I, SECTION 5: CONGRESSIONAL RULES

CLAUSE 1

Congress will make sure their new members are of age (i.e., they can’t be 10 years old) and meet all the other requirements. In addition, there must be a majority (called a “quorum”) present to pass laws. This is good! If there wasn’t a majority, 2 senators could get together and pass a bill that said everyone had to buy a giraffe or hop on 1 leg for 10 minutes. Also, if members play hooky, Congress can force them to go to work. If they still don’t come in, Congress can punish them. Again, this is good. Otherwise, your representative could skip session every day to play video games instead of voting on your behalf. No taxation without representation!

CLAUSE 2

If a member of the House or Senate misbehaves, they can be punished. If they’re really bad (and if ⅔ of the House or Senate agrees), the troublemaker can be fired.

CLAUSE 3

Both the House and Senate must write down what they say and do each day, and print it out for everyone to see, unless it’s super-top-secret stuff. Votes are recorded only if ⅕ of the members agree (this is called a roll call vote, and everyone answers alphabetically).

BACKGROUND BIT C-SPAN records the House and Senate meetings. You can watch votes happening live on television! There are also websites online and daily journals that detail the votes.

CLAUSE 4

While in session, neither the House nor the Senate can break for more than 3 days, nor meet anywhere else without the other’s permission (unless it’s for a snack in the Capitol, but no tropical weekend getaways).

DID YOU KNOW?

“Capitol” with an “o” is the building. “Capital” with an “a” is the city. Here’s a trick: When you see the “o,” think of the dome of the Capitol building.

ARTICLE I, SECTION 6: CONGRESSIONAL PRIVILEGES

CLAUSE 1

Members of Congress are paid by the people for their jobs, and they decide how much! Also, they have immunity. During a debate, they can’t get in trouble for things they say (unless they threaten to kill the president or steal money from the U.S. Treasury for that tropical vacation). Basically, unless it’s “treason, felony, or breach of peace,” they get a free pass to speak their mind without fear of arrest while debating. They also can’t be questioned about their talks in Congress either.

BACKGROUND BIT The Framers were worried for a reason. Their old king in Britain used to arrest members for saying things he didn’t like, so this clause made sure the president or police couldn’t harass them. It gave them freedom of speech while they did their jobs, which we all know is important!

CLAUSE 2

Members of Congress can’t suddenly quit and take a newly made job in government, or one with a bigger paycheck. They also can’t have 2 jobs in government at the same time (except for the vice president, but more on that later!).

BACKGROUND BIT This is a small but important point, because it happened all the time. Representatives would vote to increase a pay raise for a job and then, after their term was up, take the higher-paying job. For example, in 1909, President William Taft nominated Senator Philander Chase Knox to a new job in his Cabinet. But Knox had just voted to raise the salary, so he couldn’t accept it until Congress lowered the salary again. The very same thing happened with Hillary Clinton in 2008 when President Barack Obama asked her to be in his Cabinet.

ARTICLE I, SECTION 7: LEGISLATIVE PROCESS

CLAUSE 1

All bills having to do with taxes must start in the House. The Senate can make amendments to them before sending them to the president to sign. (You can track a bill as it goes through Congress on Congress.gov to see how it changes and where it is in the process. Think of it like a pizza tracker. A bill gets prepped in committee, baked in either the House or the Senate, inspected in the other chamber, sometimes reinspected in both, and finally sent for delivery to the president, just like a pepperoni pizza with extra anchovies.)

DID YOU KNOW?

Most bills start in committees and even smaller subcommittees where everyone hashes out the details before being voted on by the House or the Senate. Both the House and the Senate must agree on the final bill before it goes to the president. Nothing can differ—not even a comma.

DID YOU KNOW?

The first 4 words of any bill before it becomes a law are “Be it hereby enacted…”

CLAUSE 2

Every bill that has been approved by both chambers gets sent to the president. The president then has a few options: