Levinson The Purpose Of The Senate Summary

Taylor Brown

POLS 4130 – Ross

Final Exam

1. Sanford Levinson argues that Article 1, Section 3, Clause 1 (“The Senate of the Unites States shall be composed of two Senators from each state, chosen by the legislature thereof, for six years; and each Senator shall have one vote”) should appall most Americans and lead them to support a new constitutional convention. Using Madison’s Notes and the Federalist Papers explain A) the purposes of the Senate, B) how the institutional design (number of representatives, term length, original mode of selection, enumerated powers, etc) accomplishes those purposes, and C) if the Senate’s purposes and institutional design are still defensible.

The Senate of the United States was instituted for several reasons.

Any bill that originates in the House must be ratified by 2/3’s of the Senate. Each State is represented within the Senate by two-senators. This was the result of a compromise between the larger and smaller states. The House is dominated by the larger states which have more representatives due to their larger population. Initially the Senate was selected by State Legislators; this has since changed to the selection process we have today by popular vote. The term length for a Senator is six-years, with one-third of Senators being up for election every two-years. This keeps a constant rotation of new ideas and people within the Senate, while providing stability to the legislative branch. Eligibility for a Senator requires you to have attained at least 30-years of age and a citizen for at least nine-years. According to Madison, this helps prevents the inexperienced and foreigners who wish to cause harm from being

When the Constitution was created, they needed to appease the larger and smaller states due to the distinct nature of each individual state at the time. This is one reason why the State Legislators in the past were given the responsibility of selecting Senators from each given state. The reasoning was that the House would represent the interests of the people, whereas the Senate would represent the interests of the States. Levinson does suggest that a unicameralism legislature is not a far-fetched idea. This would remove the Senate in its entirety, leaving the House in sole responsibility of passing legislation. The checks and balances that the founders desired between the Senate and the House would be reflected in the competing political parties within the House.

2. Sanford Levinson argues that the Electoral College is a “dreadful system of presidential selection” that is beyond defending. Using Madison’s Notes and the Federalist Papers, explain the A) purposes of the Electoral College (why they chose this method over others) and B) whether or not Publius’s defense applies to current debates over maintaining or eliminating the Electoral