On 6/8/07, Alberto Monteiro <[EMAIL PROTECTED] > wrote: > > > What is the logic behind that? Here in Brazil, the "logic" for > the existence of the Senate is that Senators represent the state, > while the Deputies represent the electors. I can't see why this > would apply to a state. Does every county elect a state-Senator > that represents the county? > > Maybe the logic is just giving politicians new jobs... >
IANAH (I am not a historian), but here is the way it was taught to me -- and any of the historians or political science folks on the list, please correct the stuff that I get wrong. :-) The original question, back when the current US constitution was being created, was should each state be represented equally, or should each citizen be represented equally. The crafters of the constitution did both. In the senate, each state has an equal voice because each state has two senators. In the house of representatives, the seats are split up based on the census, with each representative in theory representing roughly the same number of people. At the time, the northern states had figured out that slavery was probably not something they wanted to continue, and the southern states had a vested interest in continuing slavery, and the less populous south didn't want the more populous north to be able to dictate to them how they should run their states. Giving each state an equal voice in the senate, along with counting each slave as 3/5ths of a person for purposes of counting population for the house of representatives, helped quell that concern for the south, at least until somebody had to go start a war... ;-) States simply copied the two-house structure of the federal government, but without the same reasoning behind having a separate house and senate. For most states, the division is more like Great Britain's division between the House of Lords and the House of Commons. In practice, at least initially, and at least in many states, state houses of representatives represented the common people and senates represented the wealthy. And legislation had to be approved by both the commoners and the wealthy to become law. And typically, state senates are smaller than state houses of representatives, just like in the federal model, which helps add to the prestige of being a senator. <cynical> Currently, being a senator is still more prestigious than being a representative, but both senators and representatives typically cater to the needs of the wealthy and just ignore the common man. </cynical> HTH -- Mauro Diotallevi "Hey, Harry, you haven't done anything useful for a while -- you be the god of jello now." -- Patricia Wrede, 8/16/2006 on rasfc _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l