Article I of the Constitution establishes the legislative branch. Section 1 reads:
All legislative Powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress of the United States, which shall consist of a Senate and House of Representatives.
The remaining sections of Article I go on to list specifics about how Congress must be formed and run. The first section, as we read above, makes our Congress bicameral. Bicameral means that Congress has two houses: the House of Representative and the Senate. We have the two houses of Congress due to a compromise made by the Founding Fathers during the Constitutional Convention. Delegates to the Constitutional Convention from larger and more populated states argued for the Virginia Plan, which called for congressional representation to be based on a state's population. Fearing domination, delegates from smaller states were just as adamant for equal representation and supported the New Jersey Plan, which proposed that each state should have one vote, regardless of population. Roger Sherman, a delegate from Connecticut, proposed the bicameral legislature structure. The Great Compromise, along with some other provisions, resulted in the creation of two houses, with representation based on population in one (the House of Representatives) and with equal representation in the other (the Senate).
Some of the powers granted to Congress in Article I are: regulating commerce, passing laws, the power to lay taxes, to establish Post Offices and post roads, and to “define and punish Piracies and Felonies committed on the high Seas”, among others. Article I also states the requirements a person must meet to run for Congress, establishes the Vice President as President of the Senate, and places limitations on some of their actions.
- Clause 1 General Welfare Clause
The Congress shall have Power To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defence and general Welfare of the United States; but all Duties, Imposts and Excises shall be uniform throughout the United States;
- Clause 2 Borrowing
To borrow Money on the credit of the United States;
- ArtI.S8.C2.1 Borrowing Power of Congress
- Clause 3 Commerce
To regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several States, and with the Indian Tribes;
- ArtI.S8.C3.5 Historical Background on the Commerce Clause Cases
- ArtI.S8.C3.6 Modern Interstate Commerce Clause Doctrine
- ArtI.S8.C3.7 Dormant Commerce Clause
- ArtI.S8.C3.9 Commerce With Native American Tribes: Scope of Authority
- Clause 5 Standards
To coin Money, regulate the Value thereof, and of foreign Coin, and fix the Standard of Weights and Measures;
- ArtI.S8.C5.1 Coinage Power
- Clause 6 Counterfeiters
To provide for the Punishment of counterfeiting the Securities and current Coin of the United States;
- ArtI.S8.C6.1 Counterfeiting Power
- Clause 7 Post Offices
To establish Post Offices and post Roads;
- Clause 8 Intellectual Property
To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries;
- ArtI.S8.C8.1 Overview of Congress's Power over Intellectual Property
- ArtI.S8.C8.2 Historical Background on the Intellectual Property Clause
- Clause 9 Courts
To constitute Tribunals inferior to the supreme Court;
- ArtI.S8.C9.1 Congress's Power to Create Courts
- Clause 10 Maritime Crimes
To define and punish Piracies and Felonies committed on the high Seas, and Offences against the Law of Nations;
- Clause 11 War Powers
To declare War, grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal, and make Rules concerning Captures on Land and Water;
- Clause 12 To Raise and Maintain Armies
To raise and support Armies, but no Appropriation of Money to that Use shall be for a longer Term than two Years;
- Clause 13 Navy Clause
To provide and maintain a Navy;
- Clause 14 Land and Naval Force Rules
To make Rules for the Government and Regulation of the land and naval Forces;
- Clause 15 To Call Militias
To provide for calling forth the Militia to execute the Laws of the Union, suppress Insurrections and repel Invasions;
- ArtI.S8.C15.1 Congress's Power to Call Militias
- Clause 16 Organization of Militias
To provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining, the Militia, and for governing such Part of them as may be employed in the Service of the United States, reserving to the States respectively, the Appointment of the Officers, and the Authority of training the Militia according to the discipline prescribed by Congress;
- ArtI.S8.C16.1 Congress's Power to Organize Militias
- Clause 17 Enclave Clause
To exercise exclusive Legislation in all Cases whatsoever, over such District (not exceeding ten Miles square) as may, by Cession of particular States, and the Acceptance of Congress, become the Seat of Government of the United States, and to exercise like Authority over all Places purchased by the Consent of the Legislature of the State in which the Same shall be, for the Erection of Forts, Magazines, Arsenals, dock-Yards, and other needful Buildings;–And
The Constitution of the United States contains a preamble and seven articles that describe the way the government is structured and how it operates. The first three articles establish the three branches of government and their powers: Legislative (Congress), Executive (office of the President,) and Judicial (Federal court system). A system of checks and balances prevents any one of these separate powers from becoming dominant. Articles four through seven describe the relationship of the states to the Federal Government, establish the Constitution as the supreme law of the land, and define the amendment and ratification processes.
Back to Constitution main page How Did it Happen?
PREAMBLE : We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution
ARTICLES
Amendment
Article 1, Section 1
The text of the U.S. Constitution begins with a description of the legislative branch of the government, or the “Congress.” In fact, the first three articles of the Constitution deal in turn with the three branches of the federal government: legislative (Congress), executive (President), and judicial (Supreme Court). These branches were designed to compete with each other – to have overlapping and competing interests, so no single branch or person could possess complete authority. In the wake of the American Revolution, the founders were left with a distaste for monarchy, and they created a system whose very structure lends toward a separation of powers. Article I is made up of ten sections, which can be thought generally of as answering three separate questions: What is the Congress (Sections 1-3)? How does the Congress work (Sections 4-7)? What can the Congress do or not do (Sections 8-10)? Below, is section one, which is uniquely short and straightforward.
Text of Article 1, Section 1:
All legislative Powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress of the United States, which shall consist of a Senate and House of Representatives.
The 'Travis Translation' of Article 1, Section 1:
Laws are made by Congress. Congress is made up of a Senate and a House of Representatives.
The very first section of Article I is simply written. It is more of an introduction than anything else. Congress makes laws. Congress is made up of the Senate and House of Representatives.