CONGRESS. The origin of the national legisla ture is to be found in the so-called Second Con tinental Congress of 1775—a revolutionary body which was called to deliberate upon the state of public affairs growing out of the dispute with Great Britain, and which, with the acquiescence of the people, assumed plenary powers of gov ernment and the management of the war. Al though its powers were undefined (there being no written eonstitntion), the Congress exercised many of the usual functions of sovereign gov ernments, among which may be mentioned the organization of a diplomatic service and the con clusion of treaties with foreign States; the regu lation of commerce; the raising and equipment of armies; the establishment of a post-otlice; the creation of a national currency, etc. Delegates were usually appointed by popular conventions or legislatures, the Congress was organized in one chamber, and the States enjoyed equality of rep resentation. The Articles of Confederation ratified in 1781 changed the basis of the Con gress from a revolutionary assembly to a con stitutional body, and undertook to define its powers and regulate its constitution. The prin ciple of equality of representation and the uni cameral form of organization were, however, continued; besides, its efficiency as a national leg islature was impaired by other unwise provisions. It did not possess the power of taxation, nor did its commands operate upon individuals, but rather upon States which could not be coerced. A few years' experience showed that it was unequal to the task of a national legislature. and when the constitutional convention of 1787 came to de liberate upon the structure and powers of Con gress it was practically unanimous in favor of the bicameral organization and of vesting Con gress with more adequate powers. The trouble some question of representation was settled by an arrangement which protected the small Slates by giving them equality of representation in one chamber, and the large States by proportional representation in the other.
Congress was given adequate power over the source of the national revenue, besides other powers inherent in a national legislature. All its powers were enumerated by the Constitution, while a number of express prohibitions were in serted in behalf of individual liberty. Lest an express enumeration of its powers might operate to deprive it of discretion in choosing the ap propriate means of carrying into execution the powers granted, a so-called 'elastic clause' was inserted empowering Congress to pass all laws deemed necessary and proper to carry out the powers expressed. Compared with the vast range of powers left with the States the few powers conferred upon Congress seem quite insignificant, and this disparity seems all the more noticeable when compared with the omnipotence of the British Parliament. But the apparently narrow
powers vested in Congress have been rather broad ly construed by the Supreme Court throughout the entire period of our national history. With the sanction of the court, sometimes under the stress of emergency, but more frequently in time of peace, Congress has steadily extended its pow ers in every direction, exercising functions which were probably never intended by the framers of the Constitution to be assumed by it. Thus under the simple power to lay and collect taxes (doubtless for revenue only) Congress has em ployed its power to destroy State bank currency, to encourage certain industries and destroy oth ers, and to restrict commercial intercourse. In pursuance of the power to coin money and pay debts it has established national banks, issued bills of credit, and given the legal-tender quality to its treasury notes. Under the power to es tablish post offices and post roads it has made a Government monopoly of the entire postal ser vice, established a money-order system, and pro vided for free delivery of mail in all cities and in many rural communities. Under the power to regulate foreign and interstate commerce it has regulated not only traffic, but telegraphic inter course and navigation on inland rivers and canals. This power has been employed also for the purposes of prohibition, reciprocity. retaliation, and revenue. It has included the laying of em bargoes, the enactment of non-intercourse and non-importation and quarantine laws, the dredg ing of harbors, the erection of lighthouses, bea cons, buoys. etc. Likewise Congress. without ex press authority, has acquired foreign territory, erected it into States, and governed its inhabi tants without their consent. It has made large grants of land to aid in the construction of rail roads, passed laws to regulate and-control Fed eral elections, governed rebellious States through military agency, conferred suffrage upon the ne groes, and undertaken to secure for them equality of treatment in public places. During the con troversy over Reconstruction it encroached seri ously upon the sphere of the executive and the courts declined to interfere in the latter's behalf.
In reviewing the first century of the history of Congress and its place in our scheme of gov ernment, several criticisms are worthy of note. These are the invariable practice of choosing members from local districts, the short tenures of Representatives, the large and unwieldy size of the Lower House, the long interregnum between the time of the election and the organization of the Congress, the shortness of the second session, and the exclusion of the Cabinet from seats in either House.