John Adams' First State of the Union Address

John Adams' First State of the Union Address was delivered on November 11, 1797, in the Congress Hall of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. At the time of the address, sickness was spreading through Philadelphia and Adams notes in his introduction that he was tempted to relocate the assembly of the National Legislature, but avoided this due to inevitable expense and general inconvenience.

French aggression

Adams began his State of the Union Address by expressing concern over European, most notably French, aggression towards American merchant vessels. He emphasizes the importance of America's growing role in international commerce, citing accomplishments in agriculture and commercial fishing. In July and August of 1797 delegates traveled to Holland and then to France. They arrived in Paris on September 19 and began negotiations in the hope of pacifying Franco-American relations. At the time the speech was delivered, the status of the meetings in France were unknown, but Adams knew, and stated in the speech, that war, with France or possibly other European countries, for example Great Britain, was becoming an increasingly likely turn of events. The Federalist Party advocated going to war, but Adams ignored Francophobia and avoided going to war with France until 1798 in the Quasi-War. The U.S. later went to war with Britain in the War of 1812, partly due to Jefferson's refusal to pay tribute to a foreign nation.

Colonial competition and intimidation of the U.S.

Piracy of American ships in international waters by the French was a microcosm of French and British colonial competition; specifically, French aggression was a reaction to the Jay Treaty, which they perceived was an Anglo-American alliance, and the belief that tribute could be collected from the infantile republic by exerting sufficient military pressure. Adams's assertion that, "respect to treaties has been so diminished," is a reference to the violation of the Treaty of Alliance by the French through piracy and the violation of Pinckney's Treaty by the Spanish through illegal garrisons in the western U.S frontiers. The Jay Treaty, Pinckney's Treaty, the Treaty of Tripoli, also negotiated by Thomas Pinckney, the Treaty with Tunis, and France's attempt at forming a similar treaty with the U.S. in March of 1797, the infamous XYZ Affair, were attempts by foreign powers to extort money and power from the U.S. government while limiting the influence other world powers had on the emerging nation. Although these treaties were highly unfavorable to the U.S., the policy of appeasement carried out during the Washington and Adams administrations was necessary to provide time for the U.S. to buildup its navy and militia. Foreign intervention in domestic affairs of the U.S. was not limited to abuses in the water. Adams condemned ventures by foreign agents, such as those of Spain, who tried to incite an insurgency among Native Americans. Adams expresses hope that the as yet unfulfilled obligations of the Treaty of Amity, Commerce, and Navigation, surveying the St. Croix River between Maine and New Brunswick and paying debts American citizens owed to British subjects prior to the American Revolutionary War, due to various unstated causes, and the unfulfilled obligations of the Spanish regarding compensation for American ships stolen or destroyed in recent Franco-Spanish hostilities, will continue without offending citizens of any country. He deplores the impressing of American soldiers by French and Spanish forces and criticizes the legal framework concerning the proper reaction to such action; how to guarantee the safe return of captured sea men from foreign territories, and the inability of consuls to "demand an inspection of the registers and sea letters."

National Debt

Adams directly addresses the House of Representatives in regard to the national debt and taxes which had to be raised in order to fund a larger, more mobile U.S. Army. He warns against loans as he believed that they had contributed to the vast debt and economic collapse of historical empires. He ends his address by reiterating his general theme of the necessity to militarize to adequately defend against foreign imperialism.

External links

- [http://www.usa-presidents.info/union/adams-1.html Text of the address] Category:Quasi-War Category:History of foreign relations of the United States

November 11

November 11 is the 315th day of the year (316th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 50 days remaining.

Events

- 1215 - The Fourth Lateran Council meets, adopting the doctrine of transubstantiation, meaning that bread and wine are transformed into the body and blood of Christ.
- 1620 - In what is now Provincetown Harbor near Cape Cod, the Mayflower Compact is signed on the Mayflower, establishing the basic laws for the Plymouth Colony.
- 1634 - Following pressure from Anglican bishop John Atherton, the Irish House of Commons passes "An Act for the Punishment for the Vice of Buggery" (anal sex).
- 1675 - Gottfried Leibniz demonstrated integral calculus for the first time to find the area under the graph of y = f(x) function.
- 1675 -Guru Gobind Singh becomes the Tenth Guru of the Sikhs.
- 1831 - In Jerusalem, Virginia, Nat Turner is hanged after inciting a violent slave uprising.
- 1839 - The Virginia Military Institute is founded in Lexington, Virginia.
- 1834 - Hans Christian Andersen's The Ugly Duckling was first published.
- 1864 - American Civil War: Sherman's March to the Sea - Union General William Tecumseh Sherman begins burning Atlanta, Georgia to the ground in preparation for his march south.
- 1865 - Treaty of Sinchula is signed in which Bhutan ceded the areas east of the Teesta River to the British East India Company.
- 1874 - Gamma Phi Beta sorority is founded at Syracuse University.
- 1880 - Australian bushranger and bank robber Ned Kelly is hanged in Melbourne.
- 1887 - Anarchist Haymarket Martyrs August Spies, Albert Parsons, Adolph Fischer and George Engel are executed.
- 1887 - Construction of the Manchester Ship Canal starts at Eastham.
- 1889 - Washington is admitted as the 42nd U.S. state.
- 1911 - Many cities in the midwest broke their record highs and lows on the same day as a strong cold front rolls through. (see The 11/11/11 cold wave).
- 1918 - World War I ends: Germany signs an armistice agreement with the Allies in a railroad car outside of Compiègne in France. The war officially stops at 11:00.
- 1918 - Józef Piłsudski comes to Warsaw and assumes supreme military power in Poland. Poland regains its independence.
- 1918 - Emperor Charles I of Austria abdicates.
- 1919 - The Centralia Massacre in Centralia, Washington results the deaths of four members of the American Legion and the lynching of a local leader of the IWW.
- 1921 - The Tomb of the Unknowns is dedicated by US President Warren G. Harding at Arlington National Cemetery.
- 1923 - First try for a putsch by Hitler in Munich (Germany).
- 1930 - Patent number US1781541 was awarded to Albert Einstein and Leó Szilárd for their invention, the Einstein refrigerator.
- 1933 - Dust Bowl: In South Dakota, a very strong dust storm strips topsoil from desiccated farmlands.
- 1940 - World War II: Battle of Taranto - The Royal Navy launches the first aircraft carrier strike in history, on the Italian fleet at Taranto.
- 1940 - The German cruiser Atlantis captures top secret British mail, and sends it to Japan.
- 1940 - Armistice Day Blizzard: An unexpected blizzard kills 144 in U.S. Midwest.
- 1942 - Road to Morocco, starring Bob Hope, Bing Crosby, and Dorothy Lamour, premieres.
- 1962 - Kuwait's National Assembly ratifies the Constitution of Kuwait.
- 1965 - Rhodesia (now called Zimbabwe) was declared independent by the white minority regime of Ian Smith.
- 1966 - NASA launches spaceship Gemini 12.
- 1967 - Vietnam War: In a propaganda ceremony in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, three American prisoners of war are released by the Viet Cong and turned over to "new left" antiwar activist Tom Hayden.
- 1968 - Vietnam War: Operation Commando Hunt initiated. The goal was to interdict men and supplies on the Ho Chi Minh Trail, through Laos into South Vietnam.
- 1968 - A second republic is declared in the Maldives.
- 1969 - Jim Morrison (The Doors) is arrested by the FBI after repeatedly prodding a stewardess.
- 1972 - Vietnam War: Vietnamization - The United States Army turns over the massive Long Binh military base to South Vietnam.
- 1975 - Angola becomes independent from Portugal.
- 1975 - Australian constitutional crisis of 1975: Australian Governor-General Sir John Kerr dismisses the government of Gough Whitlam and commissions Malcolm Fraser as caretaker Prime Minister, and announces a general election to be held in early December.
- 1978 - Maumoon Abdul Gayoom succeeded Ibrahim Nasir as the president of the Republic of Maldives. He has since been re-elected for six consecutive 5-year terms.
- A renovated Hollywood Sign is unveiled, replacing the older version that was built in 1923.
- 1986 - Sperry Rand and Burroughs merge to form Unisys, becoming the second largest computer company.
- 1988 - In Sacramento, California, police find a body buried in the lawn of 60-year-old boardinghouse landlady Dorothea Puente .
- 1989 - Fall of the Berlin Wall.
- 1992 - The Church of England votes to allow women to become priests.
- 1993 - Australian Prime minister P. J. Keating makes a famous speech at the dedication of the tomb and the burial of the unknown Australian soldier
- 1997 - Mary McAleese inaugurated the eighth President of Ireland.
- 1997 - Marianne Biancuzzo is charged for drowning her newborn baby in a toilet and hiding the remains in a coffee can in Tucson, Arizona.
- 1999 - A six-storey apartment block collapses in Foggia, Italy, killing 62.
- 2000 - In Kaprun, Austria, 155 skiers and snowboarders die when a cable car catches fire in an alpine tunnel.
- 2004 - New Zealand Tomb of the Unknown Warrior dedicated at the National War Memorial, Wellington
- Yasser Arafat is confirmed dead by the the Palestine Liberation Organization, of unidentified causes. Mahmoud Abbas is elected chairman of the PLO minutes later.
- Official Guided by Voices Day in San Diego, California.
- Mary McAleese inaugurated for a second term as President of Ireland.
- 2005 - David Irving, a British Nazi sympathizer and historian, is arrested in Austria on a 1989 warrant for offenses related to Holocaust denial.

Births

- 1050 - Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor (d. 1106)
- 1154 - King Sancho I of Portugal (d. 1212)
- 1155 - King Alfonso VIII of Castile (d. 1214)
- 1220 - Alphonse of Toulouse, son of Louis VIII of France (d. 1271)
- 1493 - Paracelsus, doctor († 1541)
- 1493 - Bernardo Tasso, Italian poet (d. 1569)
- 1599 - Prince Octavio Piccolomini, Duke of Amalfi, Austrian field marshal (d. 1656)
- 1633 - George Savile, 1st Marquess of Halifax, British statesman (d. 1695)
- 1668 - Johann Albert Fabricius, German classical scholar and bibliographer (d. 1736)
- 1743 - Carl Peter Thunberg, Swedish naturalist (d. 1828)
- 1744 - Abigail Adams, First Lady of the United States (d. 1818)
- 1748 - King Charles IV of Spain (d. 1819)
- 1764 - Barbara Juliana, Baroness von Krüdener, Russian writer (d. 1824)
- 1791 - Josef Munzinger, Swiss Federal Councillor (d. 1855)
- 1792 - Mary Anne Evans, English wife of Benjamin Disraeli (d. 1872)
- 1821 - Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Russian novelist (d. 1881)
- 1828 - Sri Deep Narayan Mahaprabhuji, Hindu saint (d. 1963)
- 1852 - Franz Conrad von Hötzendorf, Austro-Hungarian field marshal (d. 1925)
- 1863 - Paul Signac, French painter (d. 1935)
- 1864 - Alfred Hermann Fried, Austrian pacifist, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (d. 1921)
- 1869 - King Victor Emmanuel III of Italy (d. 1947)
- 1882 - King Gustav VI Adolf of Sweden (d. 1973)
- 1885 - George Patton, American general (d. 1945)
- 1887 - Roland Young, American actor (d. 1953)
- 1889 - Clifton Webb, American actor (d. 1966)
- 1891 - Rabbit Maranville, baseball player (d. 1954)
- 1897 - Lucky Luciano, American gangster (d. 1962)
- 1898 - Rene Clair, French film dirctor (d.
- 1899 - Pat O'Brien, American film actor (d. 1983)
- 1900 - Halina Konopacka, Polish athlete (d. 1989)
- 1901 - F. Van Wyck Mason, American author (d. 1978)
- 1903 - Sam Spiegel, Austrian-born film producer (d. 1985)
- 1904 - Alger Hiss, American government official and spy (d. 1994)
- 1904 - J. H. C. Whitehead, British mathematician (d. 1960)
- 1909 - Robert Ryan, American actor (d. 1973)
- 1912 - Thomas C. Mann, American diplomat
- 1914 - Howard Fast, American author (d. 2003)
- 1914 - Henry Wade, American lawyer (d. 2001)
- 1915 - William Proxmire, U.S. Senator
- 1918 - Stubby Kaye, American comic actor (d. 1997)
- 1919 - Martin Balsam, American actor (d. 1996)
- 1919 - Kalle Päätalo, Finnish novelist (d. 2000)
- 1920 - Roy Jenkins, British politician (d. 2003)
- 1922 - Kurt Vonnegut, Jr., American novelist
- 1925 - June Whitfield, British comedienne
- 1925 - Jonathan Winters, American comedian and actor
- 1927 - Mose Allison, American musician
- 1928 - LaVern Baker, American singer (d. 1997)
- 1928 - Carlos Fuentes, Mexican writer
- 1928 - Mircea Mureşan, Romanian film director
- 1929 - Hans Magnus Enzensberger, German writer
- 1938 - Ants Antson, Estonian speed skater
- 1939 - Denise Alexander, American actress
- 1940 - Barbara Boxer, U.S. Senator
- 1943 - Doug Frost, Australian swimming coach
- 1944 - Jesse Colin Young, American musician (The Youngbloods)
- 1945 - Daniel Ortega, President of Nicaragua
- 1950 - Mircea Dinescu, Romanian poet
- 1953 - Marshall Crenshaw, American musician
- 1954 - Meindert Zwaagstra, American patriot
- 1959 - Lee Haney, American bodybuilder
- 1960 - Peter Parros, American actor
- 1960 - Stanley Tucci, American actor and film director
- 1961 - Corinne Hermès, French singer
- 1962 - Demi Moore, American actress
- 1962 - James Morrison, Australian musician
- 1964 - Judith Edelman, American musician
- 1964 - Calista Flockhart, American actress
- 1966 - Alison Doody, Irish actress
- 1967 - Gil de Ferran, Brazilian race car driver
- 1969 - Carson Kressley, American fashion expert
- 1973 - Jason White, American musician (Green Day)
- 1974 - Leonardo DiCaprio, American actor
- 1977 - Ben Hollioake, English cricketer (d. 2002)
- 1979 - Alexandra Noemi Oana Iftode, Romanian "Steaua Bucuresti" Team Manager
- 1981 - Natalie Glebova, Russian-Canadian beauty queen
- 1985 - Kalan Porter, Canadian singer
- 1988 - Daniel Wood, English cricketer

Deaths

- 397 - Martin of Tours, French saint
- 537 - Pope Silverius, saint
- 1028 - Constantine VIII of the Byzantine Empire (b. 960)
- 1285 - King Peter III of Aragon (b. 1239)
- 1623 - Philippe de Mornay, French writer (b. 1549)
- 1686 - Louis II de Bourbon, Prince de Condé, French general (b. 1621)
- 1986 - Otto von Guericke, German scientist, inventor, and politician (b. 1602)
- 1831 - Nat Turner, American slave rebel (b. 1800)
- 1855 - Søren Kierkegaard, Danish philosopher (b. 1813)
- 1880 - Ned Kelly, Australian bushranger (hanged)
- 1880 - Lucretia Mott, American feminist and abolitionist (b. 1793)
- 1884 - Alfred Brehm German zoologist (b. 1827)
- 1887 - Haymarket martyrs:
- 1887 - George Engel (b. 1836)
- 1887 - Adolph Fischer (b. 1858)
- 1887 - Albert Parsons (b. 1848)
- 1887 - August Spies (b. 1855)
- 1917 - Liliuokalani of Hawaii, Queen of Hawaii (b. 1838)
- 1931 - Shibusawa Eiichi, Japanese industrialist (b. 1840)
- 1939 - Jan Opletal, czech student, victim of nazi violence in Prague
- 1945 - Jerome David Kern, American composer (b. 1885)
- 1969 - Ernest Ansermet, Swiss conductor (b. 1883)
- 1973 - David "Stringbean" Akeman, American banjo player (b. 1915)
- 1973 - Artturi Ilmari Virtanen, Finnish chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1895)
- 1974 - Alfonso Leng, Chilean composer (b. 1894)
- 1975 - Theodosius Dobzhansky, Ukrainian geneticist (b. 1900)
- 1976 - Alexander Calder, American artist (b. 1898)
- 1977 - Greta Keller, Vienna-born cabaret singer and actress (b. 1903)
- 1979 - Dimitri Tiomkin, Ukrainian-born composer (b. 1894)
- 1997 - Rodney Milburn, American athlete (b. 1950)
- 1999 - Mary Kay Bergman, American voice actress (b. 1961)
- 1999 - Jacobo Timmerman, Argentine writer and journalist (b. 1923)
- 2004 - Yasser Arafat, Palestinian leader, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (b. 1929)
- 2005- Lord Lichfield, British photographer
- 2005 - Peter Drucker, American management theorist (b. 1909)

Holidays and observances

- R.C. Saints - Martin of Tours
- Opening of carnival season in Germany ("Karneval"/"Fasching" on 11-11, at 11:11), the Netherlands, and other countries
- Also see November 11 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
- Angola - Independence Day (1975)
- Colombia - Independence of Cartagena, from the Spanish Army in (1918)
- Poland - Independence Day (1918)
- South Korea - Pepero Day
- United States - Veterans Day (Formerly "Armistice Day")
- Armistice Day in France and Belgium: end of World War I (1918)
- Lacplesis' Day (1919) in Latvia: the official date for commemoration of Latvian soldiers, who had died for the country's freedom.
- Remembrance Day in the Commonwealth of Nations, including United Kingdom and Canada

External links

- [http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/november/11 BBC: On This Day] ---- November 10 - November 12 - October 11 - December 11 -- listing of all days ko:11월 11일 ms:11 November ja:11月11日 simple:November 11 th:11 พฤศจิกายน

Independence Hall

Independence Hall, officially known as the Pennsylvania State House, is a historic building in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Built between 1732 and 1753, it was designed in the Georgian style of architecture by Edmund Wooley and Andrew Hamilton. It was commissioned by the Pennsylvania colonial legislature and is located on Chestnut Street between 5th and 6th Streets. It was the principal meeting place of the Second Continental Congress from 1775 to 1783, the site of the adoption of the Declaration of Independence on July 4th, 1776, and of the drafting and signing of the United States Constitution in 1787. During the hot summer of 1787, the windows were kept shut so that others could not hear the discussions going on inside. Its belltower was the original home of the Liberty Bell. Independence Hall is pictured on the back of the U.S. $100 bill, as well as the Kennedy half dollar. It is now part of Independence National Historical Park, administered by the National Park Service, and is listed as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO (joining only three other U.S. man-made monuments still in use, the others being the Statue of Liberty, Pueblo de Taos, and the combined site of the University of Virginia and Monticello).

External link

- [http://www.nps.gov/inde Independence National Historical Park]
- [http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=39.947233,-75.145959&spn=0.005096,0.007918&t=k&hl=en Google maps] ja:独立記念館 (アメリカ) Category:World Heritage Sites in the United States Category:Pennsylvania landmarks

Pennsylvania

The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is one of four states of the United States of America that is called a commonwealth. It has given its name to the Pennsylvanian time period in geology. Pennsylvania is called the Keystone State. Although Swedes and Dutch were the first European settlers, the Quaker William Penn named Pennsylvania for the Latin phrase meaning "Penn's Woods", in honor of his father. Today, two major cities dominate the state—Philadelphia, home of the Liberty Bell, Independence Hall, and a thriving metropolitan area, and Pittsburgh, a busy inland river port and major center for educational and technological advances. The Pocono Mountains and the Delaware Water Gap provide popular recreational activities. Pennsylvania is one of the U.S.'s most historic states. Philadelphia is often called the cradle of the American Nation. It was here that the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution were drawn up by the Founding Fathers. The so-called "Pennsylvania Dutch" region in south-central Pennsylvania is another favorite of sightseers. Pennsylvania Germans, including the Amish and the Mennonites, dominate the area around the cities of Lancaster, York, and Harrisburg, with smaller numbers extending northeast to the Lehigh Valley and up the Susquehanna River valley. Some of the Old Order Amish have left the area, but many Mennonites remain, particularly in Lancaster County. Some adherents eschew modern conveniences and use horse-drawn farming equipment and carriages, while others are virtually indistinguishable from non-Amish or Mennonites. (The term "Dutch" is a misnomer, since there were much fewer of Dutch origin; the adjective for "German", Deutsch, was misheard as "Dutch" and the name stuck.) The battleship USS Pennsylvania, damaged at Pearl Harbor, was named in honor of this state, as were several other naval vessels. It was repaired at the former Sun Ship Yard & Dry Dock in Chester City.

History

Before the state existed, the area was home to the Delaware (also known as Lenni Lenape), Susquehanna, Iroquois, Eriez, Shawnee, and other Native American tribes. In 1643, the southeastern portion of the state, in the vicinity of Philadelphia, was settled by Sweden, but control later passed to the Netherlands, and then to England (later Great Britain). On March 4 1681, Charles II of England granted a land charter to William Penn for the area that now includes Pennsylvania. Penn then founded a colony there as a place of religious freedom for the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), and named it for the Latin phrase meaning "Penn's woods". A large tract of land north and west of Philadelphia, in Montgomery, Chester, and Delaware Counties, was settled by Welsh Quakers and called the "Welsh Tract". Even today many cities and towns in that area bear the names of Welsh municipalities. The western portions of Pennsylvania were among disputed territory between the colonial British and French during the French and Indian War. The French established numerous fortifications in the area, including the pivotal Fort Duquesne on top of which the city of Pittsburgh was built. The colony's reputation of religious freedom also attracted significant populations of German and Scots-Irish settlers who helped to shape colonial Pennsylvania and later went on to populate the neighboring states further west. In 1704 the "three lower counties" of New Castle, Kent, and Sussex gained a separate legislature, and in 1710 a separate executive council, to form the new colony Delaware. Pennsylvania and Delaware were two of the thirteen colonies that revolted against British rule in the American Revolution of 1776. Pennsylvania became the second state on 12 December, 1787 (five days after Delaware became the first). Pennsylvania also saw the Battle of Gettysburg, near Gettysburg. Many historians consider this battle the major turning point of the American Civil War. Dead from this battle rest at Gettysburg National Cemetery, site of Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address. In the latter half of the 19th century, the U.S. oil (kerosene) industry was born in western Pennsylvania, which supplied the vast majority of U.S. kerosene for years thereafter, and saw the rise and fall of oil boom towns. During the 20th century Pennsylvania's existing iron industries expanded into a major center of steel production. Shipbuilding and numerous other forms of manufacturing flourished in the eastern part of the state, and coal mining was also extremely important in many regions. In the late 1800s and early 1900s, Pennsylvania received very large numbers of immigrants from Europe seeking work; dramatic, sometimes violent confrontations took place between organized labor and the state's industrial concerns. Pennsylvania was hard-hit by the decline of the steel industry and other heavy U.S. industries during the late 20th century.

Law and government

Like all American states, Pennsylvania has a government which is separated into an executive, a legislature, and a judiciary, the powers and duties of which are established by the Pennsylvania Constitution. The capital of Pennsylvania is in Harrisburg.

Executive branch

The head of the executive branch is the Governor, who is currently Democrat Edward G Rendell, a former mayor of Philadelphia. The other elected officials composing the executive branch are the Lieutenant Governor, Attorney General, Auditor General, and State Treasurer. The Governor's cabinet consists of the eighteen appointed heads of Pennsylvania state agencies: the Secretary of the Commonwealth, Adjutant General, Secretary of Education, Insurance Commissioner, Secretary of Banking, Secretary of Agriculture, Secretary of Health, State Police Commissioner, Secretary of Labor and Industry, Secretary of Public Welfare, Secretary of Revenue, Secretary of Commerce, Secretary of Community Affairs, Secretary of Transportation, Secretary of Environmental Resources, Secretary of General Services, Secretary of Aging, and the Secretary of Corrections.

Legislative branch

Pennsylvania has had a bicameral legislature since 1790. The Pennsylvania General Assembly consists of a Senate with 50 members and a House of Representatives with 203. Notable General Assembly members include Senate President Pro Tempore Robert C. Jubelirer (R), Senate Majority Leader David J. Brightbill (R), Senate Minority Leader Robert J. Mellow (D), Speaker of the House of Representatives John M. Perzel (R), House Majority Leader Samuel H. Smith (R), House Minority Leader H. William DeWeese (D), and Senate Minority Appropriations Chairman Vincent Fumo (D).

Judicial branch

Pennsylvania is divided into 60 judicial districts[http://www.courts.state.pa.us/Index/CommonPleas/Judicialdistricts.asp], most of which (save Philadelphia and Allegheny Counties) have district justices (formerly called justices of the peace), who preside mainly over minor criminal offenses and small civil claims. The Philadelphia Municipal Court and the Pittsburgh police magistrate court have similar jurisdiction, but are limited to those locations. As Philadelphia is coterminous with Philadelphia County, the Pittsburgh police magistrate court is the only true city-level court in the state. The general trial courts in which most criminal and civil cases originate are the Courts of Common Pleas. They also serve as appellate courts to the district justices and for local agency decisions. The Courts of Common Pleas serving the larger Pennsylvania counties are divided into specialized divisions. The state has two intermediate-level appellate courts: the Superior Court and the Commonwealth Court. The fifteen judges of the Superior Court hear all appeals from the Courts of Common Pleas not expressly designated to the Commonwealth Court or Supreme Court. It also has original jurisdiction to review warrants for wiretap surveillance. The jurisdiction of the nine-judge Commonwealth Court is limited to appeals from final orders of certain state agencies and certain designated cases from the Courts of Common Pleas. The Commonwealth Court also functions as a trial court in some civil suits, including cases that involve the state or its officers as parties, and cases regarding statewide elections. Pennsylvania's entire judicial system is under the supervision of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, which is also the final appellate court for both the Superior Court and the Commonwealth Court. It also hears appeals directly from the Courts of Common Pleas in certain cases, including from murder convictions in which the death penalty has been imposed, the right to public office, criminal contempt, and any case in which the Court of Common Pleas ruled that a state law was unconstitutional. Like all judges in Pennsylvania, the seven justices of the Supreme Court are chosen by public election; the chief justice is the justice with the most seniority.

Representation in the federal government

Pennsylvania's two U.S. senators are Rick Santorum (Republican) and Arlen Specter (Republican). Pennsylvania's 19 representatives in the House are Robert Brady (D, 1st District); Chaka Fattah (D, 2nd District); Phil English (R, 3rd District); Melissa Hart (R, 4th District); John E. Peterson (R, 5th District); Jim Gerlach (R, 6th District); Curt Weldon (R, 7th District); Michael Fitzpatrick (R, 8th District); Bill Shuster (R, 9th District); Don Sherwood (R, 10th District); Paul E. Kanjorski (D, 11th District); John Murtha (D, 12th District); Allyson Schwartz (D, 13th District); Mike Doyle (D, 14th District); Charlie Dent (R, 15th District); Joe Pitts (R, 16th District); Tim Holden (D, 17th District); Tim Murphy (R, 18th District); and Todd Russell Platts (R, 19th District).

Politics in Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania is considered a swing state as its politics are not dominated by any single party. As of 2005, the Republican Party holds both houses of the state legislature, both United States Senate seats and a majority of the state's seats in the U.S. House of Representatives, but the Democratic Party holds the governor's seat and their candidate has won the state in the past four presidential elections. Bill Clinton carried the state twice, Al Gore won here in 2000 as did John Kerry in 2004 with a slim 50.9% of the vote. The state is divided into heavily left leaning areas along the sides. Democrats are the majority in the Philadelphia area, as well as around Allentown, Scranton and Wilkes-Barre in the east, and in the southwestern part of the state, the Pittsburgh area in the west and Erie in the northwest. The northern and central part of the state, nicknamed the Republican 'T, is more rural and tends to be very conservative. James Carville, the outspoken Democratic strategist, summed up Pennsylvania politics as "Philadelphia on one end, Pittsburgh on the other, with Alabama in the middle."
- U.S. presidential election, 2004, in Pennsylvania
Geography
See: List of Pennsylvania counties List of Pennsylvania counties Pennsylvania's nickname "The Keystone State" is quite apt, as the state forms a geographic bridge both between the Northeastern states and the Southern states, and between the Atlantic seaboard and the Midwest. It is bordered on the north and northeast by New York, on the east, across the Delaware River by New Jersey, on the south by Delaware, Maryland, and West Virginia, on the west by Ohio, and on the northwest by Lake Erie. The Delaware, Susquehanna, Monongahela, Allegheny, and Ohio Rivers are the major rivers of the state. The Youghiogheny River and Oil Creek are smaller rivers which have played an important role in the development of the state. The capital is Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania is 180 miles (290 km) north to south and 310 miles (500 km) east to west. The total land area is 44,817 square miles (119,283 km²), 739,200 acres (2,990 km²) of which are bodies of water. It is the 33rd largest state in the United States. The highest point of 3,213 feet (979 m) above sea level is at Mount Davis. Its lowest point is at sea level on the Delaware River. Pennsylvania is in the Eastern time zone. It sometimes helps to consider the western third of the state a separate large geophysical unit, which is so distinctive that it can often best be described on its own. Several important, complex factors set Western Pennsylvania apart in many respects from the east, such as the initial difficulty of access across the mountains, an orientation to the Mississippi drainage system of rivers, and above all, the complex economics involved in the rise and decline of the American steel industry centered around Pittsburgh. Other factors, such as a markedly different style of agriculture, the rise of the oil industry, timber exploitation and the old wood chemical industry, and even, in linguistics, the local dialect, all make this large area sometimes seem a virtual "state within a state". Pennsylvania is bisected diagonally by ridges of the Appalachian Mountains from southwest to northeast. To the northwest of the folded mountains is the Allegheny Plateau, which continues into southwestern and south central New York. This plateau is so dissected by valleys that it also seems mountainous. The Plateau is underlain by sedimentary rocks of Mississippian and Pennsylvanian age, which bear abundant fossils, as well as natural gas and petroleum. In 1859 near Titusville Edwin L. Drake drilled the first oil well in the USA into these sediments. Similar rock layers also contain coal to the south and east of the oil and gas deposits. In the metamorphic (folded) belt, anthracite (hard coal) is mined near Wilkes-Barre and Hazleton. These fossil fuels have been an important resource to Pennsylvania. Timber and dairy farming are also sources of livelihood for midstate and western Pennsylvania. Along the shore of Lake Erie in the far northwest are orchards and vineyards. Lake Erie Pennsylvania has 89 miles of shoreline along the Delaware River estuary but is a landlocked state with no coastline bordering the Atlantic Ocean. (The difference between the coast (the shore of an ocean) and the shore (a protected bay, bayou, estuary, or sound) and how these concepts are measured is explained at length in an extended footnote under "Miscellaneous" in the article on New Hampshire.) Pennsylvania is the only truly landlocked state of the original thirteen states, although Connecticut, located on the Long Island Sound, also has no actual coastline. Pennsylvania has one of the largest seaports in the U.S. on its narrow shore, the Port of Philadelphia. In the west the Port of Pittsburgh is also very large and even exceeds Philadelphia in rank by annual tonnage, due to the large volume of bulk coal shipped by barge down the Ohio River. Chester, downstream from Philadelphia, and Erie, the Great Lakes outlet on Lake Erie in the Erie Triangle, are smaller but still important ports. Pennsylvania has been the site of some of the most horrendous ecological disasters experienced in the USA. In 1889 the South Fork Dam, impounding a recreational mountain lake for sportsmen, burst after a heavy rain and destroyed the downstream factory town of Johnstown, killing over 2,200 inhabitants in the notorious Johnstown Flood (the town was later rebuilt and is a reasonably large community today in the central mountains). In 1961 an exposed seam of coal at Centralia, Pennsylvania caught fire and forced eventually almost the entire community to abandon their settlement; the coal fire is still burning today and is estimated to last 100 years more. Finally, in 1979 the Three Mile Island Nuclear Power Incident near the state capital of Harrisburg, while not as destructive to the community, nevertheless cost close to $1 billion to clean up and changed the national public perception of nuclear power to a much less favorable viewpoint.
Economy
Three Mile Island Pennsylvania's 1999 total gross state product was $383 billion, placing it 6^th in the nation and its 2000 Per Capita Personal Income was $29,539, 18^th in the nation. Its agricultural outputs are dairy products, poultry, cattle, nursery stock, mushrooms, hogs, and hay. Its industrial outputs are food processing, chemical products, machinery, electric equipment, and tourism. Pennsylvania has a large, diverse group of manufacturing companies and within this group are some whose products have come to be household words, symbolic of ordinary American life. Among these products are Hershey bars from the Hershey Chocolate Company in Hershey, Pennsylvania; Heinz ketchup and Heinz-57 sauce from the H. J. Heinz Company in Pittsburgh; Crayola products from Binney & Smith, Inc., in Easton; and Zippo lighters from Zippo Manufacturing in Bradford. Other corporations based in Pennsylvania are : Comcast, Sunoco, Pep Boys, Utz/ Herr's/ Wise Potato Chips, and many others, especially insurance, pharmaceutical, and steel corporations. Lancaster County, Pennsylvania is well know for its quality wood products such as furniture, sheds, gazebos and play sets. Such items are shipped all over the country (and the world) out of Lancaster County. Most of these are produced by Amish and Mennonite craftsmen. On Lake Erie some freshwater commercial fishing exists, the principal catch being yellow perch.
Taxation
The two largest sources of state revenue are income taxes on individuals and businesses and the state sales tax. In addition, the state imposes other taxes and fees on businesses and collects fees for various licenses and permits. There is also an inheritance tax, taxes on gasoline and diesel fuel, alcoholic beverages, tobacco, and taxes and fees on certain other goods and services. There is also a tax on the transfer of real property. Pennsylvania is one of only five American states to employ a flat tax on personal income. Unlike the others, Pennsylvania's is a pure flat tax with no personal exemptions. As of 2005, the income tax rate for individuals is 3.07% of earned income. The state assesses a 6% sales tax on taxable goods and services. Counties may add additional sales tax charges, but as of 2005, only Philadelphia and Allegheny counties charge an additional sales tax rates. Items such as unprepared food (not ready-to-eat), most clothing, shoes, drugs, textbooks, and residential heating fuels are exempt from sales tax. The state government does not levy or collect taxes on real estate or personal property. Most counties, municipalities, and school districts do levy taxes on real estate. In addition, some local bodies assess a wage tax on personal income. Generally, the total wage tax rate is capped at 1% of income but some municipalities with home rule charters may charge more than 1%. Thirty-two of the state's sixty-seven counties levy a personal property tax on stocks, bonds, and similar holdings. In addition to taxes collected on liquor, the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board is the sole retail distributor of liquor in the state through its government owned Wine and Spirits Stores. Profits from these retail operations are used to fund a number of programs including the Pennsylvania State Police. (Source PA Dept. of Revenue)
Demographics
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, as of 2004, Pennsylvania's population was 12,406,292 placing it 6th in population in the country. The Commonwealth has one of the fastest growing Asian and Hispanic populations in the nation with percentage increases well over a 100%. Most of the Asian immigrants are Indian, Chinese, Filipino, Vietnamese, and Arab. The Hispanic immigration mostly consists of people from Mexico, Puerto Rico, Central and South America. During the 1970s and 1980s, Pennsylvania grew sluggishly. In the 1990s and into 2000, more people from other states (migrants) started moving to Pennsylvania. Foreign immigration has also picked up for the first time since World War II. Pennsylvania is mainly white in certain areas such as the far northeast, north central, and some areas around Pittsburgh. The Philadelphia Metro and the surrounding counties and the state as a whole are a true melting pot with large numbers of Blacks, Hispanics, South Asians, East Asians, and Arabs. Race and ancestry
The racial makeup of the state is:
- 84.1% White
- 10.0% Black
- 3.2% Hispanic
- 1.8% Asian
- 0.1% Native American
- 1.2% Mixed race Population estimates predict Pennsylvania's population to be around 77.2% White in 2010, or lower. This rapid decrease of the state's white population is due to huge growth in the state's non-white population. Most of this diversity growth is concentrated in the Philadelphia Metro, and the Lehigh Valley, but large non-white growth is statewide. The five largest ancestry groups in Pennsylvania are: German (25.4%), Irish (16.1%), Italian (11.5%), African American (10%), English (7.9%). Pennsylvanians of German ancestry live in most areas of the state outside of Philadelphia. Northeastern Pennsylvania has residents of British ancestry on the New York border and there are many Polish-Americans in the Scranton area. Philadelphia has a black plurality and smaller black populations are located in Pittsburgh and Harrisburg. Irish-Americans are the single largest ancestry group in Delaware county and the overall Philadelphia metropolitan area. Pennsylvania has more Slovaks and Welsh than any other state. Pennsylvania also has among the largest populations of Germans, Irish, Italians, and Russians of any state, and the most Ukrainians of any state besides New York. Also the state has one of the largest Asian Indian, Korean, Puerto Rican, and Vietnamese populations in the nation. 5.9% of Pennsylvania's population were reported as under 5, 23.8% under 18, and 15.6% were 65 or older. Females made up approximately 51.7% of the population.
Religion
Historically, the Quakers pursued a policy of religious toleration at the founding of Penn's colony (Pennsylvania), which benefited other older groups, such as Lutherans from the New Sweden settlement, and which also attracted religious refugees from the European continent, such as Amish and Mennonites. Other groups also settled, including the Moravian Bretheren, who founded and named today's large city of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, and the Scotch-Irish Presbyterians, who settled on the frontier. This was a fairly diverse group of denominations by Seventeenth and Eighteenth Century standards, and testifies to the benign administration of Penn. Later, after industrialization, immigrants from the Catholic countries of Europe started coming in large numbers to Pennsylvania. In Philadelphia today stands a shrine to and the burial place of Saint John Neumann, himself a Czech immigrant, who worked for the betterment of the new arrivals and who founded the American parochial school system. Pennsylvania has one of the largest Jewish populations in the country, with about 440,000. Immigration to Pennsylvania in the past 20 years has brought large numbers of Buddhists, Hindus, Muslims, and Sikhs to the state. The current religious affiliations of the people of Pennsylvania are:
- Christian – 83%
- Protestant – 55%
- Methodist – 10%
- Baptist – 10%
- Lutheran – 9%
- Presbyterian – 5%
- United Church of Christ – 2%
- Amish/Pietist – 1%
- Other Protestant or general Protestant – 18%
- Roman Catholic – 27%
- Other Christian – 1%
- Jewish (religious only) – 2%
- Other Religions – 2%
- Non-Religious – 13%
Important cities and municipalities
JewishPennsylvania has only one incorporated town, Bloomsburg, the county seat of Columbia County. All other municipalities are incorporated as cities, boroughs or townships. It is technically incorrect to refer to any municipality in Pennsylvania other than Bloomsburg as a town. Major cities and boroughs: The area including Allentown, Bethlehem and Easton is sometimes referred to as the "ABE tri-town area", from which derives the IATA airport code for Lehigh Valley International Airport. Top and bottom 10 locations by per capita income: per capita income
Education

Colleges and universities

State symbols

- State animal: Whitetail Deer
- State beverage: Milk
- State cookie: Chocolate Chip
- State bird: Ruffed Grouse
- State capital: Harrisburg
- State dog: Great Dane
- State fish: Brook Trout
- State flower: Mountain Laurel
- State fossil: the trilobite Phacops rana
- State insect: Firefly
- State song: Pennsylvania
- State tree: Hemlock
- State toy: Slinky
- State ship: United States Brig Niagara
- State electric locomotive: Pennsylvania Railroad GG1 #4849 Locomotive
- State steam locomotive: Pennsylvania Railroad K4s Locomotive
- State beautification plant: Crown vetch
Notable Pennsylvanians

- Benjamin Franklin (1706–1790) one of the more important figures in Pennsylvania and United States history. Although he was born in Boston, Massachusetts he came to Philadelphia as a young man. He founded the University of Pennsylvania in 1742, had the distinction of signing both the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution and is buried with his wife Deborah in Christ Church Cemetery in Philadelphia.
- Stephen Foster was born in Pittsburgh on July 4, 1826. He was the pre-eminent songwriter in the United States of his era. Many of his songs, such as "Oh! Susanna", "Camptown Races", and "Beautiful Dreamer", are still popular over 150 years after their composition.
- James Buchanan (1791–1868) was born and lived in Pennsylvania until his death. He was the 15th President of the United States and the only President from that state.
- George M. Dallas (1792–1864) of Philadelphia served as the 11th Vice President of the United States under James K. Polk and is the only Pennsylvanian to hold the office. He also served as U.S. Minister to Great Britain and Russia, as Mayor of Philadelphia and in the Senate.
- Thaddeus Stevens (1792–1868) was a key Pennsylvania state legislator in establishing and maintaining Pennsylvania's early system of public education. As a U.S. Congressman and leading "Radical Republican", he helped draft the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, guaranteeing "equal protection of the laws" to all Americans.
- Rachel Carson (1907–1964) born near Springdale, was a pioneer environmentalist and author of Silent Spring
- Winfield Scott Hancock (1824–1886) was born in Montgomery Square. He commanded Union troops during the American Civil War, most notably during the Battle of Gettysburg.
- Ida Tarbell (1857–1944) was born in Erie and was educated at the Sorbonne in Paris. She was a pioneering "muckraker" journalist and one of the few female journalists in the country during her time. In 1906, she joined with Lincoln Steffens and Ray Stannard Baker to establish the radical American Magazine. She also wrote several books on the role of women including The Business of Being a Woman (1912) and The Ways of Women (1915).
- Smedley Butler (1880–1940) born in West Chester, Pennsylvania. Was a Major General in the U.S. Marine Corps and, at the time of his death, the most decorated Marine in U.S. history. Butler was awarded the Medal of Honor twice during his career
- Pop artist Andy Warhol (1928–1987) was born Andrew Warhola in Pittsburgh. The Andy Warhol Museum is located in Pittsburgh's North Side, and he is buried in nearby Bethel Park.
- Kurt Angle (1968—) was born and raised in Pittsburgh. Angle won the Gold Medal in freestyle Roman/Greco wrestling at the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta, Georgia, USA, before signing with Vince McMahon's World Wrestling Entertainment, where he has won the WWE Championship on four different occasions. Angle is one of only two wrestlers in the WWE to have participated in the Olympics, and is the only one to have won gold medals.
- K. Leroy Irvis (1918—) was born near Albany, New York, but came to Pennsylvania to head Pittsburgh's Urban League in the 1940s. Fired under pressure after leading a successful boycott of Pittsburgh's department stores for discriminating against African-Americans, Irvis enrolled at the University of Pittsburgh law school, graduated with honors, became Pittsburgh's first black judicial law clerk, then an assistant district attorney, then a state legislator. Serving 30 years in the Pennsylvania House (1958–1988), 26 of them as an elected Democratic leader, Irvis became the first 20th Century African-American Speaker in 1977. He was a major force behind numerous successful efforts to expand educational opportunities in Pennsylvania.
- General of the Army George C. Marshall (1880–1959) of Uniontown, led the United States Army as Chief of Staff during the Second World War. He later served as Secretary of State and authored the Marshall Plan.
- Prince Demetrius Gallitzin (1770–1840) A Russian prince turned Roman Catholic missionary priest known as Apostle of the Alleghenies. He emigrated to the United States in 1792 and studied theology under Bishop John Carroll. In 1795, he became the first Catholic to receive all the orders of priesthood in the United States. In 1799 he used his own fortune to purchase 20,000 acres in Cambria County to form a Catholic community, the nucleus of the modern Roman Catholic Church west of the Allegheny Mountains. A prolific writer and apologist, he was declared a Servant of God in 2005, the first step on the road toward possible canonization.
- Tom Ridge, The former Secretary of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (1945-), was Governor of Pennsylvania between 1995 and 2003. Prior to that, he was a US Representative from Erie between 1982 and 1995.
- Eugene W. Hickok, The former U.S. Deputy Secretary of Education from 2004–2005, and prior to that, Pennsylvania's Secretary of Education from 1995–2001.
- Marian Anderson, of Philadelphia, world-reknowned contralto, who, after the Daughters of the American Revolution refused to let her sing at Constitution Hall because she was African-American, was famously invited to sing at the Lincoln Memorial by Eleanor Roosevelt.
- James J. Davis, U.S. Secretary of Labor from 1921 to 1932 and U.S. Senator from 1932 to 1946.
Movies set in Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania has been the setting for dozens of major films, including Rocky (1976), The Deer Hunter (1978), All the Right Moves (1983), Flashdance (1983) and The Sixth Sense (1999).
Pennsylvania in popular music
Pennsylvania has given birth to some of the nation's leading popular and rock music groups, including Anti-Flag, Christina Aguilera, Bloodhound Gang, Boyz II Men, Vanessa Carlton, CKY, Coolio, Fuel, Hall & Oates, Joan Jett, Live, Patti LaBelle, Pink, Poison, Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails, Rusted Root, The Roots, Jill Scott, Shanice, Will Smith, The Clarks, The Dead Milkmen, and The Juliana Theory to name a few.
Pennsylvanians in film, television, and theater
Many Pennsylvanians have found success in film, television, and the theater including:
- F. Murray Abraham - Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
- Kevin Bacon - Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
- John Barrymore - Philadelphia
- Lionel Barrymore - Philadelphia
- Peter Boyle - Philadelphia
- Charles Bronson - Ehrenfeld, Pennsylvania
- Bill Cosby - Philadelphia
- Tina Fey - Upper Darby, Pennsylvania
- Larry Fine - Philadelphia
- Scott Glenn - Pittsburgh
- Seth Green - Philadelphia
- Russell Johnson - Ashley, Pennsylvania
- Shirley Jones - Charleroi, Pennsylvania
- Gene Kelly - Pittsburgh
- Grace Kelly - Philadelphia
- Jamie Kennedy - Upper Darby
- Jayne Mansfield - Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania
- Henry Mancini - Aliquippa, Pennsylvania
- Larry Mendte - Lansdowne, Pennsylvania
- Dennis Miller - Pittsburgh
- Bam Margera - West Chester, Pennsylvania
- Cheri Oteri - Upper Darby
- Jack Palance - Lattimer Mines, Pennsylvania
- M. Night Shyamalan - Philadelphia (immigrated from India as a child)
- Jimmy Stewart - Indiana, Pennsylvania
- Mr. Rogers - Latrobe, Pennsylvania
- David O. Selznick - Pittsburgh
- Fritz Weaver - Pittsburgh
- Michael Keaton - Coraopolis, Pennsylvania
- Sharon Stone - Meadville, Pennsylvania
- Will Smith - Philadelphia
See also

- List of Pennsylvania-related topics
- List of people from Pennsylvania
- List of Pennsylvania counties
- List of hospitals in Pennsylvania
External links

- [http://www.state.pa.us Official state government site]
- [http://www.dot.state.pa.us Penna. Dept. of Transportation]
- [http://pittsburgh.about.com/library/weekly/aa_visit_pennsylvania.htm Pennsylvania Visitor's Guide]
- [http://obit.obitlinkspage.com/pa.htm Pennsylvania Obituary Links Page]
- [http://www.genealogybuff.com/pa/ GenealogyBuff.com - Pennsylvania Library Files]
- [http://www.HavenWorks.com/pennsylvania Pennsylvania News, Searches, Sources, and Reference.]
- [http://atlasworld.info/atlasfinder/Pennsylvania Road Atlases of Pennsylvania]
- [http://www.mapsofpa.com/home.htm Historical Maps of Pennsylvania]
- [http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/42000.html U.S. Census Bureau]
- Category:States of the United States ko:펜실베이니아 주 ja:ペンシルバニア州 simple:Pennsylvania

Congress of the United States

The Congress of the United States is the legislative branch of the federal government of the United States. It is bicameral, comprising the House of Representatives and the Senate. The House of Representatives consists of 435 members, each of whom represents a congressional district and serves for a two-year term. House seats are apportioned among the states by population; in contrast, each state has two Senators, regardless of population. There are a total of 100 senators, who serve six-year terms. Both representatives and senators are directly elected by the people, but in some states the governor may appoint a temporary replacement when a Senate seat is vacant. The United States Constitution vests all legislative powers of the federal government in the Congress. The powers of Congress are limited to those enumerated in the Constitution; all other powers are reserved to the states and the people. The enumerated powers of Congress include the authority to regulate interstate and foreign commerce, to levy taxes, to establish federal courts inferior to the Supreme Court, to maintain the armed forces, and to declare war. The Constitution also includes the necessary-and-proper clause, which grants Congress the power to "make all laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into execution the foregoing powers." The general purposes expressed in the Preamble have also been interpreted as authorizing Acts of Congress. The Senate is fully equal to the House of Representatives, and is not a "chamber of review," as is the case with the upper houses of the bicameral legislatures of many other nations. However, there are some special powers granted to one chamber only. On the one hand, the Senate's advice and consent is required for presidential appointments to high-level executive and judicial positions, and for the ratification of treaties. On the other hand, bills for raising revenue may originate in the House of Representatives alone. Both chambers meet in the Capitol in Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C.]

History

The Congress of the United States derives from First Continental Congress, a meeting of representatives of twelve of Great Britain's seventeen North American colonies, in the autumn of 1774. On 4 July 1776, the Second Continental Congress declared thirteen former colonies independent states, referring to them as the "United States of America." Under the Articles of Confederation, Congress was a unicameral body in which each state was equally represented, and in which each state had a veto over most action. The ineffectiveness of the federal government under the Articles led Congress to summon the Convention of 1787. Originally intended to revise the Articles of Confederation, it ended up writing a completely new constitution. James Madison called for a bicameral Congress: the lower house elected directly by the people, and the upper house elected by the lower house. The smaller states, however, favored a unicameral Congress with equal representation for the states. Eventually, a compromise was reached; the House of Representatives to provide proportional representation, whereas the Senate would provide equal representation. In order to preserve further the authority of the states, it was provided that state legislatures, rather than the people, would elect senators. The post Civil War Gilded Age was marked by Republican dominance of Congress. Senate elections were tainted by corruption, bribery and gridlock preventing the election of a senator. These issues were addressed by the Seventeenth Amendment (ratified in 1913), which provided for the direct election of senators. The early twentieth century witnessed the rise of party leadership in both houses of Congress. In the House of Representatives, the office of Speaker became extremely powerful. Leaders in the Senate were somewhat less powerful; individual senators still retained much of their influence. In particular, committee chairmen remained particularly strong in both houses until the reforms of the 1970s. During the long administration of President Franklin D. Roosevelt (1933–45), the Democratic Party controlled both houses of Congress. Both the Republicans and the Democrats were in control at various points during the next decade. However, after winning the elections of 1954, the Democratic Party was the majority party in both houses of Congress for most of the next forty years. The Republicans finally returned to a majority position, in both houses of Congress, in the election of 1994. The Republicans have controlled both houses since, except that the Democrats held the Senate briefly from 2001 to 2003.

Composition

2003 The House of Representatives consists of 435 members representing the fifty states. Seats are apportioned among the states on the basis of population, but every state, regardless of size, is guaranteed at least one seat. Representatives are directly elected by single-member constituencies known as congressional districts. Each state may draw the boundaries of its districts, subject to certain legal requirements; for instance, districts must have approximately equal populations. Representatives serve for two-year terms. The Senate consists of 100 members, two representing each state regardless of population. A senator is elected not by a district, but by a state as a whole. Senators serve for terms of six years each; the terms are staggered so that approximately one-third of the Senate seats are up for election every two years and so that both seats from a given state are never contested in the same general election (except for the first election of Senators upon admission of a new state). The District of Columbia and the territories are not represented in the Senate in any manner. The Constitution makes no provision for representation in Congress for citizens of the District of Columbia or the territories. Attempts to change the situation, regarding lack of District of Columbia voting rights, including the proposed District of Columbia Voting Rights Amendment, have been unsuccessful. Currently, the District of Columbia and the territories of American Samoa, Guam, and the U.S. Virgin Islands are represented by a single delegate each, while Puerto Rico elects a Resident Commissioner. Delegates and Resident Commissioners may participate in debates and vote in committees, but may not vote on the floor of the full House. Delegates serve for two-year terms; the Resident Commissioner serves for a four-year term. Generally, the Republican and Democratic parties choose their candidates in primary elections. Ballot access rules for independent and third party candidates vary from state to state. General elections are held in every even-numbered year, on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November (Election Day). Special elections are held whenever vacancies arise; in the case of the Senate, however, the Governor of a state normally holds the power to temporarily appoint a senator until a special election can be held. In almost all cases, general and special elections are conducted by the first-past-the-post electoral system. Louisiana, however, uses runoff voting for congressional elections.

Officers

The Constitution authorizes the House of Representatives to elect its own Speaker. The Speaker's powers as presiding officer are extensive; he or she controls the course of debate