Black People Politics : Bicameralism and the intent to limit democracy

Shikamaru

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May 7, 2011
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Bicameralism

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Theory of Bicameralism

Although the ideas on which bicameralism are based can be traced back to the theories developed in ancient Sumer and later ancient Greece, ancient India, and Rome, recognizable bicameral institutions first arose in Medieval Europe where they were associated with separate representation of different estates of the realm. For example, one house would represent the aristocracy, and the other would represent the commoners.[1]

Commons does not mean the common people, the vulgar.
Commons is short for communitas or communities.
Serfs, cottagers, villagers, and villeins did not have recognized rights until some 500 or so years after the Magna Carta.

The Founding Fathers of the United States also favored a bicameral legislature. The idea was to have the Senate be wealthier, and (apparently) wiser. The Senate was created to be a stabilizing force, elected not by mass electors, but selected by the State legislators. Senators would be more knowledgeable and more deliberate—a sort of republican nobility—and a counter to what Madison saw as the "fickleness and passion" that could absorb the House.[1]

Sounds like they weren't very keen on democracy.
Sounds like built in aristocracy.

He noted further that the "use of the Senate is to consist in its proceeding with more coolness, with more system and with more wisdom, than the popular branch". Madison's argument led the Framers to grant the Senate prerogatives in foreign policy, an area where steadiness, discretion, and caution were deemed especially important".[1]

The Senate was chosen by state legislators, and senators had to possess a significant amount of property in order to be deemed worthy and sensible enough for the position.

Note the red highlighted passage is a property qualification.

In fact, it was not until the year 1913 that the 17th Amendment was passed, which "mandated that Senators would be elected by popular vote rather than chosen by the State legislatures".[1]

As part of the Great Compromise, they invented a new rationale for bicameralism in which the upper house would have states represented equally, and the lower house would have them represented by population.

For the majority of U.S. history, State legislatures elected senators and not the general electorate.

This would make sense in that senators were representatives of the State.
 

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