today we're looking at article one section one two and three of the us constitution
hello welcome to the daily bell ringer please don't forget to subscribe and take a look
at the questions down in the description also to check out in the description the worksheet
that goes along with this video available at dailybellringer.com the us constitution lays out
the framework for the united states government as you may already be aware there are three branches
of the u.s government legislative executive and judicial branches within the constitution there
are seven different articles and within those articles are different sections in this series
of videos i'll be going through each article and giving a basic rundown of the different sections
article 1 is all about the legislative branch of the u.s government legislative means they
legislate or in other words make laws the legislative branch is housed in the united
states capitol building in washington d.c starting with article 1 section 1 it simply creates a
bicameral legislature meaning that we have two houses article 1 section 1 says there will be a
lower house known as the house of representatives and an upper house called the senate now let's
start going through these articles and i'm not going to hit every single detail of each article
and section i'm just going to highlight the basic framework and rules within each article
article 1 section 2 lays out the united states house of representatives sometimes just called
the house the founding fathers wanted the lower house to be a place where younger and fresher
ideas were brought in and and the house could change faster to reflect the will of the people
so in the house of representatives you have to be at least 25 years old to be elected to the house
they're elected by the people for two-year terms so members of the house are basically constantly
campaigning for re-election which puts them in closer contact with their constituents
or the people they represent the number of representatives in the house is determined
by the population of each state this is known as proportional representation so for example
california has a very large population so they have 53 representatives whereas states like
alaska north dakota with small populations only have one representative in the house currently
there are 435 total representatives in the house and that number is actually the maximum number
there can be by law the leader of the house of representatives is called the speaker of the
house or some sometimes just referred to as the speaker and they are chosen from among the party
that is in power so if there are more republicans in the house they get to choose the speaker
same thing if there's more democrats in the house they get to choose the speaker article 1 section 3
outlines the united states senate now remember the founders wanted the house to be very fluid
and have new ideas and people coming in and out well the senate they wanted to have a legislative
body that was a little slower to move maybe older and wiser with more experience to balance
the two houses so in order to be elected by the people to the senate you have to be at least 30
years old also senators serve for six-year terms compare that to only two-year terms in the house
with these longer terms they are not constantly running for re-election within the senate we
have equal representation with each state getting two representatives regardless of the population
of the state so with california again as an example even though they have a population of
over 39 million people compared to a state like wyoming that has a little over 500 000 people
both still get two representatives again remember this was part of the great compromise that was
worked out at the constitutional convention as far as the leader of the senate technically according
to the constitution it is the vice president of the united states however the vice president
rarely attends sessions of the senate and only votes if there's a tie vote on an issue since the
vice president doesn't take that active of a role in the senate the constitution does recognize what
they call the pro-temp or which is who really runs the senate day-to-day the pro-tempore is elected
by the senate but it is customary that it is the longest-serving senator from the party that has
the majority in the senate that gets this position a lot of little details here in the organization
of the legislature but again article 1 section 1 2 and 3 define the organization of the house of
representatives in the senate later sections of article 1 will outline and define the powers of
the legislative branch so with that hopefully you learned something and thanks for watching