The invention of the United States Senate was the most complicated and confounding achievement of the Constitutional Convention. Although much has been written on various aspects of Senate history, this is the first book to examine and link the three central components of the Senate's creation: the theoretical models and institutional precedents leading up to the Constitutional Convention; the work of the Constitutional Convention on both the composition and powers of the Senate; and the initial institutionalization of the Senate from ratification through the early years of Congress. The authors show how theoretical principles of a properly constructed Senate interacted with political interests and power politics in the multidimensional struggle to construct the Senate, before, during, and after the convention.

Created in 1787, the United States Senate is one of the two chambers of the Congress of the United States, the other being the House of Representatives. In the Senate, each state is equally represented by two members, regardless of population; as a result, the total membership of the body is 100. Senators serve for six-year terms that are staggered so elections are held for approximately one-third of the seats (a "class") every second year. The Vice President of the United States is the presiding officer of the Senate but is not a senator and does not vote except to break ties. The Senate is regarded as a more deliberative body than the House of Representatives; the Senate is smaller and its members serve longer terms, allowing for a more collegial and less partisan atmosphere that is somewhat more insulated from public opinion than the House. The Senate has several exclusive powers enumerated in the Constitution not granted to the House; most significantly, the President must ratify treaties and make important appointments "with the Advice and Consent of the Senate" (Article I). This fully-indexed chronology and institutional bibliography traces the sometimes tumultuous history of this august body.

Excerpt from The Senate and Treaties, 1789-1817, the Development of the Treaty-Making Functions of the United States Senate During Their Formative Period This book is a study in detail Of the treaty making powers of the United States Senate during the formative period of their history. This period is conceived to extend from 1789 to just a little beyond the first twenty-five years of government under the Constitution. No powers of the federal government underwent a more interesting develop ment during this first quarter-century than did those which have to do with the making of treaties. There are good reasons for this. The treaty clause Of the Constitution is so flexible that the exact re lations of the Senate and the exe'ciitive in treaty making could be worked out only in actual practice. And there never has been a period in the history of this nation when foreign relations threats of war, avoidances of armed conflicts, diplomatic defeats and victories, treaties made and denounced have played so vital a part in the affairs of the govern ment and in the lives of the people. The young republic was fixing her status in the family Of nations - finding her level among a jostling throng who regarded her with indifferent, hostile, or designing eyes. Consequently that part of her constitutional organization which concerned treaty - making, and foreign relations generally, was rapidly developed by constant application to the problems of actual government. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

American Indian affairs are much in the public mind today—hotly contested debates over such issues as Indian fishing rights, land claims, and reservation gambling hold our attention. While the unique legal status of American Indians rests on the historical treaty relationship between Indian tribes and the federal government, until now there has been no comprehensive history of these treaties and their role in American life. Francis Paul Prucha, a leading authority on the history of American Indian affairs, argues that the treaties were a political anomaly from the very beginning. The term "treaty" implies a contract between sovereign independent nations, yet Indians were always in a position of inequality and dependence as negotiators, a fact that complicates their current attempts to regain their rights and tribal sovereignty. Prucha's impeccably researched book, based on a close analysis of every treaty, makes possible a thorough understanding of a legal dilemma whose legacy is so palpably felt today.

Shares the history of the United States Senate, including its struggles with the presidency, its investigative power, and how filibustering became a common practice.