Why did the framers of the Constitution create the legislative branch with a bicameral structure quizlet?

a. The power to tax: A tax is a charge levied by government on persons or property to raise money to meet public needs, Congress sometimes imposes taxes for other purposes such as the protective tariff. The protective tariff's goal is to "protect" domestics industry against foreign competition by increasing the cost of foreign goods. Taxes are also levied to protect the public health and safety such as the regulation of narcotics. However, the power to tax is limited by the Constitution. Congress cannot lay a tax on church services or lay a poll tax as a condition for voting in federal elections. Four explicit limitations on the taxing power placed by the Constitution are Congress may tax only for public purposes, not private benefit, Congress may not tax exports, direct taxes must be apportioned among the states, according to their populations, and all indirect taxes levied by the Federal Government must be levied at the same rate in every part of the country.

b. The power to borrow: The Constitution gives Congress the power to borrow money on the credit of the United States and there are no constitutional limits on the amount of money that Congress may borrow or restriction on the purposes for which the borrowing can be done. The Federal Government has spent more than it takes in each year for decades, requiring the Federal Government to borrow money to make up the difference. This practice is called deficit financing. The government relied on deficit financing to deal with the Depression of the 1930s, to raise money for World War II, and to fund wars and social programs over the next several decades. The government's books did not show a surplus in any year from 1969 to 1998, causing public debt to rise each year. As a result, the public debt was more than $5.5 trillion at the beginning of the fiscal year 1999.

c. The commerce power: The commerce power allows Congress to regulate interstate and foreign trade. The commerce power is as vital to the welfare of the nation as is the taxing power. The commerce power played a major role in the formation of the Union. Before the Framers wrote the Commerce Clause, Congress had no power to regulate interstate trade and little authority over foreign commerce. This led to intense commercial rivalries and bickering among the states as well as high trade barriers and spiteful state laws that created chaos and confusion in much of the country. The Commerce Clause proved to be more responsible for the building of a strong United States out of a weak confederation than any other provision in the Constitution. The few words of the Commerce Clause have prompted the growth in this country of the greatest open market in the world. The four limits on the commerce power are that Congress cannot tax exports, cannot favor the ports of one state over those of any other in the regulation of trade, cannot require that "Vessels bound to, or form, one state, be obliged to enter, clear or pay Duties in another," and could not interfere with the slave trade, at least not until the year 1808.

d. The currency power: The currency power is Congress' power "to coin money and regulate the value thereof." With independence, the stable English money system collapsed and under the Articles Congress issued paper money. However, the money was worthless because there was no sound backing or taxing power behind it. This led to states creating their own money, further creating confusion. The Framers agreed that a national system of "hard" money was necessary so the Constitution gave the currency power to Congress. Congress then chartered the first Bank of the United State in 1791 and gave it the power to issue bank notes, or paper money. However, those notes were not legal tender. Legal tender and a national paper currency were not created by Congress until 1861.

e. Bankruptcy: The bankruptcy power is Congress' power to establish uniform laws in the subject of bankruptcies throughout the United States. A bankrupt individual, company, or other organization is one a court has found to be insolvent, or unable to pay dents in full. Bankruptcy is the legal proceeding in which the bankrupt's assets are distributed among those to whom a debt is owed. That proceeding frees the bankrupt from legal responsibility for the debts acquired before bankruptcy. The states and the National Government have concurrent power to regulate bankruptcy. Today federal bankruptcy law is so broad that it all but excludes the states. Most bankruptcy cases are head now in district courts.

f. Foreign-relations and war powers: The National Government has greater powers in the field of foreign affairs than in any other area. Congress shares power in this field with the President, who is primarily responsible for the conduct of our relations with other nations. Since the states in the Union are not sovereign, they have no standing in international law and the Constitution does not allow them to take part in foreign relations. The foreign relations powers of Congress come from various expressed powers, especially the war powers and the power to regulate foreign commerce, and from the fact that the United States is a sovereign state in the world community. Congress, the nation's lawmaking body, has the inherent power to act on matters affecting the security of the nation such as the regulation of immigration and measures to combat terrorism here and abroad. Congress also shares power with the President on ear powers. The President is the commander of armed forces. However, only Congress may declare war and it has the power to raise and support armies, to provide and maintain a navy, and to make rules pertaining to the governing of land and naval forces. Congress also has the power to provide for "calling forth the militia" and for the organizing, arming, and disciplining of it. Congress has the power to grant letters of marque and reprisal and to make rules concerning captures on land and water. With the passage of the War Powers Resolution of 1973, Congress claimed the power to restrict the use of American forces in combat in areas where a state if war does not exist.

g. Naturalization power: The power of naturalization has a direct influence on the daily lives of Americans. The process by which citizens of one country become citizens of another is called naturalization. The Constitution sets out the expressed power of naturalization. Article I, Section 8, Clause 4 gives Congress the exclusive power "to establish an uniform Rule of Naturalization. Our population includes more than 11 million naturalized citizens today.

h. The postal power: Congress has the power to establish pose offices and post roads. Post roads are all postal routes including railroads, airways, and waters within the United States, during the time that mail is being carried on them. The United States Postal Service traces its history back to the early colonial period. Benjamin Franklin is credited as the founder of the present-day postal system. Today, there are about 38,000 post offices, branches, stations, and community post offices serve the nation. The Postal Service and its some 750,000 employees handle more than 200 billion pieces of mail a year. Congress has established a number of crimes based on the postal power. Thus, it is a federal crime for anyone to obstruct the mails, to use the mails to commit any fraud, or to use the mails in the committing of any other crime. Congress has also prohibited the mailing of many items such as firecrackers or switchblade knives. The states and local governments cannot interfere with mails unreasonably, require licenses for Postal Service vehicles, tax the gas Postal Service vehicles use, tax post offices, or tax any other property of the United States Postal Service.

i. Copyright and patents: The Constitution gives Congress the power "to promote the progress of science and useful arts, by securing for limited times to authors and inventors the exclusive right to their respective writings and discoveries. A copyright is the exclusive right f an author to reproduce, publish, and sell his or her creatives work. That right may be assigned, transferred by contract, to another, as to a publishing firm by mutual agreement between the author and the other party. Copyrights are registered by the Copyright Office in the Library of Congress, Copyrights are good for life if the author plus 70 years and they cover a wide range of creative efforts such as books, magazines, newspapers, musical compositions and lyrics, dramatic works, paintings, sculptures, cartoons, maps, photographs, motion pictures, sound recordings, and much more. However, the Copyright Office does not enforce the protections of a copyright, but it a copyright is violated, the owner of the right may sue for damages in the federal courts. A patent grants a person the sole right to manufacture, use, or sell "any new and useful art, machine, manufacture or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof." A patent is good for up to 20 years and the term of a patent may be extended only by a special act of Congress, The Patent and Trademark Office in the Department of Commerce administers patent laws.

j. Weights and measures: Congress has the power to "fix the Standard of Weights and Measures" throughout the United States. The power reflects the absolute need for accurate, uniform gauges of time, distance, area, wrights, volume, and the like. In 1838, Congress set the English system of pound, once, mile, foot, gallon, quart, and so on, as the legal standards of weights and measures in this country. In 1866, Congress also legalized the use of the metric system of gram, meter, kilometer, liter, and so on. In 1901, Congress created the National Bureau of Standards in the Commerce Department which is now known as the National Institute of Standards and Technology. The agency keeps the original standards for the United States and it is these standards by which all other measures in the United States are tested and corrected.

k. Power over territories: Congress has the power to acquire, manage, and dispose if various federal areas. That power relates to the District of Columbia and to the several federal territories, including Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Virgin Islands. It also covers hundreds of military and naval installations, arsenals, dockyards, post offices, prisons, parks and forest preserves and many other federal holdings. The Federal Government may acquire property by purchase or gift. It may also do so through the exercise of eminent domain, the inherent power to take private property for public use. Territory may also be acquired from a foreign state based on the power to admit new states, on the war powers, and on the President's treaty-making power.

l. Judicial powers: As a part of the system of checks and balances, Congress has several judicial powers. There include the expressed power to create all of the federal courts below the Supreme Court and to structure the federal judiciary. Congress also has the power to define federal crimes and set punishment for violators of federal law. The Constitution mentions only four: counterfeiting, piracies and felonies in the high seas, offenses against international law, and treason. Congress has used its implied powers to establish more than one hundred other federal crimes.

Why did framers of the Constitution create the legislative branch with a bicameral structure?

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