INTRODUCTION Legend has it that Daniel Webster of Massachusetts once won an argument in court with the devil THE U S SENATE So when he rose to address the Senate on March 7 1850 everyone ex pected a stirring condemnation of slavery the nation’s most divisive is sue But Webster took a surprising approach It is fortunate that there is a Senate of the United States he said He went on describing the Senate as a body to which the country looks with confidence for wise moderate patriotic and healing counsels Webster offered a compro mise historians say held the nation together for another decade How ever he was criticized so intensely that he resigned A century later another senator John F Kennedy wrote that Webster’s speech was his greatest act of courageous principle Indeed it was one of many instances in which huge personalities have collided with principles in the U S Senate a place where history has been made by the people 4
The Great Compromiser Henry Clay presented the Compromise of 1850 to the Senate
SENATE POWERS HOLD TRIALS FOR GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS WHO HAVE DONE SOMETHING ILLEGAL OR UNETHICAL ACCEPT OR REJECT THE PRESIDENT’S NOMINATIONS FOR POSITIONS SUCH AS CABINET OFFICERS SUPREME COURT JUSTICES AND AMBASSADORS APPROVE OR DISAPPROVE TREATIES THE PRESIDENT MAKES
CHAPTER NO_ 1 THE UPPER HOUSE THE U S SENATE T he U S Senate is often called the greatest deliberative body in the world But it certainly wasn’t the first of its kind The Roman Senate guided rulers of the Roman Empire and the city of Rome for more than 1,000 years from about 700 B C to about A D 600 Although some of the Roman Senate’s members were elected there are few simi larities to the U S Senate other than the name The word senate comes from the Latin senex meaning old man The Roman Senate was of course all male And until 1922 that was also true of the U S Senate But by 2015 20 per cent of American senators were women The U S Senate differs from its ancestor in some other key ways Its members are now elected directly by the people And it has the power to stop ac tions by the executive that is the president 7
