Structure of US Congress and Distribution of Powers GapFill

The structure of Congress is remarkably similar to that of the UK Parliament, which, given the framers' intense opposition to the tyrannical British governance of the colonies, is surprising. It was determined that it would be a   divided legislatureexecutive legislaturebicameral legislaturesecondary legislature comprised of the House of Representatives and the Senate. There were a number of compromises that would occur during the creation of the Constitution, some due to fears over  too much popular sovereigntytoo many uneducated decisionstoo much executive sovereigntytoo many prerogative powers playing a part in the elections. It was determined that the House would be elected directly and that the Senate (until 1913) would be appointed by   secondary legislaturestate legislatureslocal legislaturesexecutive legislatures and would ensure that an import safeguard was put in place, along with ensuring that the voice of states was preserved, which was determined during the   Virginia CompromiseConnecticut CompromiseGeorgia CompromiseNew Hampshire Compromise. Following the   Seventeenth AmendmentTwenty-first AmendmentEighteenth AmendmentTwenty-second Amendment, the Senate became directly elected by the American people.

The membership of both houses was also decided via compromise. It was determined that the House would have a membership which was   as per representation in the UK Parliamentin line with countries in the regionproportional to the population of the countryproportional to the population of the state and, currently (as a result of the Apportionment Act 1911), the House currently has   441538650435 members, with states having differing numbers of representatives based on the population of each state. The Senate still retains 100 members, two per state as initially stated in the Constitution.

Members of the House represent congressional  precinctsdistrictsareasdepartments and must pass a number of constitutional requirements in order to be elected, i.e. be the minimum age of   25302135 or over, have been a US citizen for at least   720525 years and be an inhabitant of the  statestreetdistrictcounty that they wish to represent. For the Senate, you need to be the minimum age of   25353040, have been a US citizen for at least   3010259 years and reside in the state that you wish to represent. 

Finally, the term limits for each House are very different and reflect their original intentions. House members and Senate members serve   two and fourfive and sixtwo and sixtwo and five year terms respectively, and this was done to ensure that   the House was in line with major European nationsmembers of the House were never too comfortable in their positionsthe House was directly responsive to the needs of the publicthe House mirrored the UK Parliament and that the Senate would be a more deliberative body and would safeguard against too much popular sovereignty.