Bicameralism

WHEN THE FOUNDERS of the American confederation attended the Constitutional Convention in 1787, they were told the mind of the people of America was made up on the principle of having a legislature with more than one branch.

The bicameral form of government that America knows has its roots in the century preceding the American Revolution. This is when the people of England rose in a civil war to put an end to the absolutism of the rule by the Stuart kings and brought the king down to [Page 46]be the king-in-parliament. This now meant the actions of the king were dependent on the approval of two branches of parliament.

Dividing forms of governments into rule by one (monarchy), by the few (aristocracy), or by the many ...