1. The Origin of Constituencies and Congressional Basics
American Government

2. Purpose
Congress can be viewed as the citizens’ direct link to the branch of government responsible for public policy
Congress represents constituents, makes laws, provides oversight of governmental agencies, clarifies policy, and ratifies public policy
Congress asserts its authority from Article 1, Section 1 of the Constitution
The Constitution states that “All legislative Powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress of the United States, which shall consist of a Senate and House of Representatives.”

3. Constituents Congressmen represent what are known as constituents
Constituents reside in the state or district that the Congressman is elected to represent.
Senators represent the entire state, while Representatives represent their individual district
There is only one Representative per district, which means that the United States possesses a single-member district system of governance in the House of Representatives

4. How constituencies are determined
Senators represent an entire state and each state has 2 Senators
This is determined by Article 1, Section 3 of the Constitution
Representatives represent a specific district within their respective states
This is determined by Article 1, Section 2 of the Constitution
The number of districts that exist in each state is determined every 10 years based upon data from the census
The change in how many representatives exist in each state is known as reapportionment
The process of redrawing the district lines is known as redistricting

5. Districts
The purpose of a district is to determine the constituency a Representative will represent
Districts are supposed to be drawn so that they are:
geographically contiguous
compact in shape
roughly equal in population
There are times however when districts are gerrymandered
Gerrymandering is when the districts are drawn with odd shapes and favor the political power in the state making the changes

6. Basics When Congress is working, they are considered to be in session
Congress generally divides their sessions into one year periods of time
Early Congresses divided into as many as three sessions
At the end of every Congress, which takes place every two years, Congress will vote to adjourn
This is a temporary closing of business and usually takes place in October of election years
Congress can also take breaks without formally adjourning
This is referred to as taking a recess
Recesses can last for a few days and can last for weeks or months
If important business comes up when Congress is in recess, the president has the power to call a special session
All Congressmen are required to attend when the president callas a special session