Congress: How It Worked and Why It Doesn’t

To exercise legislative power properly, legislators must deliberate. The Framers of the Constitution designed Congress to engage in reasoned deliberation and produce good laws, equally applicable to all. This capacity has been lost due to modern developments in the American regime.

The legislative power, properly understood, is essentially linked to reason and deliberation. The American founders designed Congress to function in accordance with this view.

The Progressives rejected the founders’ view of law and the legislative power and developed a new doctrine based on their model of politics and administration.

Prior to the Progressive Era, the Constitution was understood to prohibit the delegation of legislative power. This understanding changed chiefly due to a series of U.S. Supreme Court decisions.

In the Administrative Procedure Act of 1946, Congress attempted to substitute a new rulemaking procedure for the constitutional legislative process. This led to decades of delegation of legislative power to executive agencies, which transformed the basis of political legitimacy in America.

As Progressives grew disenchanted with a powerful Speaker of the House, they began a process of decentralizing power in both legislative chambers. This process persisted throughout most of the twentieth century.

In the 1970s, Congress acted on a variety of fronts to strengthen itself and to restrain the presidency and regulatory bureaucracies. These actions helped to undermine belief in the capacity of the president to govern effectively.

In the 1970s, Congress acted on a variety of fronts to strengthen itself and to restrain the presidency and regulatory bureaucracies. These actions helped to undermine belief in the capacity of the president to govern effectively.

The founders sought to create a system of government in which reason and deliberation would rule, rather than passion. The theory of legislative power they developed to achieve this good was based on two essential elements: the extended republic and the separation of powers. Progressive reformers rejected both the Founders’ conception of the problem as well as their solution.

The founders sought to create a system of government in which reason and deliberation would rule, rather than passion. The theory of legislative power they developed to achieve this good was based on two essential elements: the extended republic and the separation of powers. Progressive reformers rejected both the founders’ conception of the problem as well as their solution.

After undergoing a transformation that began in the Progressive Era, Congress today stands in opposition to the founders’ Constitution. As Congress continues to delegate its legislative authority to bureaucratic agencies, it loses ever more control over decisions reserved to it by the Constitution. The solution is a return to constitutional government, which requires a change in public opinion.