SENATE 



5300 



SENATE 



Company, suspected that the real object of the 

 colony was to interfere with the Canadian 

 company's trade. While Semple was away on 

 a tour of .inspection, one of his assistants de- 

 stroyed Fort Gibraltar, a Northwest Company 

 post half a mile from the settlement. The 

 Nor' Westers prepared to retaliate, and on the 



nineteenth of June a body of them on horse- 

 back were seen to approach Winnipeg. At a 

 spot now marked by the Seven Oaks Monu- 

 ment Semple, with a small party, met the Nor' 

 Westers in a pitched battle which cost Semple's 

 life. See SELKIRK, THOMAS DOUGLAS, for the 

 final result of the struggle. 



EN 'ATE, the upper house of the 

 Congress of the United States or of a state 

 legislature, and of the Parliament of Canada. 

 The term is also employed variously in Scot- 

 land, France, Belgium, Brazil, Chile, Italy and 

 Mexico. 



The word senate was first used in ancient 

 Rome. Its literal meaning was council of old 

 men, so named because it was an assembly 

 composed of the heads of leading families. 

 Romulus was the first to organize a senate, 

 and he selected 100 patricians for his advisors. 

 Under the Republic of Rome the Senate was 

 composed of 300 patricians, plebeians and high 

 officials. Julius Caesar raised the number of 

 senators to 900, and Augustus decreased the 

 number to 600. In the last two years of the 

 Republic, the Roman Senate was in the time of 

 its greatest power. It exercised legislative and 

 judicial functions which included authority over 

 religion, finance and diplomacy, but its bril- 

 liant career was rapidly curtailed. Political 

 scientists consider that at one time the Roman 

 Senate came near to fulfilling the highest ideal 

 of reasonable, far-seeing government. 



United States Senate. The national legisla- 

 tive body is patterned somewhat after the Par- 

 liament of Great Britain. Of the two houses 

 composing it the Senate is comparable to the 

 House of Lords in respect to its dignity and 

 importance, although differing in organization 

 and tenure of office of members. The Senate 

 is composed of two members from each state, 

 each chosen for a term of six years by popular 

 vote of the people of the state. Previous to 

 1912 the whole body of people had no voice in 

 the choice of Senators, their election having 

 been intrusted by the terms of the Constitu- 



tion to the legislatures of the several states. 

 This rule of over one hundred years was termi- 

 nated by the adoption of the Seventeenth 

 Amendment. 



The Senate of the United States is a con- 

 tinuous body, that is, since its organization in 

 1789 there never has been a time when among 

 its members two-thirds of them had not sat 

 in the preceding Congress. The Constitution 

 ordained that the terms of service of one-third 

 of the members should expire every two years. 

 This provision leaves always a working ma- 

 jority of members of experience. An exactly 

 opposite condition is possible in the House of 

 Representatives, where the terms of all the 

 members expire together, although in practice 

 the House always contains a large number of 

 men who have seen years of continuous service 

 by reelection. For salary of a Senator, see 

 CONGRESS OF THE UNITED STATES, subhead Sala- 

 ries. 



Duties of the Senate. The Senate and House 

 of Representatives are coordinate bodies in the 

 making of laws, and, with the exception of bills 

 for raising revenue (tariff bills), any bill may 

 originate in either house. Upon the Senate 

 obligations are imposed in which the House 

 does not share. The Senate must approve ap- 

 pointments of the President to office in the 

 civil, military and diplomatic service; it must 

 approve all treaties made by the President on 

 behalf of the United States and foreign coun- 

 tries; it is a tribunal for the trial of impeach- 

 ments and in such case sits as the jury. 



Officers. By constitutional provision the pre- 

 siding officer of the Senate is the Vice-President 

 of the United States. As long as the President 

 is capable of performing the duties of his office 



