POLS 1113 Lecture Notes - Lecture 13: Southern Democrats, Jamie L. Whitten, United States Congress
Document Summary
During america"s first century, congress was composed mainly of citizen legislators who served a few terms and then returned to their previous occupations. By 1900, legislators had become professionalized, and serving in congress had become a full-time job. By the 1970s: house members served five to six terms on average, senators served two to four terms on average, house incumbents were reelected 80-95% of the time, senate incumbents were reelected 80-85% of the time. This trend toward professionalization has worried some who think it runs counter to the framers" intent to create an assembly of citizen legislators. Those concerned about the professionalization of congress proposed term limits, which restricted representatives to a specified number of years of service, as a solution: proposed term limits usually restricted members to 2-3 terms. Proponents argued that term limits in contrast to the current system would: keep legislators in touch with public sentiment by pumping new blood (so to speak) into.
