=The Senate.=--_Purposes._--Regarding the desirability of creating a national legislature of two houses there was little difference of opinion among the members of the convention. Experience with a single-chambered congress during the period of the Confederation had revealed certain defects in such an organization. Moreover, all the state legislatures except two were composed of two houses and these exceptions were destined soon to disappear. If a state legislature ought to consist of two houses, it was all the more important that the national congress should be bicameral in organization, because, the union being composed of states, it was desirable to provide a separate house in which they could be represented as constituent political units just as the other house was to be a body representing the people without regard to political divisions. Aside from considerations growing out of the character of the federal system, there were the usual advantages which we associate with the bicameral system, such as protection against hasty and ill-considered legislation, insurance against the possible despotism of a single chamber, and the like. Having decided that Congress should consist of two houses, the convention felt that if the upper house was to exert an effective restraining influence on the lower house it ought not to be a mere duplication of the latter but should be differently composed. It should to a certain extent be a more conservative body than the lower house, which, being elected by the people, would incline toward radicalism; it should, therefore, be smaller in size, its members should be chosen for a longer term and by a different method, higher age and residence qualifications should be required, and it should be given certain powers which were not conferred on the lower house, such as a share in the appointing, treaty making, and judicial powers. _Term._--As already stated, the Constitution provides that the states shall be represented equally in the senate. It also provides that each state shall elect two senators and that each senator shall have one vote. Under the Articles of Confederation, each state had one vote in Congress, and the vote of the state could not be divided; but under the Constitution the two senators from a state frequently vote on opposite sides of a question, especially if they belong to different political parties. On the question of the term of senators there was much difference of opinion among the members of the convention. Some favored a two-year tenure, some four years, some six, some nine, while Alexander Hamilton favored a life tenure. The term finally agreed upon was six years, which seemed to be long enough to give the senate an element of permanence and independence, and yet short enough to secure responsibility to the people.