AHC: longer House terms

samcster94

Banned
With a POD of 1787, what can be done to make the House have longer terms via amendment??? My goal is for four year house terms.
 
Draw lots and determine classes for the House of Representatives, have half of them stand for election after a half term. Then you have a cycle.
 

TruthfulPanda

Gone Fishin'
My idea is to maintain the 2-4-6 year cycle.
1 - Four year terms for Reps, with half of the House replaced every two years.
2 - President - no change.
3 - Three Senators per State, with one third of the Senate replaced every two years.

Sevaric's suggestion has merit. I understand that it would be:
1 - Three year terms for Reps
2 - Two Senators per State, with half replaced every three years.
3 - President -elected every six years.

Maybe better then mine ...
However, opposition to this could come from those appreciating the simplicity of the present system - elections every even numbered year.
 
This has been advocated for, and the Confederate constitution did provide for a 3 year/ 6 year cycle. The framers of the Confederate constitution were politicians who were experienced with the federal system, and though the Confederate constitution mostly follows the United States constitutions, its departures are often practical minded improvements.

The biggest opportunity to make these changes in fact would have been a constitutional convention after the Civil War, and a big POD is that that approach is taken instead of the IOTL approach of three piecemeal amendments, plus federal legislation.
 
This has beecs representatives were still elected every two years.n advocated for, and the Confederate constitution did provide for a 3 year/ 6 year cycle. The framers of the Confederate constitution were politicians who were experienced with the federal system, and though the Confederate constitution mostly follows the United States constitutions, its departures are often practical minded improvements.

They gave the CS President a six-year term (and limited him to one term) but CS Representatives were still elected every two years.


The biggest opportunity to make these changes in fact would have been a constitutional convention after the Civil War, and a big POD is that that approach is taken instead of the IOTL approach of three piecemeal amendments, plus federal legislation.

What would they want such a Convention to do that the Amendments didn't? They had no problem with the Constitution other than wrt slavery.

Also, there could be questions as to the legality of a Convention from which the Southern States were excluded. Simpler and safer to stick to the normal amending process.
 

TruthfulPanda

Gone Fishin'
This has been advocated for, and the Confederate constitution did provide for a 3 year/ 6 year cycle. The framers of the Confederate constitution were politicians who were experienced with the federal system, and though the Confederate constitution mostly follows the United States constitutions, its departures are often practical minded improvements..
It did?
I thought that all it did in this area was:
- move cycle to odd numbered years
- six year (single) term for President

I agree on the CSA Constitution having several improvements on the original.
 
Without looking it up, I might be incorrect on the Confederate constitution. I just assumed that the House of Representatives terms were extended to three years with the six year presidency, since that would be logical and would follow the pattern of Latin American countries that followed the US Constitution in most matters but had six year presidential terms.
 

samcster94

Banned
For a country founded on the obviously bigoted "Right to own slaves" , the Confederacy did have a few interesting ideas on unrelated issues(line item vetoes, different Presidency terms ...). Still, they were mostly uncreative, like claiming George Washington as a proto Confederate, using the word God in their Constitution, copying the maligned Electoral College, and copying whole paragraphs hastily and changing the word United to Confederate while throwing in stuff about slavery being good.
 
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