Democratic Systems

"Thank you for contacting me about the importance of public involvement in policymaking.  As you know, our democracy thrives when citizens take an active role in the issues that affect our country.  National Write Your Congressman fosters communications between constituents and their elected representatives in Congress, providing a vital link that is essential for the health of our democratic systems.

Thank you for all of your important efforts to encourage civic activism." -Congressman Edward J. Markey, 7th District, Massachusetts

Columbus Day

Christopher Columbus' arrival in the Americas, specifically the Bahamas, occured on October 12, 1492.  Columbus Day first became an official state holiday in Colorado in 1906, and became a federal holiday in 1934.  However, people have celebrated Columbus' voyage since the colonial period.  In 1792, New York City and other U.S. cities celebrated the 300th anniversary of his landing in the New World.  In 1892, President Benjamin Harrison called upon the people of the United States to celebrate Columbus Day on the 400 anniversary of the event.  During the four hundredth anniversary, in 1892, teachers, preachers, poets and politicians used Columbus Day rituals to teach ideals of patriotism.  These patriotic rituals were framed around themes such as support for war, citizenship boundaries, the importance of loyalty to the nation, and celebrating social progress.

Columbus Day is celebrated nationally the second Monday in October.

House of Representatives - "The Peoples' Body"

"When the Founding Fathers created the House of Representatives, they envisioned it as being the 'people's body.'  It was to be the chamber in the Congress where citizens could most directly influence the direction of their government.

James Madison once said, "public opinion sets bounds to every government and is the real sovereign in every free one."  Keeping that in mind, I will continue to keep close ear to my constituents' concerns." -Congressman Trent Franks, 2nd District, Arizona

Exercise Your Voice

"We live in a democracy, which functions best when there is free expression and exchange of ideas.  From free discussion and exchange, the best ideas or course of action will eventually be adopted." -Former Congressman, James T. Walsh, 25th Dist. New York.

Effective Communication

The need to communicate messages to constituents is nothing new, and all legislators feel it is important to communicate effectively with their constituents. Effective communication is of central importance to democratic representation.

Members of Congress have long practiced the art of communicating with constituents in face-to-face settings, and with print and broadcast news reporters. With the growth of the Internet, website technologies enable new and different forms of legislator-constituent communication. And indeed, these new technologies can enhance the quality and amount of communication within legislative representation beyond what has traditionally been available in face-to face interactions and in the print and broadcast media. For example, when members of Congress place information about themselves, their accomplishments and voting records on their website, any interested constituent will have ready access to that information and can direct their attention to whatever content is of most interest to them.

Members' web presence has improved dramatically over the past two decades, starting with a handful of gopher sites in the early 1990s to the present day official webpages for every member. (www.house.gov and www.senate.gov)

A Building and a Nation Grow

"Not everyone was pleased, in 1790, when Congress decided to establish the young Republic's permanent seat on the banks of the Potomac River instead of accepting one of a dozen other sites offered.

"A howling, malarious, wilderness," some called the area chosen. "The Indian place...in the woods on the Potomac," said one disgusted official.

But the decision had been made, and much could be said for it. Washington, District of Columbia-marked off by, and named for, the first President-was near the midpoint of the long stretch of states. It lay close to the thriving centers of Georgetown and Alexandria, accessible to overland and water transport. "It is a beautiful spot, capable of any improvement," said Mrs. John Adams when she first saw her brief home as the wife of the second President,"...the more I view it the more I am delighted with it."

Few realized it then, but the embryo settlement also was favored by the vision of a city planner on the grand scale. Pierre Charles L'Enfant, French-born engineer who had served under General Washington in the Revolution, laid out a city whose broad avenues and sweeping circles anticipated the needs of the future metropolis.

On a June morning in 1791, President Washington and L'Enfant made a horseback inspection of the Federal District's wooded and swampy site. "I discover no one (situation)," L'Enfant wrote in his report, "so advantageously to greet the Congressional building as is that on the west end of Jenkins heights..." It stands, he added in the felicitous, oft-quoted phrase, "as a pedestal waiting for a monument." -"We, the People...The Story of the United States Capitol" pgs. 16 & 20