Final answer:
Bicameral means that the U.S. Congress is made up of two chambers: the House of Representatives and the Senate. This structure ensures checks and balances within the legislature and provides fair and balanced representation of both the people and the states.
Step-by-step explanation:
The term “bicameral” means that the United States Congress consists of two separate chambers: the House of Representatives and the Senate. The bicameral nature of Congress is a result of the Great Compromise, which balanced the interests of smaller and larger states at the time the Constitution was being framed. This structure allows for a system of checks and balances within the legislature, where different procedures and powers are balanced between the two chambers.
In this bicameral legislature, the House of Representatives operates based on direct election and apportionment by population, with more populous states receiving more representatives. Conversely, the Senate was designed to represent the interests of states themselves, with each state having equal representation through two senators regardless of population size. Originally, senators were elected by state legislatures, not directly by the people, although this has changed with subsequent amendments to the Constitution.
The functions of a bicameral system include making the passage of legislation more deliberate, ensuring that large-scale reforms are difficult to enact, and preventing any single faction or interest group from easily imposing laws that might unfairly benefit them. This maintains a level of conservatism and stability within the government.