Congress Will Come to Order!

A new Congress convenes every two years when voters elect the entire House of Representatives and one-third of the Senate. The House and the Senate share legislative powers but have different rules and procedures. The House represents the people in their congressional districts, and the Senate represents them as residents of their states. As the representative branch of government, Congress taxes, decides how the government should spend public monies, keeps track of past spending, and serves as a public forum wherein all the great issues facing the nation are debated.

This cartoon shows Congress after the pivotal 1912 elections, when the Democrats captured the Presidency and also won the ultimate prize of a congressional election: control over both the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate. 

It was drawn by Clifford Berryman, one of Washington, DC's best-known cartoonists in the early to mid-1900s. Berryman drew for the Washington Post and Evening Star newspapers. His cartoons touched on a variety of subjects including politics, elections, and both World Wars.