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The Senate of the United States was named after the ancient [[Roman Senate]]. The chamber of the United States Senate is located in the north wing of the [[United States Capitol|Capitol]] building, in [[Washington, D.C.]]. The House of Representatives convenes in the south wing of the same building.
==History==
Under the [[Articles of Confederation]], Congress was a unicameral body in which each state was equally represented. The inefficacy of the federal government under the Articles led Congress to summon a Constitutional Convention in [[1787]]; all states except [[Rhode Island]] agreed to send delegates. Many delegates called for a second House of Congress, modeled on the [[House of Lords]] (the aristocratic Upper House of the [[Parliament of the United Kingdom|Parliament of Great Britain]]). For example, [[John Dickinson (lawyer)|John Dickinson]] argued that the second chamber should "consist of the most distinguished characters, distinguished for their rank in life and their weight of property, and bearning as strong a likeness to the British House of Lords as possible." [[Edmund Randolph]] suggested that the body should serve "to restrain, if possible, the fury of democracy."
The structure of Congress was one of the most divisive issues facing the Convention. The [[Virginia Plan]] called for a bicameral Congress; the lower house would be elected directly by the people, and the upper house would be elected by the lower house. The Virginia Plan was primarily supported by the larger states, as it called for proportional representation (representation based on population) in both Houses. The smaller states, however, favored the [[New Jersey Plan]], which called for a unicameral Congress with equal representation for the states. Eventually, a compromise, known as the [[Connecticut Compromise]] or the Great Compromise, was reached; one house of Congress (the House of Representatives) would provide proportional representation, whereas the other (the Senate) would provide equal representation. In order to further preserve the authority of the states, it was provided that state legislatures, rather than the people, would elect Senators.
== Composition and elections ==
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