very confused with the difference between terms of office, and agebetween Senators, representatives and pres.?

Question

please help

Answer 1

Prez- 4 yrs, 35 and born in US
Senator- 6 yrs, 30 and naturalized
Rep- 2 yrs, 25 and naturalized

Answer 2

The idea was that the House would be the lower house and every member could be potentially replaced, the hope was it would be regular people who came to D.C. for a few years and went home. The idea with the Senate was that 1/3 should be up for reelection every 2 years, so there would be some stability and institutional memory. The reason Senators are older is that they usually start out in the House and run for the Senate when they are in their 40s or 50s. A guy like Senatory Byrd (Dem- WV) has only had to run about 10 times in his 60 years in the Senate. To last that long in the House he would have had to run 30 times.

Answer 3

Okay, this stuff was confusing to me when I learned it in school, so I am glad I have a reference book that tells about it.

Here are the basics:

Representatives (Members of the House of Representatives)
Term: 2 years (unlimited re-elections)
Minimum age: 25
Citizenship requirements: must have been a citizen of the US for at least 7 years, and must live in the state where they seek election.

Senators (Members of the Senate)
Term: 6 years (unlimited re-elections)
Minimum age: 30
Citizenship requirements: must have been a citizen of the US for at least 9 years, and must live in the state where they seek election.

President
Term: 4 year (maximum of two terms only)
Minimum age: 35
Citizenship requirements: must be a natural born citizen of the US, and must have lived in the US for the past 14 years.

As you can see, the requirements get more stringent with every step up the ladder. Representatives and Senators can be foreign born, as long as they are now US citizens and have lived in the US for the minimum amount of time required. They also serve different lengths of terms, but can be re-elected for as many terms as they can win. Some people, especially Senators, serve for a long time, like more than 5 terms. Most representatives don't serve that many terms because they end up running for Senate instead of staying Representatives. Every few years, there is talk about introducing an amendment to the Constitution which will place a term limit on Representatives and Senators, but it has not happened yet.

Presidents are limited to two terms. Those terms are usually consecutive, but they don't have to be. This is a fairly new thing, introduced in the 20th century. President Franklin D. Roosevelt was elected to the Presidency 4 terms, and died while in his 4th term. Presidents also must not only have lived in the United States for 14 years, but they must be born citizens, not people who gained citizenship after being born elsewhere.

Part of your confusion may come from the fact that elections for the Senate are held every two years. The system is staggered that way so that there is never a Senate full of new people. Senators are kind of the workhorses of the government, and they serve on all sorts of committees, etc., and it would really throw a wrench in the works if the majority of the Senate was new after an election. To keep things running smoothly, it is set up so that only 1/3 of them can possibly be new at their jobs at any given time. Since there are two Senators for each state, the newer one is called the Junior Senator, and the one who has served longer is called the Senior Senator. For example, if Bob Smith was elected to the Senate in 2000, he would run for re-election in 2006. If Mary Jones was elected from the same state in 2002, she would be the Junior Senator, and he would be the Senior, even though he's only served two years longer than she has. Also, she would run for re-election in 2008.

Senators and Representatives are free to run for other office at any time. For instance, it looks like some Senators may run for President in 2008, without having completed their full terms as Senators. That is entirely legal, but since they quit their seat to run for another office, they don't automatically get it back if they don't win what they are running for. Someone else has already taken over for them.

Hope that helps a bit.

Answer 4

term limits are talked approximately as elections. human beings vote them in and vote them out. And it is lots diverse between the workplace of the President and the physique of Congress, once you're speaking approximately term limits. The President is one guy or woman. he's the administrative branch. That branch of the government is a one guy teach. Congress is the Legislative branch, composed of 500+ human beings. different than for the Speaker of the homestead and Majority/Minority leaders, no person guy or woman has a bigger say. human beings p.c. Congress human beings basically like they do Presidents, specific. however the President as one holds extra capability than Congress as persons.

Answer 5

President: 4 year term. May only serve up to two full terms, plus less than half of someone else's.

Senate: as many six year terms as they can get elected for. One third of the Senate is elected every two years.

House: as many two year terms as they can get elected for. The entire House is elected every two years.