Congress
    n 1: the legislature of the United States government [syn:
         Congress, United States Congress, U.S. Congress, US
         Congress]
    2: a meeting of elected or appointed representatives
    3: a national legislative assembly
    4: the act of sexual procreation between a man and a woman; the
       man's penis is inserted into the woman's vagina and excited
       until orgasm and ejaculation occur [syn: sexual
       intercourse, intercourse, sex act, copulation,
       coitus, coition, sexual congress, congress, sexual
       relation, relation, carnal knowledge]

Congress \Con"gress\, n.; pl. Congresses. [L. congressus, fr.
   congredi, p. p. -gressus, to go or come together; con- +
   grati to go or step, gradus step: cf. F. congr?s. See
   Grade.]
   1. A meeting of individuals, whether friendly or hostile; an
      encounter. [Obs.]
      [1913 Webster]

            Here Pallas urges on, and Lausus there;
            Their congress in the field great Jove withstands.
                                                  --Dryden.
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   2. A sudden encounter; a collision; a shock; -- said of
      things. [Obs.]
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            From these laws may be deduced the rules of the
            congresses and reflections of two bodies. --Cheyne.
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   3. The coming together of a male and female in sexual
      commerce; the act of coition. --Pennant.
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   4. A gathering or assembly; a conference.
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   5. A formal assembly, as of princes, deputies,
      representatives, envoys, or commissioners; esp., a meeting
      of the representatives of several governments or societies
      to consider and determine matters of common interest.
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            The European powers strove to . . . accommodate
            their differences at the congress of Vienna.
                                                  --Alison.
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   6. The collective body of senators and representatives of the
      people of a nation, esp. of a republic, constituting the
      chief legislative body of the nation.
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   Note: In the Congress of the United States (which took the
         place of the Federal Congress, March 4, 1789), the
         Senate consists of two Senators from each State, chosen
         by the State legislature for a term of six years, in
         such a way that the terms of one third of the whole
         number expire every year; the House of Representatives
         consists of members elected by the people of the
         several Congressional districts, for a term of two
         years, the term of all ending at the same time. The
         united body of Senators and Representatives for any
         term of two years for which the whole body of
         Representatives is chosen is called one Congress. Thus
         the session which began in December, 1887, was the
         first (or long) session, and that which began in
         December, 1888, was the second (or short) session, of
         the Fiftieth Congress. When an extra session is had
         before the date of the first regular meeting of a
         Congress, that is called the first session, and the
         following regular session is called the second session.
         [1913 Webster]

   7. The lower house of the Spanish Cortes, the members of
      which are elected for three years.
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   The Continental Congress, an assembly of deputies from the
      thirteen British colonies in America, appointed to
      deliberate in respect to their common interests. They
      first met in 1774, and from time thereafter until near the
      close of the Revolution.

   The Federal Congress, the assembly of representatives of
      the original States of the American Union, who met under
      the Articles of Confederation from 1781 till 1789.

   Congress boot or Congress gaiter, a high shoe or
      half-boot, coming above the ankle, and having the sides
      made in part of some elastic material which stretches to
      allow the boot to be drawn on and off. [U.S.]

   Congress water, a saline mineral water from the Congress
      spring at Saratoga, in the State of New York.

   Syn: Assembly; meeting; convention; convocation; council;
        diet; conclave; parliament; legislature.
        [1913 Webster]

CONGRESS. This word has several significations. 1. An assembly of the 
deputies convened from different governments, to treat of peace or of other 
political affairs, is called a congress. 
     2. - 2. Congress is the name of the legislative body of the United 
States, composed of the senate and house of representatives. Const. U. S. 
art. 1, s. 1. 
     3. Congress is composed of two independent houses. 1. The senate and, 
2. The house of representatives. 
     4.- 1. The senate is composed of two senators from each state, chosen 
by the legislature thereof for six years, and each senator has one vote. 
They represent the states rather than the people, as each state has its 
equal voice and equal weight in the senate, without any regard to the 
disparity of population, wealth or dimensions. The senate have been, from 
the first formation of the government, divided into three classes; and the 
rotation of the classes was originally determined by lots, and the seats of 
one class are vacated at the end of the second year, and one-third of the 
senate is chosen every second year. Const. U. S. art 1, s. 3. This provision 
was borrowed from a similar one in some of the state constitutions, of which 
Virginia gave the first example. 
     5. The qualifications which the constitution requires of a senator, 
are, that he should be thirty years of age, have been nine years a citizen 
of the United States, and, when elected, be an inhabitant of that state for 
which he shall be chosen. Art. 1, s. 3. 
    6.-2. The house of representatives is composed of members chosen every 
second year by the people of the several states, who are qualified electors 
of the most numerous branch of the legislature of the state to which they 
belong. 
     7. No person can be a representative until he has attained the age of 
twenty-five years, and has been seven years a citizen of the United States, 
and is, at the time of his election, an inhabitant of the state in which he 
is chosen. Const. U. S. art. 1, Sec. 2. 
     8. The constitution requires that the representatives and direct taxes 
shall be apportioned among the several states, which may be included within 
this Union, according to their respective numbers, which shall be determined 
by adding to the whole number of free persons, including those bound to 
service for a term of years, and excluding Indians not taxed, three-fifths 
of all other persons. Art. 1, s. 1. 
     9. The number of representatives shall not exceed one for every thirty 
thousand, but each state shall have at least one representative. Ib. 
    10. Having shown how congress is constituted, it is proposed here to 
consider the privileges and powers of the two houses, both aggregately and 
separately. 
    11. Each house is made the judge of the election, returns, and 
qualifications of its own members. Art. 1, s. 5. As each house acts in these 
cases in a judicial character, its decisions, like the decisions of any 
other court of justice, ought to be regulated by known principles of law, 
and strictly adhered to, for the sake of uniformity and certainty. A 
majority of each house shall constitute a quorum to do business but a 
smaller number may adjourn from day to day, and may be authorized to compel 
the attendance of absent members, in such manner, and under such penalties, 
as, each may provide. Each house may determine the rules of its proceedings; 
punish its members for disorderly behaviour; and, with the concurrence of 
two-thirds, expel a member. Each house is bound to keep a journal of its 
proceedings, and from time to time, publish the same, excepting such parts 
as may, in their judgment, require secrecy; and to enter the yeas and nays 
on the journal, on any question, at the desire of one-fifth of the members 
present. Art. 1, s. 5. 
    12. The members of both houses are in all cases, except treason, felony, 
and breach of the peace, privileged from arrest during their attendance at 
the session of their respective houses, and in going to, and returning from 
the same. Art. 1, s. 6. 
    13. These privileges of the two houses are obviously necessary for their 
preservation and character; And, what is still more important to the freedom 
of deliberation, no member can be questioned in any other place for any 
speech or debate in either house. lb. 
    14. There is no express power given to either house to punish for 
contempts, except when committed by their own members, but they have such an 
implied power. 6 Wheat. R. 204. This power, however, extends no further than 
imprisonment, and that will continue no farther than the duration of the 
power that imprisons. The imprisonment will therefore terminate with the 
adjournment or dissolution of congress. 
    15. The house of representatives has the exclusive right of originating 
bills for raising revenue, and this is the only privilege that house enjoys 
in its legislative character, which is not shared equally with the other; 
and even those bills are amendable by the senate in its discretion. Art. 1, 
s. 7. 
    16. The two houses are an entire and perfect check upon each other, in 
all business appertaining to legislation and one of them cannot even 
adjourn, during the session of congress, for more than three days, without 
the consent of the either nor to any other place than that in which the two 
houses shall be sitting. Art. 1, s. 5. 
    17. The powers of congress extend generally to all subjects of a 
national nature. Congress are authorized to provide for the common defence 
and general welfare; and for that purpose, among other express grants, they 
have the power to lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts and excises; to 
borrow money on the credit of the United States; to regulate commerce with 
foreign nations, and among the several states, and with the Indians; 1 
McLean R. 257; to establish all uniform rule of naturalization, and uniform 
laws of bankruptcy throughout the United States; to establish post offices 
and post roads; to promote the progress of science and the useful arts, by 
securing for a limited time to authors and inventors, the exclusive right to 
their respective writings and discoveries; to constitute tribunals inferior 
to the supreme court; to define and punish piracies on the high seas, and 
offences against the laws of nations; to declare war; to raise and support 
armies; to provide and maintain a navy; to provide for the calling forth of 
the militia; to exercise exclusive legislation over the District of 
Columbia; and to give full efficacy to the powers contained in the 
constitution. 
    18. The rules of proceeding in each house are substantially the same; 
the house of representatives choose their own speaker; the vice-president of 
the United States is, ex officio, president of the senate, and gives the 
casting vote when the members are equally divided. The proceedings and 
discussions in the two houses are generally in public. 
    19. The ordinary mode of passing laws is briefly this; one day's notice 
of a motion for leave to bring in a bill, in cases of a general nature, is 
required; every bill must have three readings before it is passed, and these 
readings must be on different days; and no bill can be committed and amended 
until it has been twice read. In the house of representatives, bills, after 
being twice read, are committed to a committee of the whole house, when a 
chairman is appointed by the speaker to preside over the committee, when the 
speaker leaves the chair, and takes a part in the debate as an ordinary 
member. 
    20. When a bill has passed one house, it is transmitted, to tho other, 
and goes through a similar form, though in the senate there is less 
formality, and bills are often committed to a select committee, chosen by 
ballot. If a bill be altered or amended in the house to which it is 
transmitted, it is then returned to the house in which it originated, and if 
the two houses cannot agree, they appoint a committee to confer on the 
subject See Conference. 
    21. When a bill is engrossed, and has received the sanction of both 
houses, it is sent to the president for his approbation. If he approves of 
the bill, he signs it. If he does not, it is returned, with his objections, 
to the house in which it originated, and that house enters the objections at 
large on their journal, and proceeds to re-consider it. If, after such re-
consideration, two-thirds of the house agree to pass the bill, it is sent, 
together with the objections, to the other house, by which it is likewise 
re-considered, and if approved by two-thirds of that house, it becomes a 
law. But in all such cases, the votes of both houses are determined by yeas 
and nays; and the names of the persons voting for and against the bill, are 
to be entered on the journal of each house respectively. 
    22. If any bill shall not be returned by the president within ten days 
(Sundays excepted) after it shall have been presented to him, the same shall 
be a law, in like manner as if he had signed it, unless the congress, by 
their adjournment, prevent its return; in which case it shall not be a law. 
Art. 1, s. 7. See House of Representatives; President; Senate; Veto; Kent, 
Com. Lecture xi.; Rawle on the Const. ch. ix. 

CONGRESS, med. juris. This name was anciently given in France, England, and 
other countries, to the-indecent intercourse between married persons, in the 
presence of witnesses appointed by the courts, in cases when the husband or 
wife was charged by the other with impotence. Trebuchet, Jurisp. de Med. 101 
Dictionnaire des Sciences Medicales, art. Congres, by Marc. 

CONGRESS, n.  A body of men who meet to repeal laws.

Congress, AZ -- U.S. Census Designated Place in Arizona
   Population (2000):    1717
   Housing Units (2000): 1070
   Land area (2000):     37.637348 sq. miles (97.480279 sq. km)
   Water area (2000):    0.031384 sq. miles (0.081284 sq. km)
   Total area (2000):    37.668732 sq. miles (97.561563 sq. km)
   FIPS code:            15220
   Located within:       Arizona (AZ), FIPS 04
   Location:             34.146068 N, 112.846533 W
   ZIP Codes (1990):     85332
   Note: some ZIP codes may be omitted esp. for suburbs.
   Headwords:
    Congress, AZ
    Congress

Congress, OH -- U.S. village in Ohio
   Population (2000):    192
   Housing Units (2000): 68
   Land area (2000):     0.166342 sq. miles (0.430825 sq. km)
   Water area (2000):    0.000000 sq. miles (0.000000 sq. km)
   Total area (2000):    0.166342 sq. miles (0.430825 sq. km)
   FIPS code:            18308
   Located within:       Ohio (OH), FIPS 39
   Location:             40.925447 N, 82.053222 W
   ZIP Codes (1990):    
   Note: some ZIP codes may be omitted esp. for suburbs.
   Headwords:
    Congress, OH
    Congress