Why Did They Choose 'Congress' Over 'Parliament'? Shocking Truth!

Explore the nuanced definition of 'Congress' and its significance as a legislative branch within the systems of government. This explainer video dives into the historical and political reasons for choosing 'Congress' over 'Parliament,' particularly in the context of the House of Representatives. Understand the basics of government and politics with this short educational video on congress pronunciation.

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TRANSCRIPT

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And so why didn't they just call it Parliament? Are these, is Congress and Parliament just different words? And they're like, hey, we're a new country now, and so we're going to just call ourselves something else to make sure we're not confused with England. And now we're just going to stick it to the man by calling it something else. No, words have meaning. And so let's go into the original meaning of those two words, Parliament and Congress, okay? So why a Congress and not a Parliament?

In Samuel Johnson's dictionary, the dictionary of the time, a Parliament is the assembly of the king and three estates of the realm, namely the Lord's spiritual, the Lord's temporal, and commons for the debating of matters touching the commonwealth, especially the making and correcting of laws, which assembly or court is, of all others, the highest and of greatest authority. So a Congress basically is a legislative body under a king, and it is to touch upon modern matters of the nation, okay? So, well, the United States isn't under a king, so is that why they didn't call it a parliament? Because a Congress is like a legislative body for a country, but without a king?

No. Congress also has a specific definition. Congress, according again to Samuel Johnson's dictionary, the dictionary of the time, says, an appointed meeting for settlement of affairs between different nations. They picked the word Congress on purpose because they knew that they were not a new nation, but they were a confederation of independent sovereign nations with the Republican form of government. In fact, this was not just some, this isn't just some, you know, mental exercise that we get to just theorize about. But no, this was the common understanding of the word during the time. Edmund Burke, you know, the famous saying, the only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.

That Edmund Burke that said that. In a speech to the electors of Bristol in 1774, Edmund Burke says, Parliament is not a Congress of ambassadors from different and hostile interests. Okay? Parliament is not a Congress of ambassadors from different and hostile interests. A Congress is a group of ambassadors from separate nations coming together with different interests, which interests each must maintain as an agent and advocate against other agents and advocates. But Parliament is a deliberative assembly of one nation with one interest, that of the whole, where not local purposes, not local prejudices ought to guide, but the general good resulting from the general reason of the whole.

So, therefore, a Congress is a representative of these different interests, where their job is to represent local purposes. Their job is to represent local prejudices. Their job is to represent their nation.