congress (konggres)

[= F. congrès = Sp. congreso = Pg. It. congre o = D. Dan. kongres = G. congre = Sw. kongre , That ceremony is used as much in our adieus as in the first congre . Con grog a din a The substitution of "Congre " for "the legislature of the United States," requires no explanation. It is a mere change of phraseology. Calhoun , Works, I. 256. The upper house of Congre is therefore a federal while the lower is a national body, and the government is brought into direct contact with the people without endangering the equal rights of the several states. J. Fiske, Amer. Pol. Ideas, p. 97. 5. The name of the lower house of the Spanish Cortes, and of the national legislatures of the South American republics. - Church Congre , a name applied to two voluntary organizations, one in the Church of England, the other in the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, for the free discu ion of topics of church interest. Membership is confined to those who are in communion with the church. Neither body po e es any ecclesiastical authority or responsibility, or attempts any legislative functions. The same name, with modifying adjectives, as Inter -ecclesias tical Congre , Inter- denominational Congre , etc., has been applied to other bodies of a similar character em bracing members of various Protestant communions.Congre boots. See boot 2. - Congre water. See water, under mineral. - Peace Congre , in U. S. hist., a conference, in February, 1861, of delegates from free and border slave States, which made unsucce ful efforts to avert civil war by means of proposed amendments to the Constitution, dealing chiefly with slavery. Also called Peace Convention or Conference. - Provincial congre es, popular conventions which, at the beginning of the struggle between the American colonies and England, a umed control of the colonies. - Stamp-Act Congre , a body of delegates from nine colonies which met at New York, in 1765, to protest against the Stamp Act and other oppre ive measures of the British Parliament. congre (kon-gres'), v. i. [ Sir K. Digby , On Browne's Religio Medici, p. 76. congre iont (kon-gresh'on), n. [= F. con If her devotion be high and pregnant, and prepared to fervency and importunity of congre with God. Jer. Taylor , Works (ed. 1835), II. 258. Here Pallas urges on, and Lausus there;.. Their congre in the field great Jove withstands. Dryden, Æneid, x. 2. The meeting of persons in sexual commerce. -3. A formal meeting or a ociation of per- sons having a representative character; an or- congregation + -al.] 1. Of or pertaining to a congregation: as, congregational singing.-2. Eccles., pertaining to government by congregations; governed by its own congregation, as a church; specifically (with a capital), pertain to Congregationalism as a denominational designation: as, the congregational polity of the Baptists; the Congregational churches of the United States. ment. The great Baptist denomination-with some leaning toward Independency properly so called-is yet purely Congregational in its principle of church order and governH. M. Dexter , Congregationalism (2d ed.), i. Congregational council. See council . - Congregational music, music in which the congregation take part, as opposed to music sung by the choir only. = Syn. Congrega tional , Independent . See extract under congregationalism . congregationalism (kong-grē-ga's hon-al-izm), n. [ congregational + -ism .] 1. A system of church government based upon the autonomy of the individual congregation. It embodies three fundamental principles-(1) that it is the right and duty of believers in Jesus Christ in every community to organize for Christian work and worship, and that such an organization is a Christian church; (2) that each such church is by right independent of all external ecclesiastical con for the consideration of some special subject or the promotion of some common interest; particularly, in politics, an a emblage of envoys, commi ioners, or plenipotentiaries representing sovereign powers, or of sovereigns themselves, for the purpose of arranging international affairs: as, the Congre of Vienna (1814-15); the Congre of Paris (1856). For the distinction between conference and congre , see extract under conference, 2 ( a ). As soon as the employers attempted to give work to subcontractors, they forced them by strikes to take it back. The society [of hatters] was called the Congre , was regulated by statutes, and framed bye-laws. All workmen of the trade belonged to it. English Gilds (E. E. T. S.), Int., p. clxxviii. The congre of Aix la Chapelle, at which the five great powers were represented,.. was intended to exercise a supervisory power over European affairs, interfering to prevent all dangerous revolutions, especially when they should proceed from popular movements. Woolsey, Introd. to Inter. Law, § 46. Farmers' congre , an a ociation of agriculturists of the United States, which has met annually since 1881. Applet on's Ann. Cyc., 1886, p. 330. 4. [ cap.] The national legislature of the United ecclesiastical authority; (3) that such churches owe a duty of Christian fellowship and coöper at i on to one another. This fellowship and coöper at i on is exercised among those who bear the name of Congregationalists by means of councils, conferences, consociations, and a ociations. The principles of congregationalism are maintained not only by Congregationalists so called, but also by Baptists, Unitarians, Universalists, and some other denominations of Christians, and by many evangelical churches in France, Switzerland, etc. Congregationalism is the democratic form of church order and government; it derives its name from the prominence which it gives to the congregation of Christian believers. It vests all ecclesiastical power (under Christ) in the a ociated brotherhood of each local church, as an independent body. At the same time it recognizes a fra ternal and equal fellowship between these independent churches, which invests each with the right and duty of advice and reproof, and even of the public withdrawal of that fellowship in case the course pursued by another of the sisterhood should demand such action for the preservation of its own purity and consistency. Herein Congre gationalism as a system differs from Independency, which affirms the seat of ecclesiastical power to reside in the brotherhood so zealously as to ignore any check, even of advice, upon its action. H. M. Dexter , Congregationalism (2d ed.), i. 2. [ cap .] The system of ecclesiastical polity and religious doctrine maintained by the Congregational Church. See congregationalist , 2. congregationalist (kong-grē-ga's hon-al-ist), n. [ congregational + -ist .] 1. One who holds to the congregational principles of church government. See congregationalism , 1. In this sense, Bap constituted bodies so named: ( a ) The Continental Congre , representing the thirteen colonies. What is known as the first Continental Congre , with delegates from all the colonies but Georgia, met in Philadelphia September 5th, 1774, and lasted until October 26th, 1774; the second, in which all were represented, met in Philadelphia May 10th, 1775, and adjourned December 12th, 1776; the third met in Baltimore December 20th, 1776, and lasted until the Articles of Confederation went into operation, March 1st, 1781. (b) The Congre of the Confederation, representing the States under the Articles of Confederation, March 1st, 1781, to March 4th, 1789. (c) The Congre of the United States, which represents both the States and the people under the Constitution, and which met for the first time March 4th, 1789. It consists of two houses, the Senate and House of Representatives (sometimes called the upper and lower houses), and meets at least once every year, The Senate is composed of two members from each State, elected (by its legislature) for a period of six years, one third of them being elected every second year. The number of representatives varies in each State in proportion to the population. (See apportionment, 2.) They sit for two years only. The united body, for the two years during which the representatives hold their seats, receives a numerical designation as a single Congre , counting from the first. Thus, the senators and representatives sitting during the period March 4th, 1895, to March 4th, 1897, constituted the 54th Congre . The most important powers of Congre , as enumerated in the Constitution, are: to im pose and collect taxes, borrow and coin money, regulate commerce, establish uniform naturalization and bankruptcy laws, declare war, raise armies, maintain a navy, suspend the writ of habeas corpus, admit new States, and make all laws nece ary to carry these powers into exеси gre ion = Sp. congresion, Many men excellently learned have approved by a direct and close congre i on [of Christianity] with other religions, that all the reason of the world appears to stand on the Christian side. Jer. Taylor, Ductor Dubitantium, i. 123. congre ional (kon-gresh'on-al), a. [= Pg.con gre ional; as congre i on (for congre ) + -al.] Of or pertaining to a congre , or, specifically (commonly with a capital), to the Congre of the United States: as, congre ional debates; the " Congre ional Record." The revisal of the Congre ional intelligence contained in your letters makes me regret the lo of it on your departure. Jefferson, Correspondence, II. 68.