The United States Senate makes up one half of the legislative branch of the federal government. The Senate is made up of 100 Senators with each state in the union getting two senators apiece. But, here are 7 Things You Don’t Know About: The US Senate.

1. Up until 1913, US Senators were selected by their individual state’s legislatures.

2. The US Senate convenes in the north wing of the capitol building.

3. While each state has two Senators, elections are staggered so that no state’s two Senators will be up for election in the same year.

4. In the United States Senate’s history, 15 Senators have been expelled from membership. All but one of those suspensions was due to those Senators’ states seceding from the Union at the beginning of the Civil War. No US Senator has been expelled since then.

5. Two of the qualifications for a person to be allowed to be a Senator are that they must be at least 30 years old and must have been a US citizen for the previous nine years.

6. Three Senators have been elected to office and served before reaching the mandatory age of 30; Henry Clay (1806), Armistead Mason (1816), and John Eaton (1818). This was allowed to happen because the Senate polices itself and not enough scrutiny was given during those early days of operation.

7. The longest filibuster ever was done by Senator Strom Thurmond in 1957 when he spoke for over 24 hours in an attempt to stop Civil Rights legislation.

The US Senate is half of one of the three branches of government. Many of the more prominent people in public life have been senators and holding these positions comes with a great deal of responsibility. Making sure they live up to these expectations is part of the publics job.