Focus on the Constitution
Advice & Consent on Treaties
The Constitution gives to the Senate the sole power to approve, by a two-thirds vote, treaties negotiated by the executive branch. The Senate does not ratify treaties. Instead, the Senate takes up a resolution of ratification, by which the Senate formally gives its advice and consent, empowering the president to proceed with ratification. When President George Washington visited the Senate Chamber in August 1789 to seek advice and consent on a pending treaty, he became frustrated when senators referred the treaty to committee for consideration, but the Senate exercised its constitutional prerogative to “advise” as well as “consent.”
U.S. Capitol Historical Society
Important Early Treaties