WASHINGTON, Oct. 10 – The way Representative John Yarmuth of Kentucky sees it, lawmakers on Capitol Hill and Americans everywhere have forgotten who the Founding Fathers really intended to run the country –- not the President who was more of a Constitutional after-thought but the Congress, the people’s elected representatives.

Mr. Yarmuth said he and many of the 41 other freshman Democrats in the House had been puzzling for some time over just how to remind voters of this, how to mold a most basic lesson of American civics so that it could be carried far and wide by the modern techniques of political messaging. And then an idea struck.

Today, on the House floor, Mr. Yarmuth began distributing small buttons, seemingly made of parchment, with the words, “Article 1” – as in Article 1 of the Constitution, which states, “All legislative Powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress of the United States, which shall consist of a Senate and House of Representatives.”

In other words: Mr. President, the Congress would like to remind you, that you, dear pal, are Article 2.

Mr. Yarmuth said that about 50 lawmakers, most of them fellow freshmen, had quickly snapped up the pins. Two Republicans, suspicious perhaps, of a Democrat bearing gifts, politely declined, though Mr. Yarmuth said that he was hoping to recruit Representative Ron Paul, the Texas Republican, strict constitutionalist and candidate for president, to distribute the pins to fellow members of the G.O.P.

In an interview outside the House Chamber, Mr. Yarmuth said that his effort was nonpartisan, that it was not directly particularly at the Bush administration, and that the he hoped that representatives and senators in both parties would wear the pins to show their solidarity in hoping to tip the balance of power in Washington back to Capitol Hill.

He also said he hoped Democrats would continue wearing the pins, even if they win back the White House.

“It came out of thinking about why we were all elected last year,” Mr. Yarmouth said. “The war had a lot to do with it but another, I think equally important factor was the sense that the people’s voice was not being heard in deliberations of government, that the presidency had gotten much too powerful and arrogant, with executive privilege cliams and signing statements and a wide range of things like that.”

He added: “The American people wanted to push back against the imperial presidency.”

“All legislative powers are vested in the Congress and, in fact, the Constitution grants very limited powers to the executive branch,” Mr. Yarmuth said. “We lost sight of that.” The Article 1 buttons, he said, were “a reminder that we have not just power but responsibility under the Constitution. Hopefully, if this catches on, the public will see that we understand our power and our responsibility.”

A spokesman for Mr. Yarmuth said his office had purchased 1,000 pins and stickers and had also put up an Article 1 poster outside the congressman’s office.

Mr. Yarmuth acknowledged that some of his fellow Democrats were not quite up to speed on Constitutional fine-print. More than one, he said, had asked “Article 1? Which one is that again?” In some cases, he said they confused it with the First Amendment.

Some Democrats, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, were supportive and accepted a button but did not put it on, apparently unwilling to let the Founding Fathers interfere with fashion.

Of course, the Constitution also has its inconveniences. Mr. Yarmuth said that the “Article 1” pins were needed in part because Democrats had struggled to flex their political muscles legislatively over the last year.

“We have trouble legislatively in many areas because of just the structure, the system” he said. “And you know the Senate side, the natural impediments in the Senate side.”

Representative Tim Mahoney of Florida, a freshman Democrat who was proudly wearing an Article 1 pin on the lapel of his sport coat, showed it off to reporters in the Speaker’s Lobby. He said the newest lawmakers understood that they were elected “to change the culture of Washington” where he said “Republicans were in collusion with the White House.”

“Article 1 gives Congress the authority to legislate,” Mr. Mahoney said. “People need to respect what the Founding Fathers had in mind.”

And for anyone wondering what exactly they had in mind, here are the powers of Congress, as laid out in Article 1, Section 8: