“The Number of Representatives shall not exceed one for every thirty Thousand, but each State shall have at Least one Representative; and until such enumeration shall be made, the State of
New Hampshire shall be entitled to choose three,
Massachusetts eight,
Rhode Island and Providence Plantations one,
Connecticut five,
New York six,
New Jersey four,
Pennsylvania eight,
Delaware one,
Maryland six,
Virginia ten,
North Carolina five,
South Carolina five and
Georgia three.”
Comment: Remembering back to Article 1, Section 2, Clause 1, the Framers wanted the people to be represented in the House of Representatives (cf. the States were represented by the Senate). To that end, the Framers spent many hours discussing the structure of representation. Here, this provision deals with the number of Representatives to be elected from each state. Madison wanted the initial number to be 130; however, the majority of delegations decided that 65 Representatives would be a sufficient starting point. The Framers drafted this provision with some flexibility, which allowed for increased representation as the population grew; but, the provision did not allow for more than 1 Representative for every 30,000 persons. The Anti-Federalist were very concerned about the small number of Representatives. Madison answered their objection by explaining that the number of Congressmen would increase as the population increase and that there would be sufficient amount of checks and balances against corruption within the Constitution. Madison, however, argued against any “built-in” increase to the numbers of Representatives. In the end, in 1929 Congress decided to cap the number of Representatives at 435. Since then Congress has applied five different methods of apportioning Representatives among the states. The present “Hill Method” (a complex formula), which determines when a state may gain or lose a seat, has been used since 1940. See Federalist Paper 10 and 55.
Primary Source. The Heritage Guide to the Constitution.
