what percent of members of congress need to approve a proposed amendment?

Proposed amendment to the US Constitution pertaining to the number of Representatives in the Business firm

The Congressional Apportionment Amendment (originally titled Article the Starting time) is a proposed amendment to the United States Constitution that addresses the number of seats in the Business firm of Representatives. It was proposed by Congress on September 25, 1789, only was never ratified by the requisite number of state legislatures. As Congress did not set a time limit for its ratification, the Congressional Apportionment Amendment is withal pending before the states. Equally of 2022, information technology is one of six unratified amendments.

In the 1st Usa Congress, James Madison put together a parcel of constitutional amendments designed to address the concerns of Anti-Federalists, who were suspicious of federal power under the new constitution. The Congressional Circulation Amendment is the only one of the twelve amendments passed by Congress which was never ratified; ten amendments were ratified as the Neb of Rights, while the other amendment (Article the Second) was ratified as the Twenty-7th Subpoena in 1992. A majority of us did ratify the Congressional Apportion Amendment and, by the terminate of 1791, the amendment was simply one land brusque of adoption. Nonetheless, no state has ratified the subpoena since 1792.

The subpoena lays out a mathematical formula for determining the number of seats in the House of Representatives. Information technology would initially accept required ane representative for every 30,000 constituents, with that number eventually climbing to ane representative for every l,000 constituents. However, in that location is some agreement that the terminal line contains a scrivener'south error^[1] (meet Mathematical discrepancies). Equally the subpoena was never passed, Congress has set the size of the House of Representatives by statute. Congress regularly increased the size of the House to account for population growth throughout the 19th century until information technology fixed the number of voting House members at 435 in 1911, where bated from a temporary increase to 437 members from 1959 through 1962 after Alaska and Hawaii were admitted to the Union, it has remained.

The population of the United states reached approximately 308.7 one thousand thousand in 2010 according to that twelvemonth'south nationwide demography. Consequently, the number of representatives in the House could take grown to over half dozen,000 under the terms of this amendment.^{[2] [3] [iv]}

Text [edit]

After the start enumeration required past the first article of the Constitution, there shall be 1 Representative for every xxx grand, until the number shall amount to i hundred, later on which the proportion shall be then regulated by Congress, that there shall be not less than one hundred Representatives, nor less than 1 Representative for every forty one thousand persons, until the number of Representatives shall amount to two hundred, later on which the proportion shall be so regulated past Congress, that there shall not be less than two hundred Representatives, nor more than one Representative for every fifty chiliad persons.^[five]

Groundwork [edit]

The "platonic" number of seats in the Firm of Representatives has been a contentious issue since the country'due south founding. Initially, delegates to the 1787 Constitutional Convention set the representation ratio at one representative for every 40,000 people. Upon the suggestion of George Washington, the ratio was changed to one representative for every 30,000 people.^[vi] This was the only fourth dimension Washington voiced an stance on any of the actual issues debated during the convention.^[seven]

In Federalist No. 55, James Madison argued that the size of the House of Representatives has to residual the power of the body to legislate with the need for legislators to have a relationship shut enough to the people to understand their local circumstances, that such representatives' social class exist low enough to empathize with the feelings of the mass of the people, and that their power exist diluted enough to limit their abuse of the public trust and interests.

...showtime, that and then small a number of representatives will be an unsafe depositary of the public interests; secondly, that they volition not possess a proper cognition of the local circumstances of their numerous constituents; thirdly, that they will be taken from that class of citizens which will sympathize to the lowest degree with the feelings of the mass of the people, and be nigh likely to aim at a permanent acme of the few on the depression of the many;...^[8]

Anti-Federalists, who opposed the Constitution's ratification, noted that there was nothing in the document to guarantee that the number of seats in the Business firm would continue to represent minor constituencies equally the general population of the states grew. They feared that over time, if the size remained relatively small-scale and the districts became more expansive, that but well-known individuals with reputations spanning wide geographic areas could secure ballot. Information technology was also feared that those in Congress would, as a result, accept an insufficient sense of sympathy with and connection to ordinary people in their commune.^[9]

This concern was evident in the diverse state ratifying conventions, where several specifically requested an subpoena to secure a minimum size for the House of Representatives. Virginia's ratification resolution proposed

That there shall be one representative for every thirty thousand, co-ordinate to the Enumeration or Census mentioned in the Constitution, until the whole number of representatives amounts to 2 hundred; after which that number shall be continued or encreased [sic] as the Congress shall direct, upon the principles stock-still by the Constitution by apportioning the Representatives of each State to some greater number of people from time to fourth dimension equally population encreases [sic].^[ten]

Anti-Federalist Melancton Smith declared at the New York ratifying convention that

We certainly ought to fix, in the Constitution, those things which are essential to liberty. If anything falls under this description, it is the number of the legislature.^[11]

Federalists, who supported the Constitution's ratification, reassured those opposing its ratification by agreeing that the new authorities should immediately accost Anti-Federalist concerns and consider alteration the Constitution. This reassurance was essential to the ratification of the new class of regime.^[12]

Legislative and ratification history [edit]

Legislative history [edit]

An amendment establishing a formula for determining the appropriate size of the House of Representatives and the appropriate apportionment of representatives among the states was one of several proposed amendments to the Constitution introduced start in the Firm on June 8, 1789, by Representative James Madison of Virginia:

That in Article I, Section 2, Clause 3, these words exist struck out, to wit: "The number of Representatives shall non exceed one for every 30 yard, but each Land shall take at least one Representative, and until such enumeration shall be made;" and in place thereof be inserted these words, to wit: "After the first actual enumeration, there shall be one Representative for every thirty grand, until the number amounts to—, after which the proportion shall be so regulated by Congress, that the number shall never be less than—, nor more than—, but each State shall, afterward the first enumeration, have at least two Representatives; and prior thereto".^[xiii]

This, along with Madison's other proposals, was referred to a committee consisting of one representative from each state. After Madison's proposals emerged from committee, Fisher Ames of Massachusetts, proposed a differing apportionment amendment in which the minimum apportionment ratio increased from thirty,000 to 40,000 per Representative following a subsequent census. The change was approved on August 21, 1789.^[14] So, on Baronial 24, the House passed this plus sixteen other articles of amendment. The proposals side by side went to the Senate, which made 26 substantive alterations. On September 9, 1789, the Senate canonical a package of twelve proposed amendments.^[15] Changed in this amendment was the circulation formula to be followed once the number of Business firm members reached 100.

A comparison of the two versions of the subpoena ^[16]
(The substitute Senate language and the affected Firm language are both in ruby-red with italics.)

Firm version – August 24, 1789: Later the first enumeration, required past the first Commodity of the Constitution, there shall exist one Representative for every xxx thousand, until the number shall corporeality to i hundred, later which the proportion shall be and so regulated by Congress, that at that place shall exist not less than i hundred Representatives, nor less than one Representative for every twoscore thousand persons, until the number of Representatives shall amount to 2 hundred, after which the proportion shall be so regulated by Congress, that there shall not exist less than two hundred Representatives, nor less than one Representative for every fifty thousand persons.

Senate version – September nine, 1789: After the first enumeration, required by the get-go commodity of the Constitution, there shall be 1 Representative for every thirty thousand, until the number shall amount to ane hundred; to which number one Representative shall be added for every subsequent increase of xl thousand, until the Representatives shall amount to two hundred, to which number 1 Representative shall exist added for every subsequent increase of lx g persons.

On September 21, 1789, a conference committee convened to resolve the numerous differences between the 2 Bill of Rights proposals. On September 24, 1789, the committee issued its report that finalized 12 Constitutional amendments for the Business firm and Senate to consider. Regarding the circulation subpoena, the Firm passed version prevailed with i modify: the final instance of the word "less" was changed to "more".^[17] The amendments were finally approved by both Houses on September 25, 1789.^{[eighteen] [nineteen]}

Ratification history [edit]

States that ratified the amendment

Having been approved by Congress, the twelve Bill of Rights amendments were sent to us for ratification. This proposed amendment was the first listed of the twelve and was ratified by the legislatures of the post-obit states:^[20]

1. New Jersey: November twenty, 1789
2. Maryland: December 19, 1789
3. North Carolina: December 22, 1789
4. S Carolina: January xix, 1790
5. New Hampshire: Jan 25, 1790
6. New York: February 24, 1790
7. Rhode Island: June 7, 1790
8. Pennsylvania: September 21, 1791 (afterward rejecting it on March ten, 1790)
9. Virginia: November three, 1791
10. Vermont: November 3, 1791^[21]
11. Kentucky: June 27, 1792

The lower house of the Connecticut General Assembly approved the subpoena along with ten others in October 1789, but the upper house of the Associates deferred taking any action on the amendments until subsequently the adjacent ballot. In May 1790, following that election, the lower house rejected the amendment while approving the ten amendments that would become the Pecker of Rights. The upper house and so approved all 12 of the amendments, hindering Connecticut's ratification endeavour, as the two houses were afterwards unable to reconcile their divergent ratification resolutions.^{[22] [23]}

When originally submitted to us, nine ratifications would have made this subpoena office of the Constitution. That number rose to ten on May 29, 1790, when Rhode Island ratified the Constitution. It rose to 11 on March iv, 1791, when Vermont joined the Union. By the end of 1791, the amendment was only one state short of adoption. However, when Kentucky attained statehood on June 1, 1792, the number of necessary ratifications climbed to twelve, and, even though Kentucky ratified the subpoena that summer (along with the other xi amendments), information technology was still one state short. No additional states ratified this subpoena. With 50 states, 27 additional ratifications are necessary to reach the required threshold of 38 ratifications needed for this amendment to become part of the Constitution.

Mathematical discrepancies [edit]

Although the initial Business firm and Senate versions of the subpoena were clear in establishing a formula for determining the minimum number of representatives, the last version of the subpoena was not. As a issue of the last-minute "less" to "more than" wording alter fabricated by the Business firm, an inconsistency exists in the mathematical formula when the nation's population is between eight one thousand thousand and ten million, as the final version of the proposed amendment specifies a minimum number of Firm seats greater than the maximum. As a result, the amendment would be unworkable and any number of representatives unconstitutional.^[24]

Historian David Eastward. Kyvig had an alternative estimation of the increase in the size of the U.S. House guaranteed past this amendment. He claimed that the examples in the amendment were intended to demonstrate a mathematical relation: for every boosted 100 members of Congress, district sizes would increase by 10,000 people. Under this estimation, districts of 50,000 people would not have been intended as a ceiling, merely, instead, the advisable divisor until the Business firm reached 300 members, at which betoken district sizes would be 60,000 until the House reached 400 members, and so on.^[25]

Run across also [edit]

• The states congressional apportionment
• Apportionment Human action of 1792
• Reapportionment Human action of 1929

References [edit]

1. ^ Trende, Sean. "It's Time To Increase The Size of the House – Sabato'south Crystal Ball". Retrieved 2020-11-07 .
2. ^ Stone, Lyman (October 17, 2018). "Pack the Business firm: How to Fix the Legislative Branch". Mere Orthodoxy. Retrieved September 17, 2019.
3. ^ Matthews, Dylan (June 4, 2018). "The case for massively expanding the US Firm of Representatives, in ane nautical chart". Voice. Retrieved September 17, 2019.
4. ^ Hurlbut, Terry (Apr 16, 2015). "Packing the House?". Conservative News and Views. Retrieved September 17, 2019.
5. ^ "The Constitution of the Us: Analysis and Interpretation, Centennial Edition, Interim Edition: Assay of Cases Decided past the Supreme Court of the United States to June 26, 2013" (PDF). Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office. 2013. p. 49. Retrieved May eleven, 2014.
6. ^ Goldberg, Jonah (Jan 15, 2001). "George Volition Chosen Me An Idiot". National Review . Retrieved November 5, 2015.
7. ^ "Madison Debates – September 17". Avalon Project. New Haven, Connecticut: Lillian Goldman Constabulary Library, Yale Law Schoolhouse. Retrieved Nov v, 2015.
8. ^ "The Total Number of the House of Representatives Independent Journal Wednesday, February 13, 1788 [James Madison]". San Antonio, Texas: Constitution Society. Retrieved November five, 2015.
9. ^ ""Cato" Letter 5 The New-York Journal, Nov 22, 1787". San Antonio, Texas: Constitution Gild. Retrieved November 5, 2015.
10. ^ "Ratification of the Constitution by the Land of Virginia; June 26, 1788". Avalon Project. New Haven, Connecticut: Lillian Goldman Law Library, Yale Constabulary School. Retrieved June 12, 2014.
11. ^ Amar, Akhil Reed (1998). The Pecker of Rights: Creation and Reconstruction. Harrisonburg, Virginia: R. R. Donnelley & Sons. p. xiv. ISBN0-300-07379-viii.
12. ^ "Observing Constitution Solar day". Washington, D.C.: The U.South. National Archives and Records Assistants. Retrieved July 21, 2015.
13. ^ Lloyd, Gordon. "Madison's Speech Proposing Amendments to the Constitution, June 8, 1789". Ashland, Ohio: The Ashbrook Middle at Ashland University (TeachingAmericanHistory.org). Retrieved Nov 1, 2015.
14. ^ Lloyd, Thomas (1790). The Congressional annals : or, History of the proceedings and debates of the get-go Business firm of Representatives of the United States of America. Vol. Second edition. Volume Two. New York, New York: Hodge, Allen, and Campbell. pp. 193, 241, 250–251 – via Cyberspace Annal.
15. ^ Labunski, Richard E. (2006). James Madison and the struggle for the Pecker of Rights . Oxford University Press. pp. 235–237. ISBN978-0-xix-518105-0.
16. ^ "Legislative History of Article the first of the Federal Bill of Rights" (Web Pamphlet). thirty-thousand.org. June 28, 2007. Retrieved June 17, 2014.
17. ^ Lloyd, Gordon. "The Iv Stages of Blessing of the Bill of Rights in Congress and united states". TeachingAmericanHistory.org. Ashland, Ohio: The Ashbrook Centre at Ashland University. Retrieved June 23, 2014.
18. ^ Adamson, Barry (2008). Freedom of Faith, the Commencement Amendment, and the Supreme Court: How the Courtroom Flunked History. Pelican Publishing. p. 93. ISBN9781455604586.
19. ^ Graham, John Remington (2009). Free, Sovereign, and Independent States: The Intended Meaning of the American Constitution. Foreword by Laura Tesh. Footnote 54, pp. 193–194. ISBN9781455604579.
20. ^ "Virtual Showroom: Ratification of the U.Southward. Constitution, 1787-1791 - Constitution Day". LibGuides at Washington Land University. August 21, 2015. Archived from the original on June 10, 2015. Retrieved Oct 29, 2015.
21. ^ "Ratifications of the Amendments to the Constitution of the Usa | Teaching American History". teachingamericanhistory.org . Retrieved 2016-09-ten .
22. ^ Grimes, Alan P. (1978). Democracy and the Amendments to the Constitution. Toronto: Lexington Books. pp. 28-29 n40.
23. ^ Conley, Patrick T.; U. S. Constitution Council of the Thirteen Original States (1992). The Pecker of Rights and u.s.a.: The Colonial and Revolutionary Origins of American Liberties. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 121. ISBN9780945612292.
24. ^ Quidam, Jeff E. (June 24, 2007). "The Minimum and Maximum Size of the House of Representatives Per the Constitution and pursuant to all three versions of the proposed "Commodity the first"" (PDF). Thirty-thousand.org. p. xix. Retrieved February 12, 2018.
25. ^ Blonder, Greg (April 2020). "sizing upwards democracy". Genuine Ideas.

External links [edit]

kingsfordproy1957.blogspot.com

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Congressional_Apportionment_Amendment

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