Our Government: Local, State, and National: Idaho Edition Part 5

SUPPLEMENTARY QUESTIONS AND READINGS.

1. For an account of the members of the convention, see Hart, Contemporaries, III, 205-211.

2. For the contributions of the individuals and the cla.s.ses of delegates, see Walker, The Making of the Nation, 23-27; Fiske, Critical Period, 224-229.

3. Discuss the peculiar conditions in Ma.s.sachusetts. Give the arguments presented. Walker, 56-57; Fiske, Critical Period, 316-331.

4. How was the Const.i.tution regarded in Virginia? Walker, 58, 60; Fiske, Critical Period, 334-338.

5. What was the att.i.tude of the New York Convention toward the Const.i.tution? Fiske, Critical Period, 340-345.

6. What objections were made against the Const.i.tution in North Carolina?

Hart, Contemporaries, III, 251-254.

7. What would have been the status of North Carolina and Rhode Island if they had not ratified? Walker, 73, 74; Hart, Formation of the Union, 132, 133.

8. Show the influence of the State const.i.tutions on the Federal Const.i.tution. James and Sanford, Government in State and Nation, 117.

9. For other questions on the material in this chapter, see Fiske, Civil Government, 211, 212; James and Sanford, Government in State and Nation, 135, 136, 137.

CHAPTER VII.

ORGANIZATION OF THE LEGISLATIVE DEPARTMENT.

ARTICLE I.

A Congress of Two Houses.--Section i. _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 the Const.i.tutional Convention, the Pennsylvania delegates were the only ones who objected to the formation of a legislative body having two houses. It was believed that with two houses one would be a check upon the other, and that there would be less danger of hasty and oppressive legislation. Another reason for the formation of a congress having two houses was that the colonists were familiar with this kind of legislature. It existed in all of the States, Pennsylvania and Georgia excepted.

Term of Members and Qualifications of Electors.--Section 2, Clause 1. _The House of Representatives shall be composed of members chosen every second year by the people of the several States, and the electors in each State shall have the qualifications requisite for electors of the most numerous branch of the State legislature_.

A short term for representatives was agreed upon, for it was the design to make them dependent on the will of the people. The question frequently arises, therefore, ought representatives to be compelled to receive instructions from those who elect them? May we not agree that our legislation would often be more efficient if the welfare of the nation were considered, rather than what seems, for the moment, to be only the concern of a district or even, a State? Securing the best interests of all may mean at times, also, the sacrifice of mere party principles.

Who May Vote for Representatives.--By the words _people_ and _electors_ is meant voters. With the desire to make the House of Representatives the more popular branch, it was decided to grant the right of voting for a representative to any person who might be privileged to vote for a member of the lower house of the legislature of his State. The freedom of a State to determine what these qualifications are is limited only by the provisions of the Fifteenth Amendment:--

Amendment XV. _The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States, or by any State, on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude_.

This amendment was proposed by Congress in February, 1869, and was declared in force, March 30, 1870. It was for the purpose of granting more complete political rights to the negroes, recently declared, by Amendment XIV, to be citizens.

Method and Time of Choosing Representatives.--The Const.i.tution prescribes that representatives shall be elected by the people.

Congress has provided that representatives shall be chosen on the Tuesday next after the first Monday in November of the even-numbered years.[11] Congress has also decreed that representatives shall be chosen by districts; but the State legislature has complete control of the districting of its State. However, Congress has declared that these districts shall be composed of contiguous territory, and contain, as nearly as practicable, an equal number of inhabitants. Now, usage has defined territory to be contiguous when it touches another portion of the district at any one point. As a result of this questionable interpretation, some States have been divided into districts of fantastic shapes, to promote the interests of the party having the majority in the State legislature.[12]

[Footnote 11: The only exceptions to this rule are: Maine holds its election on the second Monday in September, and Vermont on the first Tuesday in November.]

[Footnote 12: This process is called "gerrymandering." See, also, "Government in State and Nation," pp. 135, 136.]

Proportional Representation.--Proportional representation, which is coming into favor in these days, would doubtless do much toward remedying this abuse. According to the present system of electing representatives by districts, large minorities of voters are not represented. Numerous plans of "Proportional Representation" have been advocated. One such plan is in operation in Illinois[13] for the election of members to the State house of representatives. Each district elects three members on a general ticket. The voter may give one vote to each candidate, or one and a half votes to each of two candidates, or three votes to a single candidate. Therefore, the minority, by concentrating their votes on one candidate, may elect a representative to the legislature, when under the district system they would not be represented.

[Footnote 13: On proportional representation, read "Government in State and Nation," pp. 14, 15.]

Qualifications of Representatives.--Section 2, Clause 2. _No person shall be a representative who shall not have attained to the age of twenty-five years, and been seven years a citizen of the United States, and who shall not, when elected, be an inhabitant of that State in which he shall be chosen._

In the original States there was great diversity of qualifications for members of the lower houses of their legislatures. But some uniform system was necessary for the National organization, and so the few simple requirements of this clause were introduced. It is understood, however, that the States may not add other qualifications. While a representative must be an inhabitant of the State in which he is chosen, he need not, so far as the Const.i.tution requires, be an inhabitant of the district. But the instances have been few in which a member of the House has not been also an inhabitant of the district which he represents. According to the English system of representation, a member of the House of Commons frequently represents a borough or county in an entirely different part of the kingdom from that of which he is an inhabitant.

May the House refuse to admit a person duly elected and possessing the necessary qualifications? This question arose in the 56th Congress, in the case of Brigham Roberts of Utah. He was finally excluded.

Present System of Apportioning Representatives.--Section 2 of Amendment XIV contains the rule of apportionment that is now in operation. This became a part of the Const.i.tution, July 28, 1868.

_Representatives shall be apportioned among the several States according to their respective numbers, counting the whole number of persons in each State, excluding Indians not taxed. But when the right to vote at any election for the choice of electors for President and Vice-President of the United States, representatives in Congress, the executive and judicial officers of a State, or the members of the legislature thereof, is denied to any of the male inhabitants of such State, being twenty-one years of age, and citizens of the United States, or in any way abridged, except for partic.i.p.ation in rebellion or other crime, the basis of representation therein shall be reduced in the proportion which the number of such male citizens shall bear to the whole number of male citizens twenty-one years of age in such State_.

The second sentence of this section was framed in the belief that the States, rather than lose a portion of their representatives in Congress, would grant the right of suffrage to negroes already declared to be citizens. But proportional reduction of representatives was never put into practical operation, for before the next apportionment of representatives, Amendment XV became a part of the Const.i.tution, and negro suffrage was put on the same basis as white. However, the enforcement of Section 2 of Amendment XIV has been strongly urged in our own time. This is because it is estimated that many thousands have been disfranchised through the restrictions on the right of suffrage found in several of our State const.i.tutions. Some require an educational test and others a property qualification for voting.

The "Indians not taxed" doubtless refers to those Indians who still maintain their tribal relations or who live on reservations in the several States. Their member, according to the census of 1910, was 129,518.

Early Apportionment.--The number of representatives to which each of the States was originally ent.i.tled is given in Section 2, Clause 3, of the article we are now considering as follows:--

_Representatives and direct taxes shall be apportioned among the several States which may be included within this Union, according to their respective numbers, which shall be determined by adding to the whole number of free persons, including those bound to service for a term of years, and excluding Indians not taxed, three-fifths of all other persons. The actual enumeration shall be made within three years after the first meeting of the Congress of the United States, and within every subsequent term of ten years, in such manner as they shall by law direct. 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 ent.i.tled to choose three, Ma.s.sachusetts 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_.

The three-fifths rule was rendered void by the adoption of Amendment XIII, which abolished slavery, since there were no longer the "other persons." That part of the clause which provides for the laying of direct taxes is still in force.

The Census.--In order to carry out the provision of the Const.i.tution, an "actual enumeration" was made in 1790. Since that date there has been a census every ten years. The taking of the census and the compilation and publication of the statistics connected with it are under the supervision of the director of the census. Work on the thirteenth census was begun April 15, 1910, and required some 65,000 enumerators, 3500 clerks, and 1800 special agents. The cost was some $12,000,000. The most important volumes found in the report are those on population,[14] manufactures, and agriculture. The taking of the census will, in the future, be more economical and efficient because of the establishment of the permanent census bureau by an act of Congress in 1902.

[Footnote 14: The population of the United States, according to the first census, was 3,929,214. The population in 1910 was 91,972,266; including the possessions and dependencies, 101,000,000.]

Ratio of Representation.--The Const.i.tution provided that there should be 65 members in the first House of Representatives. After the first census, Congress agreed that there should be one representative for each 33,000 of the population. This gave a house with 105 representatives. From that time the ratio of representation has been changed every ten years. Otherwise, with the rapid increase in population, the House would soon become too large. The ratio adopted by the act of 1911 was one representative to 211,877 people.[15] After March 4, 1913, therefore, there will be at least 433 members, an increase of 42.[16]

[Footnote 15: For the method of apportionment, see "Government in State and Nation," p. 128.]

[Footnote 16: The number of members in the English House of Commons is 670; in the French Chamber of Deputies, 584; and in the German Reichstag, 396.]

Members from New States.--Should a new State be admitted after the apportionment is made, its representatives are always additional to the number provided for by law.

The Const.i.tution provides that each State shall have at least one representative. If this provision had not been made, the States of Arizona, Delaware, Nevada, and Wyoming, each having a smaller population than the ratio adopted in 1910, would not be represented.

Territorial Delegates.--The organized Territories are each ent.i.tled to send a delegate to the House of Representatives. He is allowed to speak on any question that has to do with his Territory, but may not vote.

Vacancies.--Section 2, Clause 4. _When vacancies happen in the representation from any State, the executive authority thereof shall issue writs of election to fill such vacancies_.