House of Representatives House of Representatives House consists of 435 members, all serving two-year terms Founding Fathers intended House of Representatives to be very responsive to shifts in the public mood But gerrymandering has created many "safe" seats for congressmen almost certain to win reelection, no matter what House members are elected by single-member district voting The framers of the Constitution designed the House of Representatives to be the most democratic body of the national government, as responsive as possible to the popular will. Compared to senators, members of the House represent smaller numbers of voters and serve shorter terms. The framers' idea was to make congressmen more accountable to voters, and thus more representative of public opinion at any particular moment in time. The Constitution does not set the size of the House, but it does require that each state's representation be proportionate to its population. The First Congress, elected in 1788, included just 65 members of the House. As the country expanded and new states entered the Union throughout the nineteenth century, the House grew larger and larger.

By 1912, the House had grown to nearly seven times its original size, with 435 members representing the 48 states that existed at the time. Allowing the House to continue to expand at such a pace would soon make it impossible for the huge chamber to conduct business efficiently, so Congress agreed to cap House membership at 435 seats. Keeping the number of seats steady at 435 requires that one state's gains in representation be offset by taking seats away from another state. In recent years, for example, rapidly growing states in the South and West have gained dozens of seats, while states in the Northeast and Midwest that are losing population have also lost representation in Congress. The Reapportionment Act of 1929 set up an automatic system to conduct the politically sensitive process of taking seats away from some states while giving them to others, while ensuring that each state receives representation proportional to its population within a 435-seat House of Representatives. The act requires the Census Bureau to allocate seats fairly among the states following each national census, which occurs every ten years.

While the Census Bureau now determines how many seats each state receives in the House, the states remain in charge of drawing the boundaries of congressional districts within their own borders. Since 1842, Congress has required congressional elections to be conducted on a single-member district basis. That means that each congressman is elected as the representative of a single voting district, winning office by receiving the most votes cast by the citizens of that district. (Before 1842, some states used another system, called general-ticket voting, that allowed the party that received the most votes statewide to fill all the state's congressional seats. But that system struck most people as terribly unfair—a party that won 51% of the vote would control 100% of the House seats—and so Congress banned the practice in 1842.) When it passed the law requiring single-member elections, Congress also created some vague rules for drawing the boundaries of congressional districts; each state's voting districts were supposed to be geographically contiguous, compact in shape, and roughly equal in population. But those rules were pretty loose and subjective, which opened the door for state politicians to pull all kinds of shenanigans in drawing district boundaries for partisan gain.

This is known as gerrymandering—the manipulation of the boundaries of congressional districts to serve the interests of the political party drawing the boundaries. (The odd-sounding name comes from founding father Elbridge Gerry, who was serving as Governor of Massachusetts in 1812 when he drew up the state's legislative districts to favor his own Democratic-Republican Party. Gerry's critics thought that one of the resulting districts, a snakelike creation stretching northeast from Boston, looked like a salamander—a monstrous creation they called a " Gerrymander ." Unfortunately for Elbridge Gerry's place in history, the name stuck.) Gerrymandering can involve drawing boundaries that concentrate opposition voters into just a few districts, leaving the rest safe for the other party. Or it can involve drawing boundaries that spread opposition voters out thinly across several districts, making it impossible for the opposition party to build a majority anywhere. Either way, the idea of gerrymandering is clear: to help the dominant party gain an unfair advantage in congressional representation by crippling the opposition's ability to compete. In recent decades, the Supreme Court has cracked down on gerrymandering—sort of.

It is now illegal to gerrymander solely on the basis of race or to create congressional districts of wildly varying populations within the same state. But those rules remain somewhat vague, and most congressional districts nationwide now reflect at least a degree of gerrymandering. One perverse effect of widespread gerrymandering has been the demise of many competitive congressional districts. The framers of the Constitution intended the House of Representatives to be extremely sensitive to the public mood, with congressmen subject to sharply contested elections every two years and the congressional membership subject to high turnover. However, decades of gerrymandering have made most of the country's congressional seats "safe" for one party or the other. Today, in any given congressional election, there are typically fewer than 100 competitive elections for House seats nationwide, versus more than 300 seats all but guaranteed not to change hands from one party to the other. Gerrymandering has left the House a much less democratic institution than the founding fathers intended it to be. While many House elections are no longer as competitive as the Constitution's framers might have liked, they still occur every two years in all 435 congressional districts, from sea to shining sea.

Every even-numbered year, always on a Tuesday in early November, every single member of the House of Representatives has to face his or her voters. Every two years, the people get their chance to reward their congressman with another term—or punish him for failing to meet their expectations. Want to become a congressman or congresswoman? Go for it! The Constitution sets only three formal requirements for service in the House: You need to be at least 25 years old, you need to have been a US citizen for at least seven years, and you need to live in the state you want to represent in Congress. That's it. Of course, the voters in your district may want to see more than that on your resume. Informal qualifications for office typically include some combination of accomplishments, charisma, wealth (or at least skill in fundraising), and relevant life experience. If you've got that winning combination and can prove it by winning more votes than anybody else in your district, membership in an exclusive club awaits.

As one of the 435 members of the House of Representatives, you'll pull down a nice salary of almost $170,000 a year, plus a sweet package of benefits—special tax deductions, housing and travel allowances, cheap healthcare, a great pension, even free parking and free mail. Not to mention the greatest fringe benefit of all: a great deal of power to shape the world you live in. Office of the Clerk of the U.S. House of Representatives - Member FAQs Member FAQs Contract All | Expand All 1. Who is a Member of Congress? A Member of Congress is a U.S. Representative, who serves in the House of Representatives, or a U.S. Senator, who serves in the Senate. A Member of the House also is called a Congresswoman or Congressman. (Delegates and the Resident Commissioner are nonvoting members of the House.) For lists of current Members of the House, visit the Member Information page . For lists of current Senators, visit the U.S. Senate website . 2. What are Delegates and the Resident Commissioner? How long do they serve, and what do they do?

The office of Delegate was established by ordinance of the Continental Congress (1774–1789) and confirmed by a law of the U.S. Congress. From the beginning of the Republic, the U.S. House of Representatives has admitted Delegates from territories or districts organized by law. There are currently five Delegates, including one from the District of Columbia, and one from each of the following territories: American Samoa The Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands The Virgin Islands. Congress created the post of Resident Commissioner in 1900 to apply to Puerto Rico. Congress granted a Resident Commissioner to the Philippines several years later. Since 1946, when the Philippines became independent, only Puerto Rico has had a Resident Commissioner. Delegates and Representatives serve a two-year term, and the Resident Commissioner serves a four-year term. In most respects, Delegates and the Resident Commissioner have most of the authority that Members have. On the House Floor, they can speak, introduce bills, and offer amendments. They can serve on House Committees and possess most of the authority that other Committee members have. Delegates and the Resident Commissioner also may offer amendments while the House is conducting business as the Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union.

However, unlike Members, they may not vote while the House is conducting business as the Committee of the Whole or vote on the final passage of legislation when the House is meeting. For current lists of the Members, Delegates, and Resident Commissioner, visit the Member Information page . 3. Do Members take an Oath of Office when they enter the House? Article VI of the U.S. Constitution requires that Members of the U.S. Congress be bound by oath or affirmation to support the Constitution. Members-elect of the U.S. House of Representatives typically take the Oath of Office on the House Floor on the first day of a new Congress, immediately after the Speaker of the House has been elected and sworn in. The Speaker administers this oath: “I, (name of Member), do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter. So help me God” (5 U.S.C. §3331).

If elected in special elections during the course of a Congress, Representatives, Delegates, and the Resident Commissioner generally take the Oath on the Floor, once the Clerk of the House has received a certificate of election from the appropriate election commission. On rare occasions, because of illness or other such circumstances, a Member-elect has been authorized to take the Oath at a location other than the House, and the Speakerâs designee administers the Oath. For information on Members who have taken the Oath of Office, visit the Member Information page . 4. What are the requirements for becoming a Member of the House? Article I, Section 2 of the U.S. Constitution states: "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." These requirements cannot be changed without a constitutional amendment. 5. When are House elections held? General elections for the U.S. House of Representatives are held on the Tuesday after the first Monday in November, in even-numbered years. For election results and resources, visit the Election Information page. 6.

How are Representatives, Delegates, and the Resident Commissioner nominated and elected? In most states, territories, and the District of Columbia, candidates for the U.S. House of Representatives who are members of major political parties are nominated in a primary election. Some states also provide for a party convention to nominate candidates or to endorse candidates before a primary. In many states, no primary election is held for a particular office if a candidate is unopposed. Minor-party candidates are nominated according to individual party rules and procedures, while Independent candidates are nominated by self-declaration. States automatically place major-party candidates on the primary ballot. Minor-party and Independent candidates must meet state-specific requirementsâsuch as submitting a petition with the signatures of registered votersâto be placed on the ballot. House Members are elected by plurality vote (the largest number of votes received) in the congressional district in which they are candidates. Special cases include: Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, and Texas, which require that a candidate receive a majority (more than half) of popular votes to be nominated. In these states, a runoff primary election between the top two candidates is held if no candidate receives a majority in the first primary.

Louisiana, which requires that all candidates compete in an “open primary,” an all-party primary election. The candidate who wins the majority (more than half) of the votes is declared elected. The election is held on general election day (the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November). If necessary, a runoff election between the top two finishers will follow several weeks later. For election results and resources, visit the Election Information page . 7. What is the size of the House Membership, and how is it determined? The current size of the U.S. House–435 Representatives–was established by Public Law 62-5 on August 8, 1911, and the law took effect in 1913. Article I, Section 2 of the U.S. Constitution stipulates the minimum and maximum numbers of Members in the House. Learn More about Congressional Apportionment and view a chart of apportionment by state. . Additional information on apportionment is available on the website of the U.S. Census Bureau, on the Congressional Affairs Office page or on the Congressional Apportionment page . 8. How many Representatives does each state have in the House?

Under Article I, Section 2 of the U.S. Constitution , each state, territory, or district is entitled to at least one representative. Additional seats are apportioned based on population. The U.S. Congress fixes the size of the U.S. House of Representatives and the procedure of apportioning the number of Representatives among the states. State legislatures pass laws that determine the physical boundaries of congressional districts, within certain constraints established by Congress and the U.S. Supreme Court (through reapportionment and redistricting rulings). The number of Members for each state is apportioned according to the results of the decennial census conducted by the U.S. Department of Commerce’s U.S. Census Bureau. For more information on current congressional districts, visit the Congressional District Profiles page on the U.S. Census Bureau's website. 9. Where are the Members’, Delegates’, and Resident Commissioner’s offices? Member offices are located in Washington, DC, in the Cannon, Longworth, and Rayburn House office buildings south of the U.S. Capitol, along Independence Avenue. In addition, House Committee offices and support services are located in the buildings and the Ford House Office Building.

House leadership offices are located in the House wing of the Capitol. Visit the Architect of the Capitol website for more information on the location and history of the House office buildings. For specific Member contact information, visit the Member Information page . Members, Delegates, and the Resident Commissioner also maintain offices in their states, territories, and districts. For a list of district office websites, visit the House website . For information on historic room assignments in House office buildings, visit the History, Art & Archives website . 10. Do Members of the House have assigned seating in the House Chamber? Assigned seating for Members was abolished during the 63rd Congress, in 1913. Today, Members may sit where they please. Generally, Democrats occupy the east side of the Chamber to the right of the Speaker of the House, and Republicans sit across the aisle on the Speaker's left. The tables on either side of the aisle are reserved for party leaders and for Committee leaders during debate on bills their Committees bring to the House Floor. For information on the locations of historic desks in the Old House Chamber, visit the History, Art & Archives website . 11.

How is a vacancy filled in the event of a House Memberâs death, resignation, declination (refusal to serve), or expulsion? View the list of current congressional vacancies and vacancies listed in overviews of previous Congresses . 12. What is meant by “Member at Large”? A Member at Large is a Representative, Delegate, or Resident Commissioner of the U.S. House of Representatives who has been elected by the voters of a state, district, or territoryânot by the voters from a specific congressional district. The U.S. Congress enacted a law in 1967 that prohibits states with more than one Representative from holding Member at Large elections (2 U.S.C. §2c). For information on current Members’ “at Large” and district designations, view the following official lists on the Member Information page : “Official Alphabetical List of Members” “Official List of Members by State” “Official Member Telephone Directory.” 13. What is the proper way to address a letter to a Member of the House? Acceptable forms of address for Members of the U.S. House of Representatives include “the Honorable” and “Representative.” Address correspondence according to the following samples: The Honorable J.Q.

Smith For information on how to contact Members, visit the Member Information page . 14. How much are House Members paid? For current and historical information on Members’ salaries, visit the Congressional Research Service website . 15. How many women are serving in Congress? For the number of women currently serving in the U.S. Congress–and other information about women in Congress–visit the History, Art & Archives website 16. How many Members of the House are in each party? For data on the party divisions in the U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate, visit the Congressional Profile page . House Leadership & Officers 1. What is the role of the Speaker of the House? Who has served as Speaker? The Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives customarily has the following roles: Institutional, as presiding officer and administrative head of the House Representative, as an elected Member of the House Party leader, as leader of the majority party in the House. By statute, the Speaker is second in line, after the Vice President of the United States, to succeed the President (3 U.S.C. §19). For more information on the current Speaker, visit the Speaker’s website . 2. How is the Speaker of the House elected?

For more information on the current Speaker, visit the Speaker’s website . 3. What are the duties of the Speaker of the House? The Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives: Presides over the House Administers the Oath of Office to House Members Communicates with the President of the United States and the U.S. Senate Leads his or her party conference or caucus Chairs his or her party’s steering committee, which is involved in the selection of party members for standing committees Nominates chairs and members of the Committee on Rules and the Committee on House Administration. The Speaker also appoints: Speakers pro tempore The chair who presides over the Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union Members to House-Senate conference committees A Member to the Committee on the Budget Select committees Certain House staff The Speaker recognizes Members to speak on the House Floor or make motions during Floor proceedings. The Speaker makes many important rulings and decisions in the House. The Speaker may debate or vote, but typically only occasionally does so. The Speaker also serves as an ex officio member of the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. For more information on the current Speaker, visit the Speaker’s website . 4. What are the duties of the House Majority Leader and Minority Leader?

Who has served in these positions? The Majority Leader helps plan daily, weekly, and annual legislative agendas for the U.S. House of Representatives and customarily schedules legislative business on the House Floor. The Majority Leader works closely with the Speaker of the House, and communicates and consults with House Members to advance the majority party’s legislative goals. The Minority Leader leads and serves as a spokesperson for the minority party. The Minority Leader chairs the party’s steering committee, which is involved in the selection of party members for standing committees, and nominates or appoints the party’s members to certain standing committees. The Minority Leader also serves as an ex officio member of the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. The Minority Leader directs the party’s legislative strategies and operations, in consultation with party colleagues. The Majority Leader and Minority Leaderâalso called party Floor leadersâare selected by the party conference and the party caucus. For more information on the current leaders, visit the Majority Leader’s website and the Minority Leader’s website . 5. How are the House Majority Leader and Minority Leader selected? Every two years, before the U.S.

House of Representatives convenes for the first time at the start of a new Congress, the members of the House Republican Conference and House Democratic Caucus separately meet and elect their respective Floor leader. Visit the House Republican Conference’s website and House Democratic Caucus website . 6. What are House whips? Who has served as a whip? In addition to the Majority Leader and Minority Leader, each party in the U.S. House of Representatives elects a whip. Other whip positions vary by party and can include one or more chief deputy whips as well as deputy whips, assistant whips, regional whips, and other whips. The Whips are elected or appointed at organizational meetings before the start of a two-year Congress. Whips maintain communication between party leadership and party members, build the members’ support for the leadershipâs priorities, and inform and mobilize members on voting on key legislation. Visit the current Majority Whip’s website and Minority Whip’s website . 7. What are House party conferences and party caucuses? A party conference or party caucus is an organizational body of all of a party’s members in the U.S. House of Representatives.

The terms “conference” or “caucus” also can refer to some Congressional Member Organizations , or refer to a meeting that includes all of a party’s members in the House. House Republicans call their organization the House Republican Conference; House Democrats call their organization the House Democratic Caucus. The House Republican Conference and House Democratic Caucus officially elect the parties’ leaders. The organizations elect their chairs before the start of a new Congress. Typically, each establishes a steering committee or steering and policy committee, which approves assignments of party members to standing committees, as well as establishes task forces. View the list of House Republican Conference Chairmen, 1863–present and the list of House Democratic Caucus Chairmen, 1849–present . 8. What is a Congressional Member Organization? Congressional Member Organizations (CMOs) in the U.S. House of Representatives are voluntary informal groups of House Members that register with the Committee on House Administration (CHA). Each CMO pursues legislative objectives shared by a group of Members, and many CMOs meet regularly to exchange information. View the list of current and past Congressional Member Organizations on the CHA website. 9. Who are the House Officers, and what are their duties?

House of Representatives - How Many Members Are There Updated February 25, 2016. Federal law determines how many members are in the House of Representatives . And that number is 435. The law that established how many members are in the House of Representatives was passed on Aug. 8, 1911. That measure raised the number of representatives to 435 from 391 because of population growth in the United States. Related Story: Can You Recall a Member of Congress? The first House of Representatives had only 65 members. The number of seats in the House was expanded to 105 members after the 1790 Census, and then to 142 members after the 1800 head count. The law that set the current number of seats at 435 took effect in 1913. But it isn't the reason the number of representatives has been stuck there. Why There Are 435 Members of the House There's really nothing special about that number.

Congress regularly increased the number of seats in the House based on the nation's population growth from 1790 to 1913, and 435 is the most recent count. The number of seats in the House has not been increased in more than a century, though, even though every 10 years the census shows the population of the United States growing. Why the Number of House Members Hasn't Changed Since 1913 There are still 435 members of the House of Representatives a century later because of the the Permanent Apportionment Act of 1929 , which set that number in stone. The Permanent Apportionment Act of 1929 was the result of a battle between rural and urban areas of the United States following the 1920 Census. The formula for distributing seats in the House based on population favored "urbanized states" and penalized smaller rural states at the time, and Congress could not agree on a reapportionment plan.

Related Story: Yes, Congress Actually Sued Barack Obama Once "After the 1910 census, when the House grew from 391 members to 433 (two more were added later when Arizona and New Mexico became states), the growth stopped. That’s because the 1920 census indicated that the majority of Americans were concentrating in cities, and nativists, worried about of the power of 'foreigners,' blocked efforts to give them more representatives," wrote Dalton Conley, a professor of sociology, medicine and public policy at New York University, and Jacqueline Stevens, a professor of political science at Northwestern University. So, instead, Congress passed the Permanent Apportionment Act of 1929 and sealed the number of House members at the level established after the 1910 census, 435. Number of House Members Per State Unlike the U.S. Senate , which consists of two members from each state, the geographic makeup of the House is determined by the population of each state. The only stipulation spelled out in the U.S. Constitution comes in Article I, Section 2 , which guarantees each state, territory or district at least one representative.

The Constitution also states that there can be no more than one representative in the House for every 30,000 citizens. The number of representatives each state gets in the House of Representatives is based on population. That process, known as reapportionment , occurs every 10 years after the decennial population count conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau . U.S. Rep. William B. Bankhead of Alabama, an opponent of the legislation, called the Permanent Apportionment Act of 1929 "an abdication and surrender of vital fundamental powers." One of the functions of Congress, which created the census, was to adjust the number of seats in Congress to reflect the number of people living in the United States, he said. Arguments for Expanding the Number of House Members Advocated for increasing the number of seats in the House say such a move would increase the quality of representation by reducing the number of constituents each lawmaker represents. Each House member now represents about 700,000 people.

The group ThirtyThousand.org argues that the framers of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights never intended for the population of each congressional district to exceed 50,000 or 60,000. "The principle of proportionally equitable representation has been abandoned," the group argues. Another argument for increasing the size of the House is that is would diminish the influence of lobbyists. That line of reasoning assumes that lawmakers would be more closely connected to their constituents and therefore less likely to listen to special interests. Arguments Against Expanding the Number of House Members Advocates for shrinking the size of the House of Representatives often argue that the quality of legislating improves because House members would get to know each other on a more personal level. They also cite the cost of paying for salaries, benefits and travel for not only the lawmakers but their staffs.

Proportional Representation | US House of Representatives: History, Art & Archives The Permanent Apportionment Act of 1929 “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…” — U.S. Constitution, Article I, section 2, clause 3 “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 participation 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.” — U.S. Constitution, Amendment XIV, section 2 The Constitution provides for proportional representation in the U.S. House of Representatives and the seats in the House are apportioned based on state population according to the constitutionally mandated Census. Representation based on population in the House was one of the most important components of the Federal Constitutional Convention of 1787. Origins The American Revolution was, in part, a contest about the very definition of representation. In England, the House of Commons represented every British subject regardless of whether the subject could actually vote for its membership.

In this sense, most people living in areas under British rule—including North America—were only “virtually represented” in Parliament. American colonists, who were used to controlling their local affairs in the directly-elected colonial legislatures, lacked a voice in Parliament and resented the British policies imposed on them. Thus, they rallied behind the now familiar motto: “No taxation without representation!” After the war, the founders struggled to design a system of government to better represent the inhabitants of the new country than did the British model which once governed them. The Articles of Confederation created the first national congress to represent the interests of the states: each state would appoint between two and seven delegates to the congress, and each state delegation would have one vote. Constitutional Framing /tiles/non-collection/i/i_origins_proport_repres_hres_127_14_th_nara.xml The original 14th Amendment, Center for Legislative Archives, National Archives and Records Administration Declared that all persons born or naturalized in the U.S. were citizens and that any state that denied or abridged the voting rights of males over the age of 21 would be subject to proportional reductions in its representation in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Approved by the 39th Congress (1865–1867) as H.J. Res. 127; ratified by the states on July 9, 1868. The Constitutional Convention addressed multiple concerns in the process of designing the new Congress. The first was the relationship of the least populous states to the most populous. The battle between big and small states colored most of the Convention and nearly ended hopes of creating a national government. Pennsylvania Delegate Benjamin Franklin summed up the disagreement: “If a proportional representation takes place, the small States contend that their liberties will be in danger. If an equality of votes is to be put in its place, the large States say their money will be in danger. When a broad table is to be made, and the edges of planks do not fit the artist takes a little from both, and makes a good joint.” The “good joint” that emerged from weeks of stalemate was called the “Great Compromise” and created a bicameral legislature with a House, where membership was determined by state population, and a Senate, where each state had two seats regardless of population. The compromise enabled the Convention, teetering on the brink of dissolution, to continue.

The Convention determined that a Census of the population conducted every 10 years would enable the House to adjust the distribution of its Membership on a regular basis. The method, however, proved controversial. Southern delegates argued that their slaves counted in the population, yielding them more Representatives. Northern delegates countered that slaves were property and should not be counted at all. The result was the notorious “Three-Fifths Compromise,” where slaves were counted as three-fifths of a free person. Having originated in tax policy, this rule was defended during the Convention as a necessary compromise given the “peculiar” state of slaves as both property and “moral” individuals subject to criminal law. Virginia’s James Madison wrote in Federalist 54 that the reasoning appeared “to be a little strained in some points” but “fully reconciles me to the scale of representation, which the Convention have established.” Representation was also linked to taxation. Before federal income taxes or tariffs, the states contributed to the national government with local taxes, often flat poll taxes on each citizen. Since constitutional framers had to provide for the funding of the new government, they debated the proper relationship between representation and taxation.

Several delegates argued that geographic size or useable farmland were better measures of state wealth than mere population. Delegates, however, settled on proportional contributions based on population and, by extension, the number of Members in the House of Representatives. Large states, with more human capital, should contribute more revenue to the national government and also have more seats in the legislature as a result. This fulfilled the promise of the American Revolution: taxation with representation. 14th Amendment The 14th Amendment to the Constitution, ratified after the Civil War, began to remedy the “original sin” of the Constitution, and ordered the Census to fully count every individual regardless of skin color. While it was a step in the right direction, it did little to ease the country’s racial tensions. Moreover, instead of directly providing for the enfranchisement of African Americans, the amendment stipulated that only males over the age of 21 could not be discriminated against when voting unless they had participated in rebellion against the Union or “other crime.” Women were not enfranchised until 1920, when the 19th Amendment stipulated that “the right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged . . .

on account of sex.” In 1971, the 26th Amendment enfranchised those 18 years of age and older. The latter amendments, however, did not alter congressional apportionment. Current Practice Congress has capped the number of Representatives at 435 since the Apportionment Act of 1911 except for a temporary increase to 437 during the admission of Hawaii and Alaska as states in 1959. As a result, over the last century, congressional districts have more than tripled in size—from an average of roughly 212,000 inhabitants after the 1910 Census to about 710,000 inhabitants following the 2010 Census. Each state’s congressional delegation changes as a result of population shifts, with states either gaining or losing seats based on population. While the number of House Members for each state is determined according to a statistical formula in federal law, each state is then responsible for designing the shape of its districts so long as it accords with various provisions of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 , which seeks to protect racial minorities’ voting and representation rights. For Further Reading U.S.

Census Bureau. U.S. Department of Commerce. “About Congressional Apportionment.” Eagles, Charles W. Democracy Delayed: Congressional Reapportionment and Urban–Rural Conflict in the 1920s. Athens, GA: University of Georgia Press, 2010. Farrand, Max, ed. The Records of the Federal Convention of 1787. Rev. ed. 4 vols. New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1937. Madison, James, Alexander Hamilton, John Jay. The Federalist Papers. New York: Penguin Books, 1987. Reid, John Phillip. The Concept of Representation in the Age of the American Revolution. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1989. Rossiter, Clinton. 1787: The Grand Convention. New York: Macmillan, 1966. Tate, Katherine. Black Faces in the Mirror: African Americans and Their Representatives in the U.S. Congress. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2003. The House Explained · House.gov House History What is a Representative?

Also referred to as a congressman or congresswoman, each representative is elected to a two-year term serving the people of a specific congressional district. Among other duties, representatives introduce bills and resolutions, offer amendments and serve on committees. The number of representatives with full voting rights is 435, a number set by Public Law 62-5 on August 8, 1911, and in effect since 1913. The number of representatives per state is proportionate to population. Article 1, Section 2 of the Constitution provides for both the minimum and maximum sizes for the House of Representatives. Currently, there are five delegates representing the District of Columbia, the Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. A resident commissioner represents Puerto Rico. The delegates and resident commissioner possess the same powers as other members of the House, except that they may not vote when the House is meeting as the House of Representatives. To be elected, a representative must be at least 25 years old, a United States citizen for at least seven years and an inhabitant of the state he or she represents. View the list of House members by state or by last name .

Find Your Representative Enter your ZIP code in the banner of this page to find the representative for your congressional district. Did You Know? After extensive debate, the framers of the Constitution agreed to create the House with representation based on population and the Senate with equal representation. This agreement was part of what is referred to as The Great Compromise . Leadership House leadership includes the speaker, majority and minority leaders, assistant leaders, whips and a party caucus or conference. The speaker acts as leader of the House and combines several institutional and administrative roles. Majority and minority leaders represent their respective parties on the House floor. Whips assist leadership in managing their party's legislative program on the House floor. A party caucus or conference is the name given to a meeting of or organization of all party members in the House. During these meetings, party members discuss matters of concern. The majority party members and the minority party members meet in separate caucuses to select their leader. Third parties rarely have had enough members to elect their own leadership, and independents will generally join one of the larger party organizations to receive committee assignments. How many people have served as Speaker of the House? Has the Speaker ever become President? Find out!

Committees The House’s 20 standing committees have different legislative jurisdictions. Each considers bills and issues and recommends measures for consideration by the House. Committees also have oversight responsibilities to monitor agencies, programs, and activities within their jurisdictions, and in some cases in areas that cut across committee jurisdictions. Current standing committees of the House: Agriculture; Appropriations; Armed Services; Budget; Commerce; Education and the Workforce; Ethics; Financial Services; Foreign Affairs; Homeland Security; House Administration; Judiciary; Natural Resources; Oversight and Government Reform; Rules; Science, Space, and Technology; Small Business; Transportation and Infrastructure; Veterans’ Affairs; and Ways and Means. The Committee of the Whole House is a committee of the House on which all representatives serve and which meets in the House Chamber for the consideration of measures from the Union calendar. Before members are assigned to committees, each committee’s size and the proportion of Republicans to Democrats must be decided by the party leaders. The total number of committee slots allotted to each party is approximately the same as the ratio between majority party and minority party members in the full chamber. All committees have websites where they post information about the legislation they are drafting. What's a Select Committee?

The House will sometimes form a special or select committee for a short time period and specific purpose, frequently an investigation. Did You Know? Each committee has a chair and a ranking member. The chair heads the full committee. The ranking member leads the minority members of the committee. Commissions Congress has created a wide variety of temporary and permanent commissions to serve as advisory bodies for investigative or policy-related issues, or to carry out administrative, interparliamentary, or commemorative tasks. Such commissions are typically created by either law or House resolution, and may be composed of House members, private citizens, or a mix of both. In some cases, the commissions are entities of the House or Congress itself; in other cases, they are crafted as independent entities within the legislative branch. Examples of commissions Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission: a temporary, independent investigative body created by law and made up of private citizens. Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe (also known as the Helsinki Commission): an independent U.S. government agency composed of nine members of the United States Senate, nine from the House of Representatives, and one member each from the Departments of State, Defense and Commerce.

House Page Board: a permanent, Congressional advisory group created by law and made up of House members, Officers, and private citizens. House Commissions Representatives’ schedules are sometimes planned out in increments as short as five minutes. House Rules The Rules of the House of Representatives for the 114th Congress were established by the House with the adoption of H. Res. 5 (PDF) on January 5, 2015. A section by section analysis is also available. Rules of Conduct The Committee on Ethics has jurisdiction over the rules and statutes governing the conduct of members, officers and employees while performing their official duties. Key Concept The Rules Committee controls what bills go to the House Floor and the terms of debate. Majority Rules The makeup of the Rules Committee has traditionally been weighted in favor of the majority party, and has been in its current configuration of 9 majority and 4 minority members since the late 1970s. Did You Know? The Rules Committee has an online Parliamentary Bootcamp that gives an overview of House Floor procedures, process and precendents. As outlined in the Constitution , the House represents citizens based on district populations, while the Senate represents citizens on an equal state basis.

This agreement was part of what is called The Great Compromise which, in turn, led to the Permanent Seat of Government Act establishing the nation’s federal capital in Washington, DC. In 1789, the House assembled for the first time in New York. It moved to Philadelphia in 1790 and then to Washington, DC, in 1800. Key Concept

Question: To within 10 either way, how many seats are there in the US House of Representatives?
Answer: 435