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Size of the United States House of Representatives

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The size of the United States House of Representatives refers to total number of congressional districts (or seats) into which the land area of the United States proper has been divided. The number of seats is currently set at 435 voting representatives and 5 non-voting delegates for a total of 440 seats.

A contentious issue since the founding

The ideal number of members has been a contentious issue since the country's founding. George Washington objected to the original number of Representatives proposed at the Constitutional Convention as being too small. In Federalist 55, James Madison argued that setting the initial number of Representatives at 65 was not a threat to liberty, stating, "I am unable to conceive that the people of America, in their present temper, or under any circumstances which can speedily happen, will choose, and every second year repeat the choice of, sixty-five or a hundred men who would be disposed to form and pursue a scheme of tyranny or treachery. Madison went on to argue that other constitutional safeguards, such as division of powers among the three branches of government and between the two houses of Congress, as well as the _Compensation.2C_privilege.2C_restriction_on_holding_civil_office provision banning Representatives from holding civil office, would be enough to prevent perfidy. Madison advocated keeping the number of Representatives within certain bounds:
Nothing can be more fallacious than to found our political calculations on arithmetical principles. Sixty or seventy men may be more properly trusted with a given degree of power than six or seven. But it does not follow that six or seven hundred would be proportionably a better depositary. And if we carry on the supposition to six or seven thousand, the whole reasoning ought to be reversed. The truth is, that in all cases a certain number at least seems to be necessary to secure the benefits of free consultation and discussion, and to guard against too easy a combination for improper purposes; as, on the other hand, the number ought at most to be kept within a certain limit, in order to avoid the confusion and intemperance of a multitude. In all very numerous assemblies, of whatever character composed, passion never fails to wrest the sceptre from reason. Had every Athenian citizen been a Socrates, every Athenian assembly would still have been a mob.

Since each state is guaranteed one Representative under _Apportionment, the minimum size of the House would be 50 Representatives. This would convert it into a non-proportional, U.S. Senate-like body. At the other extreme, because the number of Representatives cannot exceed one for every thirty thousand, the maximum number of Representatives at this time would be approximately 10,100.

History

The original size and apportionment of the House was set by Article One, Section 2.2C Clause 3 of the U.S. Constitution.

The last time the number of seats was increased, to 435, was in 1910.

The number was later fixed at 435 by the Reapportionment Act of 1929 and the Apportionment Act of 1941.

For a brief period from 1959 to 1962, the admission of the states of Hawaii and Alaska to the United States required the temporary addition of two additional representatives for a new total of 437 voting seats. The number of seats reverted to 435 following reapportionment after the 1960 census.

Delegates

There are an additional four delegates to the House of Representatives. They represent the District of Columbia and the territories of American Samoa, Guam, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Puerto Rico also elects a resident commissioner every four years. The Northern Mariana Islands does not currently elect any sort of representative to Congress, although legislation was introduced by former Rep. Richard Pombo of California that would have allowed the commonwealth to do so.

Controversy

During the period that the current U.S. Constitution has been in effect, the number of citizens per congressional district has risen from an average of 30,000 in 1789 to nearly 700,000 as of 2008. It has been suggested that a new reapportionment act is needed to significantly raise the number of representatives toward the end of creating more equitable districts.

Past increases

The size of the House has increased as follows:

1789-1800

Date Size Comments
March 4, 1789 59 Seats provided for in the Constitution.
November 21, 1789 64 North Carolina ratifies. Seats provided for in the Constitution.
May 29, 1790 65 Rhode Island ratifies. Seat provided for in the Constitution.
March 4, 1791 67 Vermont admitted.
June 1, 1792 69 Kentucky admitted.
March 4, 1793 105 Apportionment of the First Census.
June 1, 1796 106 Tennessee admitted.

1801-1820

Date Size Comments
March 1, 1803 107 Ohio admitted.
March 4, 1803 142 Apportionment of the Second Census.
April 30, 1812 143 Louisiana admitted.
March 4, 1813 182 Apportionment of the Third Census.
December 11, 1816 183 Indiana admitted.
December 10, 1817 184 Mississippi admitted.
December 3, 1818 185 Illinois admitted.
December 14, 1819 186 Alabama admitted.
March 15, 1820 186 Maine admitted, given seven seats. Massachusetts delegation reduced correspondingly.

1821-1840

Date Size Comments
August 10, 1821 187 Missouri admitted.
March 4, 1823 213 Apportionment of the Fourth Census.
March 4, 1833 240 Apportionment of the Fifth Census.
June 15, 1836 241 Arkansas admitted.
January 26, 1837 242 Michigan admitted.

1841-1860

Date Size Comments
March 4, 1843 223 Apportionment of the Sixth Census.
March 3, 1845 224 Florida admitted.
December 29, 1845 226 Texas annexed and admitted.
December 28, 1846 228 Iowa admitted.
May 29, 1848 230 Wisconsin admitted.
March 4, 1849 231 Wisconsin given another seat.
September 9, 1850 233 California admitted.
March 4, 1853 234 Apportionment of the Seventh Census.
May 11, 1858 236 Minnesota admitted.
February 14, 1859 237 Oregon admitted.

1861-1880

Date Size Comments
January 29, 1861 238 Kansas admitted.
June 2, 1862 239 California awarded an extra seat.
March 4, 1863 238 Apportionment of the Eighth Census.
June 20, 1863 241 West Virginia admitted. Virginia delegation not reduced due to Civil War absence.
October 31, 1864 242 Nevada admitted.
March 1, 1867 243 Nebraska admitted.
March 4, 1873 292 Apportionment of the Ninth Census.
August 1, 1876 293 Colorado admitted.

1881-1900

Date Size Comments
March 4, 1883 325 Apportionment of the Tenth Census.
November 2, 1889 328 North Dakota and South Dakota admitted. One seat goes to the former, two to the latter.
November 8, 1889 329 Montana admitted.
November 11, 1889 330 Washington admitted.
July 3, 1890 331 Idaho admitted.
July 10, 1890 332 Wyoming admitted.
March 4, 1893 356 Apportionment of the Eleventh Census.
January 4, 1896 357 Utah admitted.

1901-Present

Date Size Comments
March 4, 1903 386 Apportionment of the Twelfth Census.
November 16, 1907 391 Oklahoma admitted.
January 6, 1912 393 New Mexico admitted.
February 14, 1912 394 Arizona admitted.
March 4, 1913 435 Apportionment of the Thirteenth Census. House size locked by Public Law 62-5, excepting the admission of new states.
January 3, 1959 436 Alaska admitted.
August 21, 1959 437 Hawaii admitted.
January 3, 1963 435 Apportionment of the Eighteenth Census. House size reverted to 435 per Public Law 62-5.

Proposed expansion

Expansion would cause the United States Electoral College result to more closely reflect the national popular vote, as the number of Representatives would begin to dwarf the number of Senators, which is fixed at two per state. The Wyoming Rule, an idea with some contemporary currency, calls for expanding the House until the standard Representative-to-population ratio equals that of the smallest entitled unit (i.e. Wyoming). This proposal is primarily designed to address the fact that some House districts are currently nearly twice the size of others; for instance, there are about 944,000 residents in Montana's single district, compared to about 515,000 in Wyoming's. See List of U.S. states by population.

On May 21, 2001, Rep. Alcee Hastings sent a dear colleague letter arguing that U.S. expansion of its legislature had not kept pace with other countries.

References

External links



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