In the original Constitution, the Census is referred to as an “enumeration” of the “free Persons” including indentured servants and counting slaves as 3/5 of a person. “Indians not taxed” are not counted. There is also a lot of wording specifying the exact number of Representatives per original State until an “enumeration” takes place. An “enumeration” is to take place every ten years.
The number of Representatives from each State is apportioned based on this “enumeration” of the population of each State. The original Constitution specified there would be one Representative to no more than 30,000 people and placed no maximum on the total number of Representatives in the House Of Representatives. Of course, in 1911, Congress passed a Law putting a maximum of 435 members of the House Of Representatives so now each State receives a percentage of 435 based on their population percentage of the total United States.
The New Constitution requires a count of all Citizens every ten years just like the original Constitution but, for clarity, the wording dictating having a Census is disentangled from all the other apportionment verbiage.
Next: 1.7 Compensation
No comments:
Post a Comment