Congressional Apportionment

[Keith Broaders]

Background

The "ideal" number of seats in the House of Representatives has been a contentious issue since the country's 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. This was the only time Washington voiced an opinion on any of the actual issues debated during the convention. It was clearly the intent of the authors of the Constitution to limit the size of Congressional Districts to no more than 30,000 inhabitants.

Apportionment.us Website
Thirty Thousand.org Website

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