Size of the United States House of Representatives Totally Explained

Everything about the Size Of The United States House Of Representatives totally explained

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 wasn't 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 provision banning Representatives from holding civil office, would be enough to prevent perfidy. Madison advocated keeping the number of Representatives within certain bounds: ť 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 doesn't 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, 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 can't 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 .
   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 doesn't 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 (for example 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 hadn't kept pace with other countries.

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