Essay on The Apportionment Problem

The framers of the Constitution had a set image they wanted to put forth in America, and to get the document ratified they were forced to make compromises. Two of the most important compromises are the 3/5 clause and “Great Compromise”. During, the Constitutional Convention there was a deadlock about representation. Arguments from both sides seem valid, big states argue representation should be based on population while, small states argue it should be equal representation. In need for a solution, a few men proposed a bicameral legislature. Which, allows for both population based representation, and equal presentation by having a House of Representatives and a Senate. The Senate has equal representation that allows 2 senators from each state,

The first proposal, of changing the electoral system for the House of Representatives, would mean that each state is represented in proportion to its population. This entails that states with higher populations will receive more votes because they have more seats in the House. Less populous states may argue against this reform because they will have a disadvantage when it comes to voting on legislation. However, the reform also includes having each state serve as electoral districts. In this case, multi-member districts will be needed—proportional representation will require a larger district magnitude. Having these territorial subdivisions will help create an efficient legislative system because there would be less possibility of manipulating the votes—not as relevant to election results when seats are proportional. Having the votes distributed in this manner may help avoid a deadlock and therefore, allow for a faster process when passing legislation. In addition, minorities will have chance to be represented by possibly gaining a seat in a particular district—a highly populous

Hi! I’m an inhabitant of Connecticut, which you probably already know, is a small state. There have been many arguments between the large and small states about representation. That’s why the states are currently going through a compromise, or an agreement between two or more sides in which each side gives up some of what it wants. States with large populations, such as Virginia, Massachusetts, and Pennsylvania, favor the Virginia Plan. In the Virginia Plan, the number of representatives is proportional, or corresponding, to the amount of people in the population. On the other hand, states with smaller populations, such as New Jersey and Connecticut, rather have equal representation within all the states, which is why they prefer the New Jersey Plan. Anyways, enough with the facts. It’s time for me to share my

Forgette Richard, Garner Andrew, and Winkle John. “Do redistricting principles and practices affect US state legislative electoral competition? State Politics and policy quarterly, 20(9) (2009): 151 175.

In the case of a tie, the House of Representatives and Senate are conjoined to elect the President and Vice President. In this case, each is given one vote, making California’s whooping population of 39 billion equal to Wyoming’s measly 350,000. This overrules the matter of “equal representation” and gives the power to the House and Senate to dictate the outcome of the nation (Doc D).

The House of Representatives consists of 435 elected members that are divided among the fifty states in proportion to their population. There are also six

Politics in the United States is a complex structure that is comprised of many systems. While most of these systems appear to work well, there are a few that are broken. A perfect example of a broken system is the district boundaries and the likelihood of gerrymandering. Multiple states across the country are subjected to gerrymandering, which is the act of dividing a county into election districts that provide one political party with an unfair advantage over the other. Gerrymandering is used to help or prevent a particular demographic from gaining adequate representation. In Florida, for example, there is controversy over Congressional District 5, which extends from Jacksonville down to Orlando in a way that creates a “minority-majority” district.

In the Great Compromise it stated that the legislative branch would be divided up into two groups. These two groups were called the senate and the house of representatives. One side would be based off of population while the other half would be based off of equality. Each side would create laws. In the great compromise each state had one senate which would later change into two. The senate wasn't based on size or population it was the same for every state. The house of representatives however this was the side that was based off of population. This resulted in some states having more representatives than others because some states had more population than

In 1787, one of the most debated issues was the size of the House of Representatives. During the Constitutional Convention, the delegates proposed that 40,000 citizens should be represented by one congressional district. However, George Washington intervened and argued that 40,000 was too high, and reasoned that 30,000 was more reasonable and allow people to be represented adequately Washington’s proposal was incorporated in Article One, Section Two of the Constitution which states “representatives shall be apportioned among the several States according to their respective numbers, counting the whole number of persons in each State.” While the number of representatives did increase throughout the history of the United States, the number has been set at 435 members since 1929. Congress in 1929 passed the Permanent Apportionment Act that set the number of representatives at 435, which was set after a 1910 census. Currently each representative represents 700,000 citizens and congressional seats are redistricted around the nation based on population changes. But the currently number of representatives does not adequately represent the present population and a single district cannot represent a huge number of people. Therefore, the current number of representatives must be increased.

This worked out to satisfaction of the smaller states and for the larger states they were given a House of Representatives that would consist of a larger body of representatives for each state in proportion to the amount of the people in that state.

* Tolson, Franita, Partisan Gerrymandering as a Safeguard of Federalism (December 19, 2010). 2010 Utah Law Review 859 (2010); FSU College of Law, Public Law Research Paper No. 470. Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1674507

2. New Columbia is to be bestowed with proper representation in the legislative branch relative to the states current population. Columbia will receive two senators in the Senate as every state does and in accordance with its population size calculated by the U.S. census; Columbia will receive a total of two representatives in the House of Representatives. The acquisition of this adequate representation will

Redistricting is an extremely important part of U.S. politics, because it is necessary to change the districts due to population shifts and population growth. “Keeping the Republic”, defines redistricting as the process of dividing states into legislative districts. It takes place after each census as a way to ensure that each voter has an equal say. Sometimes it is necessary for one state to gain districts while others may lose a district. The redistricting process is necessary, nevertheless gerrymandering is hurting American Politics.

Representation in these houses would be majorly based off population. This plan was specifically favored by the larger states, as they had more people, which would lead to more representatives. On the other hand, another plan

This essay determine how 100 congressional seats should be divided among the 10 states of the union. The number of seats in a state should (in any fair distribution) be proportional to its ratio in the population. Therefore rounding according to some (acceptable) rule should be applied.