Declaration of Independence

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. - That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.

Sunday, April 11, 2010

Temporary Representatives

The writers of the United States Constitution provided in Article I.2.3, "As a temporary expedient until the first census is taken, each state is entitled to a specified number of Representatives." This provision was merely a temporary procedure to insure that each state had at least one Representative in Congress. The Founders took a calculated guess as to what the population was in each state and assigned a certain number of Representatives. Virginia (10), Massachusetts (8), and Pennsylvania (8) had the most Representatives while Rhode Island (1), Delaware (1), New Hampshire (3), and Georgia (3) had the least.

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