The number of Representatives for the different decades, and the number of inhabitants for a Representative, are as follows:

The actual number of Representatives has usually been greater than that here given, owing to the admission of new States. Thus, the Forty-second Congress (1871-1873) had 243 instead of 241; Nevada having been admitted in 1864 and Nebraska in 1867.

After the number of Representatives has been determined for a decade, each State is divided into districts corresponding to its number of members, the voters of each district voting for one member. Sometimes an additional member has been assigned to a State after this division into districts has been made; and to avoid the inconvenience and expense of a special session of the legislature, Congress has authorized the additional member to be elected by the State at large. This was the case in Illinois in 1862, and in a number of States in 1872.

Each organized Territory is allowed by law to send one delegate to Congress, who may participate in the discussions, but can not vote. In the Forty-ninth Congress there were eight delegates from the Territories.

Clause 4.- When vacancies happen in the representation from any State, the executive authority thereof shall issue writs of election to fill such vacancies.

Vacancies may be created by death, resignation, removal, or accepting incompatible offices. All these cases have occurred. The person thus elected to fill a vacancy serves only for the remainder of the term.

Clause 5.-The House of Representatives shall choose their Speaker and other officers, and shall have the sole power of impeachment.

Officers of the

The Speaker is the presiding officer of the House. The presiding officer of the Continental Congress was styled President. Where a legislature is composed of two houses, the presiding officer of the upper house is usually called President, and of the lower house Speaker. The British House of Commons choose their Speaker, but the approbation of the Crown is necessary.

House.

The other officers of the House of Representatives are a Clerk, Sergeant-at-Arms, Door-keeper, Postmaster, and Chaplain.

The office of Clerk is one of great importance, and is usually filled by an ex-member of Congress. The Clerk presides at the organization of the subsequent Congress.

The Congress that convened December 3d, 1855, did not succeed in electing a Speaker till the 2d of February, 1856, having balloted 133 times. Mr. N. P. Banks was the successful candidate. In the case of the Thirty-sixth Congress, in the winter of 1859–60, there was a delay of nine weeks. Mr. John Sherman was the principal Republican candidate, on one ballot lacking but three votes. He declined in favor of Mr. William Pennington, who was elected. A list of the Speakers will be found in the Appendix.

The Constitution gives to the House of Representatives the sole power of impeachment, and to the Senate the sole power to try the party impeached. As a citizen can not be tried before an ordinary court until he has been indicted by a grand jury, so an officer of the Government can not be tried by the Senate until articles of im

Impeach

ment.

peachment have been brought against him by the House of Representatives.

The method of proceeding, so far as the House is concerned, is this: A committee is appointed to inquire into the conduct of the officer supposed to have been guilty of acts requiring impeachment. If they report in favor of impeachment, the question is acted on by the House. Should the House determine on impeachment, articles are prepared, embodying the charges, on each of which action is taken. A committee is then appointed to prosecute the impeachment before the Senate. The method of trial and a list of the persons impeached will be given in a subsequent part of the work.

Sec. 3, Clause 1.-The Senate of the United States shall be composed of two Senators from each State, chosen by the legislature thereof, for six years; and each Senator shall have one vote.

The Senate.

In the Convention that framed the Constitution there was a great difference of opinion as to the mode of electing Senators, as to their term of service, and as to the rule of suffrage. Some were in favor of a nomination by the State legislatures, and an election by the United States House of Representatives; others would have the President appoint from those nominated by the State legislatures; others would have them chosen by the House of Representatives; and others still proposed an election by the people.

As to the term of office, some advocated a life tenure or during good behavior; some, a term of nine years; others, seven; others, six; and others, four.

Question of

The question of voting was the most difficult. As in the Continental Congress the States were on an equality as to their votes, the smaller States wished the same rule to Voting. hold under the Constitution; while the larger States claimed that an equality of votes in either House would be unjust. The smaller States finally conceded that in the House of Representatives the number of members should be in proportion to population; but they insisted that in the

Senate the States should be equal. But the larger States were tenacious as to the Senate as well as to the House, and the Committee of the Whole reported, "That the right of suffrage in the second branch of the national legislature ought to be according to the rule established for the first." This report was adopted by the Convention; but the matter was subsequently referred to a committee of one from each State, who reported the rule as it now stands. The final vote was: Affirmative-Connecticut, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland,. North Carolina-5; Negative-Pennsylvania, Virginia, South Carolina, Georgia-4. Massachusetts divided. "So that this greatest and most difficult of all the important questions which the Convention was called upon to solve was carried by less than a majority of the States present, and by the concurrence of less than one third of the represented population."'

The first House of Representatives was to consist of 65 members; Connecticut, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, and North Carolina having 21, or less than one third of the whole number. (See Constitution, Art. I. Sec. 2, Clause 3.)

Mr. Madison strongly opposed the principle finally adopted. In his letter to Mr. Sparks he said the Gordian knot of the Convention was the question between the larger and smaller States as to the rule of voting in the Senate; the latter claiming, the former opposing, the rule of equality."

Number of

Senators.

By the Articles of Confederation each State might send not more than seven delegates to Congress, nor less than two. They were elected annually, but no one could sit more than three years in six. The States could recall their delegates at any time. Under the Constitution, we see that each State can send two Senators, and as many Representatives as her population entitles her to; that there is nothing to prevent a Senator or Representative from

1 Towle, page 69.

2 Elliot, I. page 508.

being returned as often as his constituents desire; and that, when a Senator or Representative has been elected, the State has no power to recall him.'

Though all the States have the same number of Senators, and each Senator has one vote, that is not the same as voting by States, as was done in the Continental Congress. If both the Senators of a State are present, and vote on opposite sides of a question, their votes neutralize each other, as under the Confederation. But if only one of two delegates from a State was present in the Continental Congress, his vote could not be counted; under the present Constitution, the vote of a Senator is counted whether his colleague is present or not.

Election of

The Constitution does not prescribe the precise method in which the legislature of a State shall choose the Senators, whether by the houses voting in joint assembly, or Senators. by voting separately. It is not properly an act of legislation, and the governor of a State has no participation in it, as, in some States, he has in ordinary legislation.2

Act of 1866.

In 1866, Congress passed an "Act to regulate the times and manner of holding elections for Senators in Congress." It provides that the legislature of each State, which shall be chosen next preceding the expiration of the time for which any Senator was elected, shall, on the second Tuesday after the meeting and organization thereof, proceed to elect a Senator as follows:

Each House shall name (propose by vote) a person for Senator by a viva voce vote; the next day at noon the two Houses shall meet in joint assembly, and if the same person

1 Thomas H. Benton was thirty years a Senator from Missouri. Charles Sumner

and Henry Wilson were elected four times each from Massachusetts.

2 New York had no Senators for the first few months of the First Congress, because of disagreement between the two branches of the legislature. The smaller upper house favored voting separately; the larger lower house wanted a joint vote of the two houses.