Life on the Montana Plantation
The slaves in the southern states counted as 3/5's of a person for the purpose of apportionment in the House of Representatives. In the Census of 2010 Montana had a population of 989,000 and were assigned one representative while Wyoming had a population of 563,000 and were also assigned one representative.
When comparing the apportionment of representative for the states of Wyoming and Montana it becomes obvious that slaves of the 18th century were better represented than the people living in Montana.
To apportion means to divide or allocate equally and it is clear that Congress does not adhere to this principle.
These scheme made equal apportionment impossible and that is why we have districts ranging in size from 526,000 to 989,000.
According to the 2010 Census the population of the United States was 308,745,538. There are 435 Congressional Districts.
The projected population projected in the 2020 Census will be 359,540,000 or an increase 50,704,462 with the size of the average district rising from one in 709,757 to one rep for every 826,528.
If all districts were limited to 350,000 we would have 870 Congressional Representatives instead of 435. The power would shift from Wall Street to Min Street.;
Replies
Don't forget "Little Rhody" - Rhode Island - the "smallest state in the union" 1.057 million (2018) has 2 Representatives and two Senators and has nearly since it's inception as the 13th state. (Not sure when they added the 2nd Representative, but certainly a long time ago.) How about at least matching Rhode Island?
In 1790 Rhode Island had one representative and a population of 68,825 and today they have two representatives and a population of 1,052,000.
The districts in Rhode Island have an average of 526,000 while the size of the average Congressional District in Montana has 989,000 constituents.
In other words the people living one person in Rhode Island has nearly twice the voice of a person living in Montana.
In the 18th Century slaves were counted as 3 /5th of a person and today a person in Montana counts as 53% of a person compared to individuals in Rhode Island.