Proper Representation in Congress
In the 1870 census it was reported that the population of the United States was 39,818,449. This meant there should have been 1,328 Representatives in Congress and therefore, 665 Representatives would need to be seated, to form a quorum. As you can see from the table however, there were only 293 Congressional Districts in 1870; 372 members short of the 665 needed to conduct business and a full 1,035 seats short of the Constitutional mandate issued in Article One.
Therefore, the United States Congress was operating without a quorum in 1870 and has been unconstitutionally operating without a quorum ever since 1840. To this day, this problem has still not been corrected. In fact, it has grown exponentially instead.
With a population of 308,400,408 million people, there should have been 10,280 Representatives, NOT 435. With 9,845 vacant seats there is no quorum, so in order to conduct business, the House would need to have at least half of the 10,280 seats filled. This translates to at least 5,140 Representatives present to do business.
Table by: Morton IX
Population * - 3/5 Rule applies |
Existing Members |
Article I, Section 2, Clause 3 |
Deficit |
Census Year |
3,584,570* |
65 |
120 |
55 |
1787 |
3,929,214* |
105 |
131 |
26 |
1790 |
5,308,483* |
141 |
177 |
36 |
1800 |
7,239,881* |
182 |
242 |
60 |
1810 |
9,638,453* |
213 |
322 |
109 |
1820 |
12,866,020* |
240 |
429 |
189 |
1830 |
17,069,453* |
223 |
569 |
346 |
1840 |
23,191,876* |
233 |
774 |
541 |
1850 |
31,443,321* |
178 |
1,049 |
871 |
1860 |
39,818,449 |
293 |
1,328 |
1,035 |
1870 |
50,155,783 |
325 |
1,672 |
1,347 |
1880 |
62,947,714 |
333 |
2,099 |
1,766 |
1890 |
75,994,575 |
386 |
2,534 |
2,148 |
1900 |
91,972,266 |
391 |
3,066 |
2,675 |
1910 |
105,710,620 |
435 |
3,524 |
3,091 |
1920 |
122,775,046 |
435 |
4,093 |
3,658 |
1930 |
131,669,275 |
435 |
4,389 |
3,954 |
1940 |
150,697,361 |
435 |
5,024 |
4,589 |
1950 |
179,323,175 |
435 |
5,978 |
5,543 |
1960 |
203,302,031 |
435 |
6,777 |
6,342 |
1970 |
226,545,805 |
435 |
7,552 |
7,117 |
1980 |
248,709,873 |
435 |
8,291 |
7,856 |
1990 |
281,421,906 |
435 |
9,381 |
8,946 |
2000 |
308,400,408 |
435 |
10,280 |
9,845 |
2010 |
331,108,434 |
435 |
11,036 |
10,601 |
2020 |
Replies
In approximatlyu 1984 the original First amenment became the 27th amendment due to a college student who understood teh contitution much better than his professor. The professor who , like a normal liberal, worked off the premise that ideas are "common Sense' rather than facts, gave teh student a poor mark for his paper about amendments. This led the student to persue his idea and he was intrumental in having the 27th amendment retified. This became the longest period from congress to ratification or over 202 years. Now, my question for all who read this,; Does any one know who this student was and is he still alive and how can he be contacted? I wish to find out how he accomplished getting the original first amendment passed and can we do that for the original second amendment? In researching the dangers of a COS, I find there is little information on how to rarify an amendment. Once "The States" are in charge of ratification, all bets are off as far as what rules will be followed. It seems as though any state congressmand may go to the house of REpresentatives and say that My State has ratified this amendment and that is it. Ratified by one of 3/5ths Then it snowballs if popular with in the states.
I would love to see proper representation. The knee jerk reaction is that we would need a stadium for congress. In reality, representatives would NOT need an office or presence in Washington at all. They would ONLY need an office in their community. I love this.