conventions, to instruct Senators and Representatives. Hugh L. White, Senator from Tennessee, maintained the doctrine in its extreme form; and when, in 1839, he could not conscientiously obey certain instructions that he had received from the legislature of his State, he resigned. In recent years legislatures have sometimes requested that a particular course be pursued by Senators and Representatives. The doctrine of instruction was defended on the ground that it is democractic. It is plainly impracticable, since there are no certain means of ascertaining what the people want. Some of the States have incorporated the right of instruction in their Constitutions, but no State has gone so far as to require the representative to obey.

215. THE TRUE THEORY OF REPRESENTATION.—This cannot be better stated than in Judge Cooley's words:

"Representatives are chosen in States and districts; but when chosen they are legislators for the whole country, are bound in all they do to regard the interest of the whole. Their own immediate constituents have no more right than the rest of the Nation to address them through the press, to appeal to them by petition, or to have their local interests considered by them in legislation. They bring with them their knowledge of local wants, sentiments, and opinions, and may enlighten Congress respecting these, and thereby aid all the members to act wisely in matters which affect the whole country; but the moral obligation to consider the interest of one part of the country as much as that of another, and to legislate with a view to the best interests of all is obligatory upon every member, and no one can be relieved from this obligation by instruction from any source. Moreover, the special fitness to legislate for all, which is acquired by the association, mutual information, and comparison of views of a legislative body, cannot be had by the constituency, and the advantages would be lost to legislation if the right of instruction were recognized."1

1 The Principles of Constitutional Law, 41, 42.

CHAPTER III.

THE COMPOSITION OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTA

TIVES.

ARTICLE I.

Section 2, Clause 1.-The House of Representatives shall be composed of members chosen every second year by the people of the several States, and the electors in each State shall have the qualifications requisite for electors of the most numerous branch of the State legislature.

216. THE REPRESENTATIVE'S TERM.-Some members of the Convention wished to limit the Representative's term to one year, and some wished to extend it to three years. The first argued that a short term would keep the Representative mindful of his dependence upon the people; the second, that a long term would tend to give the government permanence and stability. Two years was finally agreed upon as reasonably combining both ends.

217 REPRESENTATIVES ELECTED BY THE PEOPLE.-Except in Connecticut and Rhode Island, where they were elected by the people, the delegates to the Old Congress were appointed by the State legislatures. But it was an essential part of the new plan that the House of Representatives should be chosen by the people of the States. Hence it is called the popular branch of Congress. The legally qualified electors of State representatives are declared legally qualified electors of National Representatives. But as any State has but one rule of suffrage, the man who may vote for State representatives may also vote for Governor, etc. As each State makes its own rules, subject to a single limitation, a man may vote for a

Representative in one State who cannot on removing to anothor. The single limitation referred to is found in Section 1, Article XV., of Amendments: "The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State, on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude." By giving the electors of National Representatives the same qualifications as electors of State representatives, the Constitution provides indirectly that State representatives shall be elected by the people.

This clause also determines the length of a Congress. It is the same as the Representative's term. The first Congress began March 4, 1789; the Fifty-second Congress, March 4, 1891.

Section 2, Clause 2.-No person shall be a Representative who shall not have attained to the age of twenty-five years, and been seven years a citizen of the United States, and who shall not, when elected, be an inhabitant of that State in which he shall be chosen.

218. THE ORIGINAL QUALIFICATIONS OF REPRESENTATIVES. Beyond providing that no man should sit more than three years in six, the Articles of Confederation did not fix the qualifications of members of Congress. All other qualifications were left to the States. But the Constitution fixes the three qualifications of age, citizenship, and inhabitancy. The ages fixed and the period of citizenship, in the case of foreign-born citizens, are short enough to qualify men to sit in either House of Congress. Obviously, too, a legislature should consist wholly of citizens of the Nation or State. In a great country like the United States, it is important that members of Congress shall be inhabitants of the States that elect them. As a rule, residents of New England could not intelligently represent the people of California. It is not necessary for a Representative to live in the district that he represents, but such is the almost unvarying custom. Again, inhabitancy and residence are different things. "An inhabitant is a bona fide

member of the State, subject to all the requisites of law, and

entitled to all privileges and advantages under the law; actual residence is not essential, as if a person be a minister resident at a foreign port."

991

219. THE ENGLISH RULE.-In Great Britain it is common for members of the House of Commons not to live within the constituencies that elect them. A resident of London or Edinburgh may represent any constituency in England, Scotland, or Wales. Mr. Gladstone, who resides in Wales, has for many years sat for Midlothian, in Scotland. This rule there works well. It brings many able men into Parliament who would otherwise be shut out. A man twenty-one years of age, if otherwise qualified, can sit in Parliament. Such, too, is the rule in most of our State legislatures.

220. AMENDMENT XIV.-Section 3 of this Article introduced into the Constitution a new qualification for Senators, Representatives, and all officers, civil and military, viz.:

No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or Elector of President and Vice-President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any State, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any State legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may, by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability.

By an act approved May 22, 1872, the disabilities imposed by this section were removed from all persons whatsoever, except Senators and Representatives of the Thirty-six and Thirty-seventh Congresses, officers in the military and naval service of the United States, heads of departments, and foreign ministers of the United States. Still other persons have been relieved by special acts, and but few persons now rest under these disabilities.

The question has been asked whether a State may add to these qualifications of the Representative. The better opinion is that it The phrase "a citizen of the United States" asserts,

cannot.

1 Desty: The Constitution of the United States, 45.

what has often been denied, that these States are one country, a nation, and not a mere confederacy.

Section 2, Clause 3.—Representatives and direct taxes shall be apportioned among the several States which may be included within this Union, according to their respective numbers, which shall be determined by adding to the whole number of free persons, including those bound to service for a term of years, and excluding Indians not taxed, three-fifths of all other persons. The actual enumeration shall be made within three years after the first meeting of the Congress of the United States, and within every subsequent term of ten years, in such manner as they shall by law direct. The number of Representatives shall not exceed one for every thirty thousand, but each State shall have at least one Representative; and until such enumeration shall be made, the State of New Hampshire shall be entitled to choose three, Massachusetts eight, Rhode Island and Providence Plantations one, Connecticut fire, New York six, New Jersey four, Pennsylvania eight, Delaware one, Maryland six, Virginia ten, North Carolina five, South Carolina five, and Georgia three.

221. THE DIFFICULTY OF THE SUBJECT.-No other clause of the Constitution gave the Federal Convention so much trouble as this one. The principal points of controversy may be again enumerated. (See Part I., Chap. VI.)

(1) The Small-state party contended for an equal representation; the Large-state party for a proportional representation. Making it proportional in the House did not settle the basis of representation. Should it be according to population, wealth, or both population and wealth? Population was finally decided upon.

(2) The rule for determining the numbers was disputed no less warmly. It was unanimously agreed that all free persons should be counted; nor was there serious objection to counting persons bound to service or labor, and all Indians except those not taxed. But what should be done with the slaves? Most of the States contended that these were mere chattels or property. North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia replied that the slaves were persons as well as property.