1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Apportionment Bill

APPORTIONMENT BILL, an act passed by the Congress of the United States after each decennial census to determine the number of members which each state shall send to the House of Representatives. The ratio of representation fixed by the original constitution was 1 to 30,000 of the free population, and the number of the members of the first House was 65. As the House would, at this ratio, have become unmanageably large, the ratio, which is first settled by Congress before apportionment, has been raised after each census, as will be seen from the accompanying table.

Under	Census.		Apportionment.		Whole Number of Repre- sentatives.
	Year.	Population.	Year.	Ratio.
Constitution First Census Second Census Third Census Fourth Census Fifth Census Sixth Census Seventh Census Eighth Census Ninth Census Tenth Census Eleventh Census Twelfth Census	· · 1790 1800 1810 1820 1830 1840 1850 1860 1870 1880 1890 1900	· · 3,929,214 5,308,483 7,239,881 9,633,822 12,866,020 17,069,453 23,191,876 31,443,321 38,558,371 50,155,783 62,622,250 75,568,686	1789 1793 1803 1813 1823 1833 1843 1853 1863 1873 1883 1893 1903	30,000 33,000 33,000 35,000 40,000 47,700 70,680 93,423 127,381 131,425 151,911 173,901 194,182	65 105 141 181 213 240 223 234 241 292 325 356 386

The same term is applied to the acts passed by the state legislatures for correcting and redistributing the representation of the counties. Such acts are usually passed at decennial intervals, more often after the federal census, but the dates may vary in different states. The state representatives are usually apportioned among the several counties according to population and not by geographical position. The electoral districts so formed are expected to be equal in proportion to the number of inhabitants; but this method has led to much abuse in the past, through the making of unequal districts for partisan purposes. (See Gerrymander.)

If a state has received an increase in the number of its representatives and its legislature does not pass an apportionment bill before the next congressional election, the votes of the whole state elect the additional members on a general ticket and they are called “congressmen-at-large.”