of persons, giving to each State at least one representative. Subsequently, by the admission of several new States into the union, and other changes, the number of representatives was increased to 242, and a bill which passed the House of Representatives in April, 1870, fixed the number of its members in the next Congress, commencing March 4, 1871, at 275, exclusive of the representatives of States to be admitted in the future. According to the terms of the constitution, representatives must not be less than twenty-five years of age, must have been citizens of the United States for seven years, and be residents in the States from which they are chosen. In addition to the representatives from the States, the House admits a 'delegate' from each organised territory, who has the right to debate on subjects in which his territory is interested, but is not entitled to vote. The delegates are elected, like the representatives, by the vote of all male citizens over 21, with this difference, that in one territory (Wyoming) the franchise is also accorded to women.
Every bill which has passed the House of Representatives and the Senate must, before it becomes a law, be presented to the president of the United States; if not approved, he may return it, with his objections, to the House in which it originated. If after reconsideration two-thirds of that House agree to pass the bill, it must be sent, together with the objections, to the other House, by which it must likewise be reconsidered, and if approved by two-thirds of that House, it becomes a law. But in all such cases the votes of both Houses are determined by yeas and nays, and the names of the persons voting for and against the bill are entered on the journal of each House respectively. The occasions when presidents of the United States have used their veto power have been very rare, except during the presidency of Andrew Johnson, who employed it more frequently than all his predecessors in office taken together. From the establishment of the republic to the end of the year 1866, a period embracing 39 Congresses, there were but 28 vetoes, being an average of one in three years. Of these vetoes President Washington sent two to Congress; President Madison, six; President Monroe, one; President Jackson, nine; President Tyler, four; President Polk, three; and President Buchanan, one. Presidents John Adams, Jefferson, John Quincy Adams, Van Buren, Harrison, Taylor, Fillmore, Pierce, and Lincoln, sent no vetoes to Congress, and their administrations covered an aggregate of nearly 33 years. Of the 26 vetoes sent to Congress previous to the presidency of Andrew Johnson, only one was overruled, but, on the other hand, the numerous vetoes of the head of the executive from 1860 to 1869 were nearly thrown aside by a two-third majority of Congress. If any Bill is not returned by the president within ten
