Apportionment Act

The Apportionment Act was a proposed United States federal law that would have fixed the size of the United States House of Representatives based on the United States Census of 1790. The bill was vetoed by President George Washington on 5 April 1792 as unconstitutional, marking the first use of the U.S. President's veto power. Washington made two objections in a letter to the House describing the reason for his veto. The first objection made in the letter was that the bill did not have a uniform ratio to reach the numbers of representatives to population set forth in the bill. Secondly, the bill "allotted to eight of the States more than one for every thirty thousand" as delimited by of the United States Constitution. [The Library of Congress: [http://lcweb2.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage?collId=llac&fileName=003/llac003.db&recNum=267 Annals of Congress, House of Representatives, 2nd Congress, 1st Session, p.539] . Retrieved on 2008-10-3.] The next day, the House attempted to override the President's veto but failed to reach a two thirds majority required and on 10 April efforts began to revise the bill a third time. [*James, Edmund J. 1897. "The First Apportionment of Federal Representatives in the United States." Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 9 (Jan.): 10-12.]

Notes

Further Reading

*Celler, Emanuel. 1952. "Congressional Apportionment. Past, Present, and Future." Law and Contemporary Problems 17 (2): 268-275.
*James, Edmund J. 1897. "The First Apportionment of Federal Representatives in the United States." Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 9 (Jan.): 10-12.

External links

* [http://www.upress.virginia.edu/books/pgw_pres.html The Papers of George Washington]
* [http://gwpapers.virginia.edu/documents/presidential/veto.html#1 George Washington's Presidential Vetoes]