Warm-Up

• What do you already know about Congress and representation?

• What questions do you have about Congress and representation?

The House of Representatives

Essential Question: Does the constitutional model of representation provide effective representation today?

Article I, Section 1

• “All legislative powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress…”

• Article II, Section 2 = “The executive power shall be vested in a President…”

• The Constitution grants Congress with the most power, therefore powers are specifically listed out and Congress is divided into two chambers

Article I, Section 2

• The House of Representatives– 2 year terms– Directly elected by the people– 25+ years old– A citizen for 7+ years– Resident of the state they will be a rep for– 1 representative for every 30,000 residents in a state (all

states get at least 1 representative)– Reps choose the Speaker of the House – The House has the power to impeach (Senate has the

power of removal from office)

Closest to the People

• Short terms cause Representatives to be attentive to their constituents

• Always in “re-election mode”

• Hold an office in their district in their state and report to Capitol Hill

• Responsible to advocate for the constituents in their district in federal matters

• Legislative district – territorial areas partitioned on a map designating areas of representation by a legislative body

• Apportionment – the determination of the # of members in the House according to the proportion of the population of each state to the total population of the U.S.

• Gerrymander – Drawing a district with boundaries that favor one more groups of voters and/or some candidates over others– Partisan gerrymandering: favors one political

party over others– Racial gerrymandering: favors one racial group

over others

Constitution Convention

• Established a system of apportionment where states are divided into separate legislative districts ; each district must have roughly the same # of people

• Art. I, Sec. 2 requires a Census to be taken every 10 years to account for the total number of people living in a state– 1 representative “awarded” for every 30,000

people• Reapportionment takes place after the Census to

adjust the House to demographic changes

• Governor Elbridge Gerry had Massachusetts’ congressional districts redrawn to strengthen his political party in 1812

• Elkanah Tisdale, a political cartoonist, created a cartoon of these districts that resembled a salamander

Early Politics

19th Century Developments• American growth and expansion required redistricting after each Census

to keep up with the growing population and demographic shifts

Caps on the Total Number of Seats

• 1911 – Congress caps that number of seats in the House at 433

• Arguments ensue after the 1920 Census on the appropriate formula for reapportionment

• 1929 – Congress finally settles on a cap of 435 seats for the House

Civil Rights Movement

• Baker v. Carr (1962) – 14th Amendment’s equal protection clause requires districts to be equal in population so that one person’s vote would not weigh more than another person’s vote– “one person, one vote”

• Voting Rights Act (1965) – states with a history of discriminatory voting practices had to get preclearance from the federal government before redrawing their district lines

• Shaw v. Reno (1993) and Miller v. Johnson (1999) confirmed that racial gerrymandering was unconstitutional, however partisan gerrymandering is not

• States such as Washington, California, and Arizona have created standing committees that include citizens for the purpose of redistricting

• CA Prop 11 (2008) authorized the creation of the California Citizens Redistricting Commission

• CA Prop 20 (2010) empowered the California Citizens Redistricting Commission to redraw the boundaries of CA’s congressional districts

Current Movement to Standing Committees

How it Works

You try!

R R R D D R

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Create 5 congressional districts for the state to favor the Republican Party

One person, one vote dictates that there must be at least 4 and no more than 5 counties in each congressional district

A district’s geographical span must be contiguous

You try!

R R R D D R

D D R R D D

R R R R D D

D D R R R D

Create 5 congressional districts for the state to favor the Democratic Party

One person, one vote dictates that there must be at least 4 and no more than 5 counties in each congressional district

A district’s geographical span must be contiguous

Reading

• The Great Gerrymander of 2012

• Now That’s What I Call Gerrymandering!