Clause 2: Qualifications. No Person shall be a Repre sen
tative 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.
Each member of the House must be at least twenty-five years
old, a citizen of the United States for at least seven years,
and a resident of the state in which she or he is elected.
Clause 3: Apportionment of Representatives and Direct
Taxes. Representatives [and direct Taxes]^1 shall be appor
tioned 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].^2 The actual Enumeration shall
be made within three Years after the first Meeting of the
Congress of the United States, and within every subse
quent 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 enumer
ation shall be made, the State of New Hampshire shall
be entitled to chuse three, Massachusetts eight, Rhode
Island and Providence Plantations one, Connecticut
five, New York six, New Jersey four, Pennsylvania eight,
Delaware one, Maryland six, Virginia ten, North Carolina
five, South Carolina five, and Georgia three.
A state’s representation in the House is based on the size of
its population. Population is counted in each decade’s cen-
sus, after which Congress reapportions House seats. Since
early in the twentieth century, the number of seats has been
limited to 435.
Clause 4: Vacancies. When vacancies happen in the
Representation from any State, the Executive Authority
thereof shall issue Writs of Election to fill such Vacancies.
The “Executive Authority” is the state’s governor. When a
vacancy occurs in the House, the governor calls a special
election to fill it.347
The Preamble
We the People of the United States, in Order to form
a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic
Tran quility, provide for the common defence, promote the
general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to
ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this
Constitution for the United States of America.
The Preamble declares that “We the People” are the author-
ity for the Constitution (unlike the Articles of Confed-
eration, which derived their authority from the states). The
Preamble also sets out the purposes of the Constitution.Article I. (Legislative Branch)
The first part of the Constitution, Article 1, deals with the
organization and powers of the lawmaking branch of the
national government, the Congress.
Section 1. Legislative Powers
All legislative Powers herein granted shall be vested in
a Congress of the United States, which shall consist of a
Senate and House of Representatives.
Section 2. House of Representatives
Clause 1: Composition and Election of Members. 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.
Each state has the power to decide who may vote for mem-
bers of Congress. Within each state, those who may vote for
state legislators may also vote for members of the House of
Representatives (and, under the Seventeenth Amendment,
for U.S. senators). When the Constitution was written,
nearly all states limited voting rights to white male prop-
erty owners or taxpayers at least twenty-one years old.
Subsequent amendments granted voting power to African
American men, all women, and eighteen-year-olds.Appendix B
The Constitution
of the United States*
* The spelling, capitalization, and punctuation of the
original have been retained here. Brackets indicate
passages that have been altered by amendments to the
Constitution. We have added article titles (in parenthe
ses), section titles, and clause designations. We have also
inserted annotations in blue italic type.- Modified by the Sixteenth Amendment.
- Modified by the Fourteenth Amendment.
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