Founders / Framers Minute:
Article I, Section 2, Clause 1-2
by Cornel Rasor
Article I.
Section 2.
“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.”
“No Person shall be a Representative 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.”.
Minute 2
The House of Representatives, intended to be the closest branch to the people, was to be chosen by the people in direct elections every two years. The framers intended that this branch be relatively easy to attain and that it be the only branch elected directly by the people. They wanted this branch to dependent on the people alone.1
Elections were at the stipulated 2 years. Some states and other governments used terms of from 1 to 8 years. Yearly elections, much like most state elections were deemed an insufficient amount of time for Representatives to acquaint themselves with the exigencies of federal practices and policies. Also, at the time, travel to the capitol from the more distant states could take months. The other proposal, three year terms was derided by detractors as bordering on tyranny. Roger Sherman expressed the reasoning for shorter terms very well. He wanted Representatives to face regular elections of a fixed time to stay connected with their constituents: “Mr. SHERMAN preferred annual elections, but would be content with biennial. He thought the Representatives ought to return home and mix with the people. By remaining at the seat of Govt. they would acquire the habits of the place which might differ from those of their Constituents.”2
Some anti-federalists pushed hard for annual elections concerned that longer terms would yield a Senate controlled House that was likely to compromise.3
The final result was a chamber that would be responsive to the people and not likely to be composed of an aristocracy: “Under these reasonable limitations, the door of this part of the federal government is open to merit of every description, whether native or adoptive, whether young or old, and without regard to poverty or wealth, or to any particular profession of religious faith.” 4
1 Federalist 52
2 http://avalon.law.yale.edu/18th_century/debates_621.asp
3 http://www.constitution.org/afp/dewitt03.htm
4 Federalist 52
Minute 1: Article I, Section 1
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According to who (an aristocrat) this reframing of government from a federal one to a national one “would be responsive to the people and not likely to be composed of the aristocracy”? Lies persist.