APPORTIONMENT

See also:

• BILL

BILL  , an act passed by the Congress of the United States after each decennial census to determine the number of members which each state shall send to the House of Representatives . The ratio of representation fixed by the original constitution was 1 to 30,000 of the free population, and the number of the members of the first House was 65 . As the House would, at this ratio, have become unmanageably large, the ratio, which is first settled by Congress before -APPREHENSION 227 apportionment, has been raised after each census, as will be seen from the accompanying table . The same term is applied to the acts passed by the state legislatures for correcting and redistributing the representation of the counties . Such acts are usually ,passed at decennial intervals, more often after the federal census, but the dates may vary in different states . The state representatives are usually apportioned among the several counties according to population and not by geographical position . The electoral districts so formed are expected to be equal in proportion to the number of inhabitants; but this method has led to much abuse in the past, through the making of unequal districts for partisan purposes .