to certain ideas, which, he said,
had been disseminated through the United States. "The legislature," he
took occasion to observe, "ought to express some disapprobation of
these opinions. The strong executive of this government," he added,
"ought to be balanced by a full representation in this house."

Similar sentiments were advanced by Mr. Findley.

After a long and animated discussion, the amendment was lost, and the
bill passed in its original form.

In the senate, it was amended by changing the ratio, so as to give one
representative for every thirty-three thousand persons in each state;
but this amendment was disagreed to by the house of representatives;
and each house adhering to its opinion, the bill fell; but was again
introduced into the house of representatives, under a different title,
and in a new form, though without any change in its substantial
provisions. After a debate in which the injustice of the fractions
produced by the ratio it adopted was strongly pressed, it passed that
house. In the senate, it was again amended, not by reducing, but by
enlarging the number of representatives.

The constitution of the United States declares that "representatives
and direct taxes shall be apportioned among the several states which
may be included within this union according to their respective
numbers;" and that "the number of representatives shall not exceed one
for every thirty thousand, but each state shall have at least one
representative." Construing the constitution to authorize a process by
which the whole number of representatives should be ascertained on the
whole population of the United States, and afterwards "apportioned
among the several states according to their respective numbers," the
senate applied the number thirty thousand as a _divisor_ to the total
population, and taking the _quotient_, which was one hundred and
twenty, as the number of representatives given by the ratio which had
been adopted in the house where the bill had originated, they
apportioned that number among the several states by that ratio, until
as many representatives as it would give were allotted to each. The
residuary members were then distributed among the states having the
highest fractions. Without professing the principle on which this
apportionment was made, the amendment of the senate merely allotted to
the states respectively, the number of members which the process just
mentioned would give. The result was a mor