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to be elected by the people of the several States, and by extending the term of service to two years.

§ 69. The Constitution does not prescribe uniform qualifications for those who may vote for representatives. The differences in the qualifications of voters in the several States were so great, and each State was so strongly attached to its own provisions on the subject, that an attempt to introduce uniformity of qualifications throughout all the States might have resulted in a rejection of the whole Constitution.

§ 70. This clause avoids the difficulty by declaring that all who are qualified to vote for members of the most numerous branch of the State legislature, shall be qualified to vote for representatives in Congress. If, therefore, we wish to ascertain what persons in a particular State are qualified to vote for members of Congress, we must consult the Constitution or laws of that State, and ascertain who are qualified to vote for members of the most numerous branch of the State legislature; the Constitution of the United States declares that the qualifications of the voters shall be the same in both cases.

§ 71. If popular elections take place at long intervals, they do not properly represent the will of the people; if they are too frequent, society is kept in a state of excitement, and public measures become uncertain and fluctuating; besides, much inconvenience is thus occasioned to communities spread over a large extent of territory, and expense is incurred and time lost in travelling to and from the place of voting.

§ 72. The period of service in the legislature should not be so long that members will begin to lose their feeling of responsibility to the people who have elected them; nor should it be so short as to expire just at the time they

have acquired a practical knowledge of public affairs and the details of business. A proper medium is to be selected between those two extremes.

§ 73. The framers of the Constitution thought that elections for representatives once in two years were sufficiently frequent; hence it is provided by this section that representatives shall be chosen every second year. In England, members of Parliament occupy their seats for seven years, which is the duration of each Parliament, unless dissolved sooner by the king. By the Articles of Confederation, the delegates to Congress were chosen every year. The Constitution went into operation, March 4, 1789, and the term of service in the House of Representatives consequently commenced at that time, and continued for two years. On the fourth day of March, therefore, in every other year, there is said to be a new Congress.*

* As in public documents and official proceedings, the Congresses are frequently referred to by their successive numbers, as the first, second, third, fourth, &c., it has been thought that the following table, showing the commencement of the first session of each Congress, will be found useful for reference:

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[Clause 2.] "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."

§ 74. The qualifications of a representative consist of these three particulars :

(1.) He must be not less than twenty-five years of age. (2.) He must have been a citizen of the United States for seven years.

(3.) He must be an inhabitant of the State in which he shall be chosen.

These are the only qualifications established by the Constitution, and the better opinion is that the States have no right to require other or different qualifications.

§ 75. A representative is not required to be a citizen of the United States by birth. If a foreigner by birth, he may become a citizen by naturalization, and then becomes eligible as a representative after a citizenship of seven years.

§ 76. At the time of the adoption of the federal Constitution, many of the inhabitants of the colonies, and many who had fought bravely in the Revolutionary war, were emigrants from Europe, and it was deemed just that they should be entitled to share in the offices and honours of the new government which they had aided in establishing. They were, therefore, made eligible as representatives, though the limitation of a previous seven years' citizenship was thought necessary, lest such representatives might be disposed to favour their native country in managing the foreign affairs and other subjects of legislation. An alien must reside here five years before he becomes a

citizen; this, added to the seven years of citizenship which the above clause requires, amounts, in all, to twelve years of previous residence before he is eligible as a representative.

$77. The representative must be an inhabitant of the State in which he is chosen. It is not required that he should be a resident of the particular district from which he has been chosen, nor that he should have resided either in the district or the State for any definite length of time before his election. Nor is it said that he shall lose his seat if he remove from his State or district during the two years. It is not necessary that he should possess a certain. amount of property, or profess any particular form of religious belief.

[Clause 3.] "Representatives and direct Taxes shall be apportioned 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. The actual Enumeration shall be made within three Years after the first Meeting of the Congress of the United States, and within every subsequent 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 cach state shall have at Least one Representative; and until such enumeration shall be made, the State of New Hampshire shall be entitled to chuse three, Massachusetts eight, Rhode Island and Providence Plantations one, Con

necticut five, New York six, New Jersey four, Pennsylva nia eight, Delaware one, Maryland six, Virginia ten, North Carolina five, South Carolina five, and Georgia three.”

§78. A tax is a duty laid by government for its service, on the person, property, or income, of individuals. Taxes are of two kinds, direct and indirect. A direct tax is laid directly on the income or property itself; for instance, on lands or houses. An indirect tax is one laid on articles of production or consumption.

Direct taxes are seldom levied, except when other sources of income fail. The only instances of them under the Constitution, were in 1798, 1813, and 1815.

This clause requires that direct taxes shall be apportioned among the States, according to their population respectively. The subject of taxation will be considered more fully hereafter.

§79. By the Articles of Confederation, (Art. 8,) the expenses of the United States for the common defence and general welfare, were to be paid by each State in proportion to the value of land surveyed to individuals, together with the improvements and buildings thereon. This placed the liability of a State to direct taxation upon the basis of property, whereas the Constitution places it upon the basis of population.

$80. The representative population of the States, that is, their population for the purposes of representation, is ascertained by taking the whole number of free persons, including those bound to service for a term of years, and adding thereto three fifths of all other persons.

The Indians that remain in the States are included in

the number of free persons if they are taxed.

The representative population, as thus estimated, will

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