Failed Amendments Article the First

Last 1

FailedAmendments: Article the First

Articlethe First was the earliest provision in the original proposal for theBill of Rights. The change was suggested in 1789 to regulate thenumber of individuals who were represented by each member of theHouse. The Bill stipulated that once the number of House members gotto the 200 mark, only one representative would be allowed to standfor 50,000 citizens (Articlethefirst.net).The reason for proposing such a bill was to ensure that thecollective wisdom of the American populace was incorporated in theHouse of Representatives (at the federal level). Between 1784 and1792, eleven states approved the amendment. Nonetheless, it did notattain the required number of state support that was needed forratification thus, it became a failed bill.

Althoughthe bill is still technically eligible for approval, its applicationis not feasible today. This premise is supported by the fact that thecurrent population is too high thus, limiting representation to50,000 people would mean having over 5,000 congressmen in the House(Trex).Accordingly, finding airtime for election campaigns for each memberof Congress would be nearly impossible. The current method ofreapportioning House seat districts was adopted in 1941 by theDemocrats. The number of members of Congress is limited to 435however, the number was temporarily increased to 437 between 1959 and1961 after Hawaii and Alaska achieved a statehood status.

Inthe modern day, Congressional Districts have populations that areabove 725,000 people. Consequently, young staffers who are not fromthe home districts of their constituents find meeting the demands ofthe current constitution perplexing (Articlethefirst.net).In this regard, the capacity of the House of Representatives to meetthe policy needs of the electorates may not be as efficient as thatof the previous regimes.

WorksCited

Articlethefirst.net.&quotArticle The First.&quot Articlethefirst.net.N.p., 2017. Web. 5 Apr. 2017.

Trex,Ethan. &quot6 Constitutional Amendments That Just Missed TheCut&quot.&nbspTheweek.com.N.p., 2017. Web. 5 Apr. 2017.