This is the second chapter in a series on our Constitution. The First chapter describes and explains the preamble and you can read it here:

This series will continue breaking down the Constitution one piece at a time so that people can learn what it says and how it applies to their life.

I began this series for two reasons. The first was that I found so many people who did not know what the Constitution said and believed it said many things it didn’t. The second reason came when I heard political candidates who claimed things in the constitution that weren’t there, complained the constitution was wrong and should be overridden, turning to legislation and the courts to bypass the constitution

Article I Section 1 The power to enact laws

“All legislative Powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress of the United States, which shall consist of a Senate and House of Representatives.”

The tradition of common law dates back before the formation of the country and British common law was adopted by most of the states. Common law starts as precedents made in court in regard to cases that were not addressed by legislated or statutory law. In some cases it may apply in opposition to unfair statutes. Overall the precedents and common law represent the best judgment of one or more judges in the absence of statute.

Statutory law, which is legislated by the proper authorities, is superior to these laws unless they violate higher law in which case the judge may set precedent in favor of the higher law. In the United States the Congress is the only branch of government with the authority to write laws. Article I Section 1 ensures that only the Legislative Branch has the power to write laws and makes it impossible for the Judiciary or Executive branches to write laws because, They have not the authority to do so and so such laws as they write hold no power. In practice The judiciary has common law and the Executive has executive orders but the legislature has the power to override these and may write laws which negate them.

Section 2 The House of Representatives

This section is lengthy and detailed so I will break it down by paragraph with the text of the constitution in quotes.

“The House of Representatives shall be composed of the 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 numerous Branch of the State Legislature”

In this case two different bodies are described. The House of Representatives (commonly known as Congressmen) and the matching electors. In order to avoid political problems the congress itself did not elect the president but in order to maintain equity in the Republic, the Electoral College matches the congress and they cast the states votes for president. Since an elector matches each member of Congress the rules for appointing electors are listed along with the rules for appointing Representatives to the legislature.

Rule one establishes that the Members of the House of Representatives are up for election every two years and are chosen by the people of the state they represent. Rule number two requires that the state chose only people who would qualify to be members of the largest body of the State legislature to represent them as electors. For Example: The state of “Sample” has a state House of representatives and a State Senate. The House has 221 members and the senate has 120. The House of representatives of that state is the largest legislative body. In order to serve in the State House the law requires that you live in the state for at least 2 years before running, be at least 21 years old and have never committed a felony. Electors chosen to represent the state in the federal elections must meet the same requirements. They can’t be younger than 21, convicted felons or new residents who have been living in the state less than 2 years.

These rules may differ from state to state and someone qualified in one state may not be qualified in another state depending on the state law. This is one of the rules that establish the right of the states to establish their own election laws within certain common limits.

“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.”

No one can serve their state in the US House of Representatives (as a congressman) unless they are 25 years of age or older and they have been a citizen, natural or naturalized for at least seven years. They must also be a resident of the state they represent. The basic rule means they have to actually live in the state but state law may establish more restrictions as to what constitutes “an Inhabitant.” It is a general rule that the states may create rules that are more restrictive than those in the constitution but rules that are less restrictive are overruled by the constitution’s restrictions.

“[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 first part of this paragraph, enclosed in brackets, was changed by the 14th amendment. It is; however, important to understand historically.

Direct taxation of the citizens was not, originally, in the power of the federal government which is representative of the states and not the individual. Taxes, which financed the operation of the federal government, were levied against the state governments who in turn gained their income from their citizens. In order to ensure equity of power and taxation between the states the amount of taxation and the number of representatives is based upon the states population. This number was established on the basis of several factors:

1) The number of free person was a strait forward 1 for 1 count. This ensured that anyone with the right to vote would be represented.

2) Those bound to a term of service were considered free and capable of voting. These were people who served in the military, were serving in an internship/apprenticeship and forced to serve in exchange for training, and indentured servants who were treated as free because they were bound to serve a certain term and then free to act on their own.

3) Indians were not counted. Native Americans were not treated as citizens under most circumstances. They were independent and considered as foreigners. They weren’t taxed, didn’t participate in government and had no vote. Granting representation based on their numbers might give an unfair advantage to some states that had a large population of Native Americans since they would gain representation for people who were not given the right to vote and so had no say in that representation.

4) The founding fathers found slavery abhorrent and refused to mention the word in the documents of our founding. Ideally, slaves would not be represented in the federal government. The people, regardless of race, were not free to act on their own behalf and had no vote. Like the Native Americans it made no real sense to give representation to those who had no voice in choosing or controlling those representative.

Some states had large numbers of slaves who did not fit under the exceptions of non-citizen, Native American or time of service. These states were greatly afraid of losing their power by not having greater representation and insisted that the slaves be counted. A compromise was struck that kept the slave states from leaving the union but minimized the impact of slaves being counted for representation by counting slaves as 3/5 of a person so that for every 5 slaves only 3 counted towards the total for choosing congressman. While this lowered the numbers slaves states could send it also lowered their tax burden so the compromise was accepted.

”... 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 each State shall have at Least one Representative; and until such enumeration shall be made, the State of New Hampshire shall be entitled to chose three, Massachusetts eight, Rhode-Island and Providence Plantations one, Connecticut five, New York six, New Jersey four, Pennsylvania eight, Delaware one, Maryland six, Virginia ten, North Carolina five, south Carolina five, and Georgia three.”

The paragraph goes on to establish a census to count the number of people to be represented. The rule required that the first census would have to take place within 3 years of the first meeting of Congress. Counting yearly was unnecessary with elections taking place every two years. It was a bit too complicated to be done for every election and, as the county expanded, might prove even more difficult. Dating back to Old Testament law the idea of taking the census every ten years seemed reasonable and so it was established. The method of doing this count was to be established by law as the legislature chose.

There was to be one Representative (congressman) for every 30,000 residents in a state with a minimum of one representative per state. At the time this article was written there had not been such a census so the section establishes the number of representatives that would be accepted from each state until the first census established how many they were entitled to. Government had been operating with representative since it’s inception and this simply continued the previous rule for choosing representatives until the new rule could be properly implemented.

“When vacancies happen in the Representation from any State, the Executive Authority thereof shall issue Writs of Election to fill such Vacancies.”

The House of Representatives is a major portion of our government and, as such, the founders felt it was important that the house include all the representatives allotted. The possibility of a representative being unable to complete a term do to health issues, death, imprisonment or a number of other reasons was not far from their minds. To minimize the impact of such a disability the founder gave the state chief executive (governor) the right and duty to force a special election to fill the vacant seat if one of the state representatives seats were vacated.

“The House of Representatives shall chose their Speaker and other Officers; and shall have the sole Power of Impeachment.”

The House was to be Independent within itself. As such they members (congressmen) could chose or elect their own speaker and officers. The speaker acts as a chairman to mediate under the rules of parliamentary procedure adopted by the members. These rules are generally used for the purpose of regulating debate in every venue from Government to business to classrooms. Other officers handle those jobs the members feel need to be handled. These may include majority and minority leaders, committee leaders and others.

The Power of Impeachment, Described later in the Constitution, resides exclusively in the congress. The president, vice president, and all civil officers are subject to impeachment and removal from office. This ensures that the legislative branch may remove any appointed official for cause.

2 sections down and 8 to go in the first article of the Constitution.