proportional representation

Examples of proportional representation in the following topics:

• The Right to Vote

  • Some of the apportionment methods discovered in the United States were in a sense rediscovered in Europe in the 19th century, where they had served as seat allocation methods for the newly proposed system of party-list proportional representation.
  • Party-list proportional representation was first implemented to elect European legislatures in the early 20th century, with Belgium implementing it first in 1899.
  • Since then, proportional and semi-proportional methods have come to be used in almost all democratic countries, with most exceptions being former British colonies.

• A New Constitution

  • Larger state delegates favored a system with proportional representation in both houses; the greater the population of voters in a given state, the more federal representatives would be allotted to that state in Congress.
  • Delegates from these states supported the Virginia Plan, crafted by James Madison, which included a system of proportional representation in Congress as well as an extension of congressional powers.
  • However, the Connecticut Compromise proposed by Roger Sherman outlined a system of bicameral legislation that included both proportional and equal representation.
  • The Compromise indicated that each state would be given equal representation (as per the New Jersey Plan) in one house of Congress and proportional representation (as per the Virginia Plan) in the other.
  • While northern delegations wanted only free citizens to count toward representation, southern delegations wanted to include slaves as a way of increasing their states’ representation in government.

• The Structure of the Government

  • Larger state delegates favored a system whereby representation in both houses would be proportional.
  • Delegates from these states supported the VIrginia Plan, crafted by James Madison, which included a system of proportional representation in Congress as well as an extension of congressional powers.
  • This system of equal representation was detailed in William Patterson's New Jersey Plan.
  • However, the "Connecticut Compromise" (more popularly known as the "Great Compromise") proposed by Roger Sherman outlined a system of bicameral legislation that included both proportional and equal representation.
  • In Sherman's plan a House of Representatives would be based on proportional representation and the Senate had representation fixed to two delegates per state.

• The U.S. Constitution

  • Larger state delegates favored a system whereby representation in both houses would be proportional: meaning that the greater the population of voters in a given state, the more federal representatives would be allotted to that state in Congress.
  • Delegates from these states supported the VIrginia Plan, crafted by James Madison, which included a system of proportional representation in Congress as well as an extension of congressional powers.
  • This system of equal representation was detailed in William Patterson's New Jersey Plan.
  • However, the "Connecticut Compromise" proposed by Roger Sherman outlined a system of bicameral legislation that included both proportional and equal representation.
  • In Sherman's plan, a House of Representatives would be based on proportional representation and a Senate, where representation would be fixed to two delegates per state.

• The Debate over Slavery

  • One of the most contentious slavery-related questions was whether slaves would be counted as part of the population in determining representation in Congress, or if they would be considered property and therefore exempt from representation.
  • Delegates from states with large populations of slaves argued that slaves should be considered as people in determining representation.
  • Delegates from states where slavery had become rare argued the opposite: that slaves should be included in taxation but not in determining representation.
  • The proposal by a committee of the Congress had suggested that taxes "shall be supplied by the several colonies in proportion to the number of inhabitants of every age, sex, and quality, except Indians not paying taxes."

• Conclusion: The Development of the Constitution

  • How much representation was appropriate for each state?
  • Each state would be represented in proportion to its population.
  • The Three-Fifths Compromise was another agreement made between the Northern and Southern states related to representation of slaves for purposes of legislation and taxation.
  • Under this compromise, each slave was counted as three-fifths of a person, allowing the slave states to include a portion of their enslaved population (or their “property”) when allocating representation.
  • In addition to the issue of representation, states disagreed over whether the international slave trade, and slavery itself, should be prohibited.

• African Americans and the Republic

  • One of the most contentious slavery-related questions during the drafting of the Constitution was whether slaves would be counted as part of the population in determining representation in the Congress, or if they would be considered property not entitled to representation.
  • Delegates from states with large populations of slaves argued that slaves should be considered people in determining representation.
  • Delegates from states where slavery had become rare argued the opposite: that slaves should be included in taxation, but not in determining representation.
  • Numerous slaveholders in the Upper South took advantage of the changes: the proportion of free blacks went from less than 1% before the war to more than 10% overall by 1810.

• The Virginia and New Jersey Plans

  • The less populous states were adamantly opposed to giving most of the control of the national government to the more populous states and so proposed an alternative plan that would have kept the one-vote-per-state representation from the Articles of Confederation under one legislative body.
  • One contentious issue facing the convention was the manner in which large and small states would be represented in the legislature, whether by equal representation for each state, regardless of its size and population, or proportionate to population, with larger states having more votes than less-populous states.
  • Each of the states would be represented in proportion to their population.
  • In addition to dealing with legislative representation, the Virginia Plan called for a national government of three branches: legislative, executive, and judicial.

• The End of the War

  • Congress had to consider how to restore to full status and representation within the Union to those Southern states that had declared their independence from the United States and had withdrawn their representation.
  • If they were to be counted fully as citizens, some sort of representation for apportionment of seats in Congress had to be determined.
  • They did not hold office in numbers representative of their proportion in the population, but often elected whites to represent them.

• Legal Changes to Slavery: 1777-1804

  • In a section negotiated by James Madison of Virginia, "other persons" (slaves) were to be added to the total of the state's free population at a specified rate of their total number: the so-called "three-fifths compromise" that was used to establish states' official populations for the purposes of apportionment of Congressional representation and federal taxation.
  • The number and proportion of free blacks in the states rose dramatically until 1810, with more than half concentrated in the Upper South.
  • The proportion of free blacks among the black population rose from less than one percent in 1792 to more than 10 percent by 1810.