How big is your room in the House of Representatives?
Critical Analysis
Find answers to the following questions using the visual above, any links below, your big brain, and your knowledge of American government and politics:
According to the data from the chart above, about how many people does the average U.S. House Member represents today?
Describe a trend you see in the data in the chart above?
Describe one cause of that trend.
Explain one political consequence of that trend.
In Rhode Island each U.S. House member represent 529,820 people. In Montana each House member represents 1,050,493 people (see chart below*). Explain why the number of people represented by each House Member is not exactly the same nation wide?
What is one negative consequence of having so many people per congressional district?
How does the size of American congressional districts compare with other countries?* (see groovy chart below)
There is currently a cap on the membership of the U.S. House of Representatives at 435. Do you think that cap is a good idea?
Imagine you wanted to change the 435 member cap. What method would you need to use to make that change?
Explain which is more democratic: representation in the U.S. House or representation in the U.S. Senate.
Write and Discuss
Take ten minutes to write about the question at the top of the page and then discuss with your classmates.
Act on your Learning
Contact your U.S. House member, let them know what you think about the House’s 435 member cap, and ask them what they plan to do about it. Share your correspondence in class, online, or in a classy oil painting!!!!
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Get Creative
If the House of Representatives was a plant, what type of plant would it be?
Learn More*
Read the Pew Research Center’s report about U.S. House district size, U.S. population keeps growing, but House of Representatives is same size as in Taft era. And check out these great visuals on House size from 538.com
Breaking News
The first Congress (1789-91) had 65 House members.
A 1929 law authorizing that census also capped the size of the House at 435. And there it has remained, except for a brief period from 1959 to 1963 when the chamber temporarily added two members to represent the newly admitted states of Alaska and Hawaii.
One proposal to add seats to the House is the so-called “Wyoming Rule,” which would make the population of the smallest state (currently Wyoming) the basis for the representation ratio. Depending on which variant of that rule were adopted, the House would have had 545 to 547 members following the 2010 census.
