U.S. Constitution · Article I, Section 2

The House of Representatives

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Cited in 5 grades this month.

10 public items cite this provision or its parts · 5 in October 2026 (last month: 1)

Week of 2026-08-03: 1Week of 2026-08-10: 1Week of 2026-08-17: 0Week of 2026-08-24: 0Week of 2026-08-31: 0Week of 2026-09-07: 0Week of 2026-09-14: 1Week of 2026-09-21: 0Week of 2026-09-28: 0Week of 2026-10-05: 1Week of 2026-10-12: 4Week of 2026-10-19: 0

Citations per week, last 12 weeks

The text

  1. Article I, Section 2, Clause 1 · The House of Representatives, clause 1 3 cites

    The House of Representatives shall be composed of 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 most numerous Branch of the State Legislature.

  2. Article I, Section 2, Clause 2 · House Qualifications Clause explained

    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.

  3. Article I, Section 2, Clause 3 · Apportionment Clause; Three-Fifths Clause; Enumeration Clause explained

    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 each 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, Connecticut five, New-York six, New…

  4. Article I, Section 2, Clause 4 · The House of Representatives, clause 4 explained

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

  5. Article I, Section 2, Clause 5 · Impeachment Clause 6 cites

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

National Archives transcription (public domain; original spelling and capitalization). archives.gov

In the founders’ words

  • “Let the compromising expedient of the Constitution be mutually adopted, which regards them as inhabitants, but as debased by servitude below the equal level of free inhabitants, which regards the SLAVE as divested of two fifths of the MAN.” James Madison, The Federalist No. 54 (1788-02-12)
  • “What a strange and unnecessary accumulation of words are here used to conceal from the public eye, what might have been expressed in the following concise manner. Representatives are to be proportioned among the states respectively, according to the number of freemen and slaves inhabiting them, counting five slaves for three free men.” Brutus (attributed to Robert Yates), Brutus, No. 3 (1787-11-15)
  • “But it has never been alledged that those who are not free agents, can, upon any rational principle, have any thing to do in government, either by themselves or others. If they have no share in government, why is the number of members in the assembly, to be increased on their account?” Brutus (attributed to Robert Yates), Brutus, No. 3 (1787-11-15)
  • “In all very numerous assemblies, of whatever character composed, passion never fails to wrest the sceptre from reason. Had every Athenian citizen been a Socrates, every Athenian assembly would still have been a mob.” James Madison, The Federalist No. 55 (1788-02-15)
  • “No qualification of wealth, of birth, of religious faith, or of civil profession is permitted to fetter the judgement or disappoint the inclination of the people.” James Madison, The Federalist No. 57 (1788-02-19)

Public-domain primary sources, quoted word for word and checked against the linked text.

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Cite this page

Values for America Constitution Explorer, https://www.valuesforamerica.com/constitution (text: National Archives transcription, public domain), Article I, Section 2, https://www.valuesforamerica.com/constitution/article-1/section-2

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