391. APPORTIONMENT BILL, Veto Message.—
The Constitution has prescribed that representatives shall be apportioned
among the several States according to their
respective numbers; and there is no one proportion
or division which, applied to the respective
numbers of the States, will yield the
number and allotment of representatives proposed
by the bill. The Constitution has also
provided that the number of representatives
shall not exceed one for every thirty thousand,
which restriction is by the contract, and
by fair and obvious construction, to be applied
to the separate and respective numbers
of the States; and the bill has allotted to
eight of the States more than one for thirty
thousand.—
Draft for Veto Message.
Ford ed., v, 501.
(April. 1792)
