House of Delegates

“ A president having only executive powers for seven years. By this plan our State may have a representation in the House of Delegates of one member in eighty. I suspect it to be of importance to the small States that their deputies should keep a strict watch upon the movements and propositions from the larger States, who will probably combine to swallow up the smaller ones by addition, division, or impoverishment ”

“ X.—Immediately after the first census of the people of the United States, the House of Delegates shall apportion the Senate by electing for each state, out of the citizens resident therein, one senator for every ——— members each state shall have in the House of Delegates. Each state shall be entitled to have at least one member in the Senate. ”

“ If we consider the genius of our institutions, it is clear that the pretensions of the House of Delegates cannot be sustained. For, throughout the whole structure of the government, concurrence of the several branches of each department is required to give effect to its operations. ”

“ It would seem, therefore, that practically Congress, or at any rate the House of Representatives, delegates not only its legislative but also its deliberative functions to its Standing Committees. The little public debate that arises under the stringent and urgent rules of the House is formal rather than effective, and it is the discussions which take place in the Committees that give form to legislation. ”

“ Every State is allowed double as many delegates as it has Senators and Representatives in Congress. The four men corresponding to the representation of the State in the Senate are delegates-at-large; the others are district delegates. The National convention is, therefore, composed of about one thousand delegates, and its meetings draw other thousands of spectators. There are few auditoriums in the country big enough to house the convention. There are usually several candidates, each one of whom is the choice of a group of men in the party. ”

“ The election of these souls who are chosen by the national assembly, that is, the parliament, must be confirmed by the upper house, the congress and the cabinet and also by the president or monarch so these persons may be the elected ones of all the nation and the government. From among these people the members of the Supreme Tribunal will be elected, and all mankind will thus have a share therein, for every one of these delegates is fully representative of his nation. ”

“ The legislature may increase the number of senators and representatives, provided the number of senators shall never exceed twenty-four, and the house of representatives shall never exceed sixty members. The senators and representatives shall be chosen by the electors of the respective counties, or districts into which the State may from time to time be divided by law. ”

“ The House of Commons or House of Assembly shall not originate or pass any vote, resolution, address, or Bill for the appropriation of any part of the public revenue, or of any tax or impost, to any purpose not first recommended by message of the Governor-General or the Governor, as the case may be, during the session in which such vote, resolution, address, or Bill is passed. 49. Any Bill of the General Parliament may be reserved in the usual manner for Her Majesty's assent, and any Bill of the Local Legislatures may, in like manner, be reserved for the consideration of the Governor-General. ”

“ The most esteemed writers upon our Constitution have failed to observe, not only that the Standing Committees are the most essential machinery of our governmental system, but also that the Speaker of the House of Representatives is the most powerful functionary of that system. ”

“ No law shall be passed except by bill, nor shall any bill be put upon its final passage until the same, with the amendments thereto, shall have been printed for the use of the members; nor shall any bill become a law unless the same shall have been read on three several days, in each house, previous to the final vote thereon. ”

“ He has four years more on his Senate term and could be re-elected. But for a national nomination one needs a majority of the delegates at a convention. Delegates are party men, designated by the party. ”

“ As soon as a legislature shall be formed in the district, the council and house assembled in one room, shall have authority, by joint ballot, to elect a delegate to Congress, who shall have a seat in Congress, with a right of debating but not of voting during this temporary government. ”

“ The two capital departments of government, the legislative and executive, in which the delegated power resides, consisting of the President, Vice-President, Senate and Representatives, are directly, and by the respective legislatures and delegates, chosen by the people. ”

“ The gazettes will tell you better, I suspect, than I can what is doing in the House of Representatives. The sloth with which things move is a daily source of vexation to me, as tending to protract the session. I dine with the president about once a fortnight, and now and then meet the ministers in the street. They are all very busy: quite men of business. The Senate and the vice-president are content with each other, and move on with courtesy. ”

“ As for their not being immediately elected by the people at large, the gentleman would please to observe, that, contradictory to their present method of electing delegates to Congress,—a method laid down by that Confederation which he admires,—all the representatives are elected by the people ”