Article I · Section 2 of 10
The House of Representatives
Article I: Congress
The one-line version
How the House works: two-year terms, who can serve, and how seats are divided.
Section 2 in plain English
The people of each state elect members of the House every two years. If you can vote for the larger house of your state legislature, you can vote for the U.S. House.
To serve in the House, a person must be at least 25 years old. They must have been a U.S. citizen for at least seven years. They must live in the state they represent when elected.
Each state gets House seats based on its population. The original text counted each enslaved person as three-fifths of a free person. It also left out "Indians not taxed." This generally meant Native Americans living in their own tribal nations, outside state tax systems.
Note: The Thirteenth Amendment (1865) ended slavery. The Fourteenth Amendment (1868) replaced the three-fifths rule and counts every person in full. The Fourteenth Amendment kept the "Indians not taxed" wording. The Indian Citizenship Act of 1924 made all Native Americans born in the U.S. citizens.
A census, meaning a count of everyone, happens every ten years. The count decides how many House seats each state gets. Every state gets at least one seat. There can be no more than one member for every 30,000 people.
Until the first census, the text set how many seats each of the 13 states would have.
When a House seat becomes empty, the state's governor calls an election to fill it.
The House chooses its Speaker and other officers. Only the House can impeach, meaning formally charge an official with wrongdoing.
Original text, 1788
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.
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.
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 Jersey four, Pennsylvania eight, Delaware one, Maryland six, Virginia ten, North Carolina five, South Carolina five, and Georgia three.
When vacancies happen in the Representation from any State, the Executive Authority thereof shall issue Writs of Election to fill such Vacancies.
The House of Representatives shall chuse their Speaker and other Officers; and shall have the sole Power of Impeachment.