Unratified Amendment Twelve to the United States Constitution

This amendment to the United States Constitution was one of twelve originally proposed in 1789. Ten of them became the Bill of Rights. One became lost for many years, but was eventually ratified as the Twenty-seventh Amendment. This one failed to pass when the first ten were ratified in 1791, and is theoretically still pending, but is unlikely to ever be ratified. The amendment deals with setting the size of Congress.

After the first enumeration required by the first Article of the Constitution, there shall be one Representative for every thirty thousand, until the number shall amount to one hundred, after which the proportion shall be so regulated by Congress, that there shall be not less than one hundred Representatives, nor less than one Representative for every forty thousand persons, until the number of Representatives shall amount to two hundred; after which the proportion shall be so regulated by Congress, that there shall not be less than two hundred Representatives, nor more than one Representative for every fifty thousand persons.

The amendment seeks to make certain that seats in the House of Representatives are apportioned according to population, but given the current population of the United States, the algorithm it sets forth would now place very few restrictions on the size of the House. Were this amendment to pass today, it would allow anywhere between two hundred and nearly six thousand Representatives. The present number of 435 fits comfortably within this range.