Article 1: Section 2 vs Federalist Paper 53 (Hamilton)
Term Length for REPRESENTATIVEs in the House
U.S. Constitution
Article 1: Section 2 The Constitution states, "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." |
In the Federalist Paper 53, Hamilton lists various reasons for why the term length for Representatives in the House should be 2 years.
Fear:!!!!!The Founding fathers wanted a government that was responsible to the people. The were trying to avoid creating institutions that established political tyrants.
In order to do this, they wanted to limit the term length of legislative representative. Hamilton and other founding father believed that two years was the most reasonable length of time that a single Representative could hold office. Why Two Years? The national government share a great responsibility then our local and state government. A representative needs to be an expert. In order to become knowledgeable on the many diverse subjects, the will need at least two years "The great theatre of the United States presents a very different scene. The laws are so far from being uniform, that they vary in every State; whilst the public affairs of the Union are spread throughout a very extensive region, and are extremely diversified by the local affairs connected with them, and can with difficulty be correctly learnt in any other place than in the central councils to which a knowledge of them will be brought by the representatives of every part of the empire." |