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The week's question
In December 2024, in the thread "Re: BRK: Why Not XOM?", BreckHutHigh asked the members: "What about the long road trips with kids?" This week it is put to everyone again. The button below opens the small thread re-asking it - read what others have said so far, then give your own answer as an ordinary reply.
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Halls of Shrewd'm / US Policy
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Author: sutton ✭  😊 😞
Number: of 84362 
Subject: Re: 51st thru 60th States
Date: 03/08/25 1:31 PM
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why limit it to 435 across multiple swings in partisan ownership of Congress for 113 years?

Not to get all history-nerdy on you, but yes: chamber size, plus politics, plus about the biggest group before being too unwieldy, plus politics:

"From 1800 through 1840, the number of representatives was determined by the ratio of the number of persons each was to represent ("fixed ratio"), although the way to handle fractional remainders changed. Therefore, the number of representatives changed with that ratio, as well as with population growth and the admission of new states.

For the 1850 census and later apportionments, the number of seats was determined prior to the final apportionment ("fixed house size"); and thus, the ratio of persons each was to represent was the result of the calculations. In 1911, the House size was fixed at 433 with provision for the addition of one seat each for Arizona and New Mexico when they became states (U.S. Statutes at Large, 37 Stat 13, 14 (1911)). The House size, 435 members, has been unchanged since, except for a temporary increase to 437 at the time of admission of Alaska and Hawaii as states (following the 1950 census)."

census.gov - Historical perspective

-- sutton
storehouse of useless minutiae since at least LBJ
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This community has written 84,309 posts about US Policy. The article-length ones it recommended most:
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