Hello and welcome! This is the third post in my series, Journaling the Constitution. I’m reading the United States Constitution step by tiny step and creating colourful printables as I go.
The first paragraph of Article 1, Section 2, is only one sentence, but don’t let that fool you. There’s more to it than you might think. It starts quite momentously, then it gets a little less momentous, and then there are amendments. It’s a whole thing.
The People
Paragraph 1 begins by giving the people of each state the power to choose members of the House of Representatives.
This was a big deal! Previously, positions like these were mostly appointed without giving people a say in it.
The Electors
Then, halfway through the sentence, the term elector is introduced. It threw me a bit at first. Wait, aren’t the people of the states the electors?
The answer reminds me of one of those logic statements from math class. All electors are people, but — and here’s the important part — not all the people are electors.
In order to be electors, and thus participate in choosing their members of the House of Representatives, the people need to have “qualifications requisite.” These qualifications are left to the states to determine based on their voting rules.
The result, early on, was that a great many people in the states were not allowed to vote, including African Americans, Native Americans, and women.
The Amendments
In the years since, four constitutional amendments have been passed to prohibit the denial of voting rights based on race, sex, the payment of poll taxes, and age. We’ll chat more about these soon.
Long story short, the paragraph stands, but the amendments explicitly guarantee certain voting rights.
Here’s a peek at the printables for Article 1, Section 2, Paragraph 1:
There’s a new of puzzle for recording the paragraph and additional step-by-step prompts. There’s also a quick jumble at the end, just in case you’ve ever wondered which were the original “several states” at the time of the Constitution. I know I did!
If you’d like to journal theses printables, you’ll find them here.
See you back here soon with Article 1, Section 2, Paragraph 2. Qualifications of Representatives!
In the meantime, if you have any thoughts, please comment below. I’ll be thrilled to chat. :)