Article 1, Section 2, Clause 1

Document 17

James Madison to Thomas Jefferson

A law has also passed in that State [Pennsylvania] providing for the election of members for the House of Representatives and electors of the President. The act proposes that every Citizen throughout the State shall vote for the whole number of members allotted to the State. This mode of election will confine the choice to characters of general notoriety, and so far be favorable to merit. It is however liable to some popular objections urged against the tendency of the new system. In Virginia, I am inclined to think the State will be divided into as many districts, as there are to be members. In other States, as in Connecticut the Pena. example will probably be followed. And in others again a middle course be taken. It is perhaps to be desired that various modes should be tried, as by that means only the best mode can be ascertained.

The Founders' Constitution
Volume 2, Article 1, Section 2, Clause 1, Document 17
http://press-pubs.uchicago.edu/founders/documents/a1_2_1s17.html
The University of Chicago Press

The Papers of James Madison. Edited by William T. Hutchinson et al. Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press, 1962--77 (vols. 1--10); Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1977--(vols. 11--).

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