The Loneliest Member of Congress
- Section 5 is mercifully short and sweet, and simply determines that Missouri would have one representative in the House of Representatives until a census could be done.
- Membership in the House was determined by population, and there was no solid accounting of this. But the state needed some sort of representation in Congress, or else why become a state in the first place?
- So they were given a single representative as an interim until there actual number of representatives could be established. Better underrepresented than overrepresented, Congress felt.
- This makes sense, since there would be a short period where Missouri's interest wouldn't be well represented and so the balance of power would remain a little longer.
- It's worth noting that Missouri still had its two members of the Senate, so they were on equal footing there. And the census happened only shortly later in 1820, so it wasn't that big of a deal.