The House of Representatives was created at the Constitutional Convention in 1787. The delegates argued between the Virginia Plan and the New Jersey Plan. The Library of Congress explains that the New Jersey plan was the idea for all states to have equal representation, regardless of size, and the Virginia Plan called for a bicameral legislature with representation that is based on population size, so larger states would have more representation. Eventually, the Constitutional Convention came up with The Great Compromise. This compromise combined both of the plans, so small states would get representation, as well as big states. The article called “Creating the United States” states The Great Compromise created a bicameral legislature, which meant our Congress will have two chambers, one being the Senate and the other being the House of Representatives. The Senate gives two representatives for each state and resolved the New Jersey Plan. The House of Representatives gave representation based on population, which resolved the Virginia Plan.

The House of Representatives is a population based chamber in Congress. Not every state has the same amount of representatives. States like Alaska, Delaware, North and South Dakota, Vermont, and Wyoming have as little as one representative. The highest number of representatives is California, currently with 52 representatives. Yet, every ten years each state’s number of representatives is re-evaluated with the Census. From the Census Bureau, The Census was created to count every person in each state. It is backed up by Article 1, Section 2 of the U.S Constitution. It takes place every 10 years to determine the number of representatives in the House. The Policy Circle says The House has 435 total members that are elected every two years. The House provides citizens with frequent opportunities to influence the legislative process. A representative has to be twenty five years old or older, a U.S citizen for at least seven years and live in the state they are going to be representing. (Constitutional Qualifications | US House of Representatives: History, Art & Archives, n.d.) A representative does not have to be born in the U.S to become a representative, they just have to be a citizen. There is not a limit on the amount of terms a representative can serve overall. 

The House of Representatives has many important responsibilities in the Legislative branch. Some powers that the House has are impeaching federal officers, electing the president if the electoral college is undecided, spending bills and controlling revenue. (The U.S. House of Representatives, n.d.)

Impeachment is the process where the Legislative branch brings an accusation to a certain federal officer. Federal Officers can be people such as the President, Vice President, Federal Judges, Cabinet members etc. The Electoral College is a crucial part of the voting process. To win a presidential election, a candidate needs to get 270 electoral votes, out of 538 to win the election. For example, if both candidates receive 269 electoral votes the House of Representatives votes to choose the next president. This scenario is extremely rare. The most well known case of this happening is the election of 1800. There was a tie between Thomas Jefferson and John Adams in the electoral college; therefore,the vote went to the House of Representatives and ultimately, the election ended with Thomas Jefferson winning.