Apportionment facts for kids
Apportionment is a big word for a simple idea: it's about fairly dividing things, like how many people represent each state in the United States government. This division is based on how many people live in each state.
Every ten years, the United States counts all its people in something called the Census. This count helps decide how many representatives each state gets in the House of Representatives.
What is Apportionment?
Apportionment is a rule in United States law. It helps decide how to share or divide things fairly among the different states. The main thing it divides is the number of lawmakers each state sends to Congress.
How Representatives are Divided
The United States House of Representatives is a part of the U.S. government. It's where lawmakers from each state meet to create laws. The number of lawmakers, or "representatives," a state gets depends on its population. This means states with more people get more representatives.
The United States Census is a count of everyone living in the U.S. It happens every ten years. After the Census, the government uses the new population numbers to figure out if any state needs more or fewer representatives. Every state is guaranteed at least one representative, no matter how small its population.
For example, if a state's population grows a lot, it might gain more representatives. If a state's population shrinks, it might lose some. This system makes sure that each person's voice in government is roughly equal, no matter which state they live in.
Apportionment and Taxes
Long ago, the U.S. Constitution also said that certain taxes, called "direct taxes," had to be divided among the states based on population. This was part of Article I, Section 2 of the Constitution.
However, this rule for taxes became very difficult and unfair. Imagine a state with many people but not much wealth. It would have to pay a large share of taxes just because of its population size. This didn't seem fair to many people.
Because of these problems, the Sixteenth Amendment was added to the Constitution. This amendment changed the rule. It allowed the government to collect income taxes without having to divide them by population among the states. This made the tax system much fairer and easier to manage.
