MADISONCENTER FOR AMERICAN LEADERSHIP
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The Constitution,
connected.

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The constitutional text

Article I · Section 2

Select any highlighted phrase to understand what it means.

The House of Representatives shall be composed of Members chosen every second Year by the People of the several States, and the Electors in each State shall have the Qualifications requisite for Electors of the most numerous Branch of the State Legislature.

No Person shall be a Representative who shall not have attained to the Age of twenty five Years, and been seven Years a Citizen of the United States, and who shall not, when elected, be an Inhabitant of that State in which he shall be chosen.

[Representatives and direct Taxes shall be apportioned among the several States which may be included within this Union, according to their respective Numbers, which shall be determined by adding to the whole Number of free Persons, including those bound to Service for a Term of Years, and excluding Indians not taxed, three fifths of all other Persons.]* The actual Enumeration shall be made within three Years after the first Meeting of the Congress of the United States, and within every subsequent Term of ten Years, in such Manner as they shall by Law direct. The Number of Representatives shall not exceed one for every thirty Thousand, but each State shall have at Least one Representative; and until such enumeration shall be made, the State of New Hampshire shall be entitled to chuse three, Massachusetts eight, Rhode-Island and Providence Plantations one, Connecticut five, New-York six, New Jersey four, Pennsylvania eight, Delaware one, Maryland six, Virginia ten, North Carolina five, South Carolina five, and Georgia three.

When vacancies happen in the Representation from any State, the Executive Authority thereof shall issue Writs of Election to fill such Vacancies.

The House of Representatives shall chuse their Speaker and other Officers; and shall have the sole Power of Impeachment.

Source: National Constitution Center edition. Original wording is preserved; commentary explains historical and superseded provisions.

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202 elements · 219 connections · One constitutional systemOpen the reader
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You don’t have to understand everything at once. One connection is a good beginning.

LOOK A LITTLE CLOSER

Article I, Section 2, Clause 5 — officers

The House chooses its own leadership

Current text
The House of Representatives shall chuse their Speaker and other Officers;

What it means

The House selects its Speaker and other officers. This is an institutional power of the chamber, separate from the President’s authority to appoint executive and judicial officers.

Historical setting

The design follows a broader commitment to legislative independence from the executive. It also differentiates the House from the Senate, whose constitutional presiding officer is the Vice President.

What it does

The Constitution names the Speaker without defining all the office’s modern procedural and party responsibilities. Those responsibilities emerge through House rules, legislation where applicable, and political practice.

Debate & interpretation

Leadership can make collective action possible while concentrating control over what the chamber considers. Readers should distinguish the constitutional existence of the office from the particular power a contemporary Speaker exercises under changing rules.

A common misreading

The President does not appoint the Speaker, and the Constitution does not itself provide a complete job description for the modern office.

Think it through

Which leadership powers would help a large chamber deliberate, and which could prevent it from hearing important alternatives?

Follow the connection

Sources & further reading

Original Madison Center commentary. Explanations distinguish the text, historical context, and interpretive disagreements.

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