Dec 25

Dec 25 Is Representation Truly Representative in the Constitution? - Brutus III

Brutus III was an Anti-Federalist Paper that criticized the was representation was constructed in the US Constitution.

Brutus III

November 15, 1787

Brutus III, an Anti-Federalist Paper by an anonymous author (probably Robert Yates), discusses the means of Representation in the United States Constitution.

This argument reviews why representation in Congress is inherently unfair and why it would lead to a complete takeover of power by the wealthy families of the nation.

Brutus’ focus is on the House of Representatives and its makeup, though he does make time for issues with the Senate as well.

Slavery

Brutus begins his paper by attacking the three-fifths clause, meant to count slaves as a segment of the population.

Brutus stated that slaves were, “held in bondage, in defiance of every idea of benevolence, justice and religion, and contrary to all the principles of liberty, which have been publickly avowed in the late glorious revolution.”

However, slaves were considered property and could not vote.

Brutus questions this from both angles.

If slaves were property, should not others be able to claim their horses and cows as part of the population?

Conversely, if slaves are counted among the population, should they not have a say in who is chosen as their representative?

In Brutus’ estimation, this system gave significantly more power to delegations from southern States than they deserved. Why, for example, should North Carolina get extra representatives if those representatives are obviously not representing the part of the population which added an extra seat to the House?

House of Representatives

Brutus continues his discussion by pointing out that the Assembly of a free government should look similar to that of the people, stating that a foreigner should be able to look at the makeup of the Assembly and gain an understanding of the general population.

This, Butus believed, could not happen under the Constitution.

If you were to add up all the members of the 13 State Assemblies, the number would be around 2000. Meanwhile, the Constitution was going to begin with 65 Delegates in the House.

This was a severe shrinking of representation. Furthermore, he notes that a quorum would be 33 persons and a majority of that would be just 17 people. Seventeen people making decisions for (at the time) 2.5 million.

There was no way the author could imagine an average citizen actually being represented in a government of this nature.

Brutus believed that the opposite was true, with so few positions of power available wealthy families would come together in much the same fashion of European nobles and dominate society.