Were there any doubt of this being the true construction of the
Constitution, it would be dispelled by the early and long-continued
practice of the Federal Government. For nearly sixty years after the
adoption of the Constitution no State was admitted with a population
believed at the time to be less than the current ratio for a
Representative, and the first instance in which there appears to have
been a departure from the principle was in 1845, in the case of Florida.
Obviously the result of sectional strife, we would do well to regard it
as a warning of evil rather than as an example for imitation; and I
think candid men of all parties will agree that the inspiring cause of
the violation of this wholesome principle of restraint is to be found
in a vain attempt to balance these antagonisms, which refused to be
reconciled except through the bloody arbitrament of arms. The plain
facts of our history will attest that the great and leading States
admitted since 1845, viz, Iowa, Wisconsin, California, Minnesota, and
Kansas, including Texas, which was admitted that year, have all come
with an ample population for one Representative, and some of them with
nearly or quite enough for two.
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