This clause was like this until 1842, when Congress created the concept of dividing the states into congressional voting districts with one Congressman per district. In 1866 Congress compelled states to meet on a certain day. This was further regulated in 1872 when Congress created a general election day for all the states that would take place on the Tuesday after the first Monday of November.
Madison stated in his Convention notes that this clause “was meant to give the national legislature a power not only to alter the provisions of the states, but to make regulations, in case the states should fail or refuse altogether.”(1)
Wilson Nicholas agreed, “If the state legislature, by accident, design, or any other cause, would not appoint a place for holding elections, then there might be no election till the time was past for which they were to have been chosen; and as this would eventually put an end to the Union, it ought to be guarded against by giving this discretionary power, to the Congress, of altering the time, place, and manner of holding the elections…
“Another strong argument for the necessity of this power is, that, if it was left solely to the states, there might have been as many times of choosing as there are states…”(2)
Father, thank You for teaching our forefathers to divide the power that belongs to YOU into branches and how to balance power with power. We know that we have to do this because of our inherent sin nature. We are grieved that we have not stewarded this wisdom faithfully and have let power collude into men’s hands that mock You and Your people. We ask, not for our sake, but for Your great Names’ sake to forgive us and enable us to honor You once again, In Jesus’ Mighty Name, Amen.
(1) James Madison, The Debates in the Federal Convention of 1787 Which Framed the Constitution of the United States of America, ed. Gaillard Hunt and James Brown Scott (New York: Oxford University Press 1920), 372
(2) Jonathan Elliot, ed., The Debates in the Several State Conventions on the Adoption of the Federal Constitution, (Philadelphia: JB Lippincott Company, 1901), 3:9-11
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I have learned many of these quotes from The Making of America by Cleon Skousen. You may purchase it here.
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