The first Presidential veto:
On this day in 1792, George Washington exercised his power to veto legislation for the first time in the nation?s history when he refused to sign a bill designed to apportion members of the House.
He vetoed the bill because he held that the Constitution did not authorize Congress to fix the size of the House of Representatives on a permanent basis as it goes about allocating seats in proportion to a state?s population. As Thomas Jefferson, then Washington?s secretary of state, observed, ?if the [ratio of] representation [is] obtained by any process not prescribed in the Constitution, it becomes arbitrary and inadmissible.?
A President who vetoed legislation because he knew it was unconstitutional. Imagine that.
April 5th, 2007 at 3:21 pm
The irony in this is that, over a century later, the House did just what Washington opposed, and limited itself to 435 seats. I have always wondered what the House (and its members) would be if the old population requirements were maintained.