Hi I'm trying to get a grip on the history and functioning of the US system of Government. One thing I'm not sure about is how much freedom states have to organise their own legislature.
I'm particularly interested in the 18th and early 19th century. (When the state legislatures were of greater importance, directly selecting senators and presidential electors).
Were the states franchises at this time considerably different (ignorring the issue of slaverey for a moment)? Did some states retain property qualifications for voting or standing for the state legislature, if so when were these dropped?
More generally today how much say does the federal goverment/constitution have on how a state organises its legislature?Matthew 82.47.203.151 (talk) 16:34, 7 October 2008 (UTC)
I've noticed that out of a sample size of five states, all of the sampled states have 1 senator in the state legislature for every 3 in the lower house. Are all state legislatures fixed so the upper house would be one-third that of the lower house, just like the Australian Senate has to be roughly half the Australian House of Representatives? Scott Gall 08:04, 26 May 2006 (UTC) PS: I've noticed the Canadian Senate and the Canadian House of Commons might be using a 1:3 ratio as well (or a 105:308 ratio to be more precise :-)) I thought only Australia had one of those "nexus clauses."
Many states fix the number of seats in one house to the number in the other, but those are all decisions of the states themselves, which can be changed as easily (or not) as the state constitution that creates the legislature. 76.117.247.55 (talk) 14:00, 8 August 2009 (UTC)