Background



The U.S. Congress: Is it representative?BackgroundThe U.S. Census counts every resident in the United States. It is mandated by Article I, Section 2 of the Constitution and takes place every 10 years. The data collected by the census determine the number of seats each state has in the U.S. House of Representatives and is also used to distribute billions of dollars in federal funds to local communities. The map below illustrates states that have either gained or lost representation as a result of the 2010 census. Part 1 of 2: How representative is Congress? Since every household in the United States is canvassed, the Census not only identifies the number of residents each state has, it also captures the racial and ethnic makeup of our country. Below are some data mined from the 2010 census. EthnicityPopulationWhite or European American223,553,265Black or African American38,929,319Asian American14,674,252Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander540,013Hispanic or Latino50,477,594Total308,745,538Note that the list is not complete (for example, individuals of two or more races/ethnicities are not included), and that the categories are not exclusive (the Hispanic/Latino category has overlap with all the others). Also note that adding the ethnicities results in a sum that is greater than the 308.7 million.028384500Why might that be? Based on this data, and the knowledge that there are 435 members of the House of Representatives and 100 members of the Senate, what should a “fair” racial/ethnic make-up of the House and Senate be? 014097000Part 2 of 2: Make your claimPart 2 of 2: Make your claimBelow is the actual racial/ethnic breakdown of the House and Senate.Racial Composition of the 112th Congress (including Delegates in the House)U.S. HouseU.S. SenateWhite36196Black440Hispanic252Asian72American Indian10Again, note that the numbers do not add up, because of the overlap in categories.Write a paragraph, as if for a newspaper about your findings regarding the racial make-up of the House and Senate, using the mathematical information from this activity and reasoning mathematically. Make an argument either for or against the statement that the U.S. House and Senate are representative of the U.S. population. ................
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