I think the operative word there is "numbers." Representatives shall be apportioned among the several States according to their respective "numbers." It does not use the word citizens. and I think that is important. because the very next sentence does refer to citizens. It says. if citizens are denied the right to vote. then the apportionment shall be reduced. Now. this amendment. we need to remember. was adopted at the end of the American Civil War. at a time when we did have citizenship and we did have passports. Congress and the Nation bad addressed the question of immigration and citizenship. It is very clear that those who drafted that constitutional amendment and the States that adopted it were talking about apportioning on the basis of numbers. Of course. that is exactly what the census is all aboutnumbers.
Keywords matched
immigration