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House of Representatives

Definition

The House of Representatives is one of the two chambers of the United States Congress, the other being the Senate. It is made up of representatives from each state, with representation based on population size.

Analogy

Think about a school where each class sends a representative to a student council meeting. The more students in a class, the more representatives they get. That's how the House works - states with larger populations have more representatives.

Related terms

Apportionment: This refers to the process by which seats in a legislative body are distributed among administrative divisions entitled to representation.

Bicameralism: This is a system where legislators are divided into two separate assemblies, chambers or houses.

Speaker of the House: This person serves as presiding officer and administrative head of its proceedings. They're elected at beginning of new Congress by entire membership of House.