three, or four years.

§4. The senate, as distinguished from the house of representatives, is
sometimes called the upper house. It was designed to be a more select
body, composed of men chosen with reference to their superior ability,
or their greater experience in public affairs.

§5. Senators are differently apportioned in different states. In some
states they are apportioned among the several counties, so that the
number to be elected in each county shall be in proportion to the number
of its inhabitants. In others they are elected by districts, equal in
number to the number of senators to be chosen in the state, and a
senator is elected in each district. The districts are to contain, as
nearly as may be, an equal number of inhabitants; and sometimes they
comprise several counties.

§6. Representatives are apportioned among the counties in proportion to
the population in each. In some states they are elected in districts of
equal population, counties being sometimes divided in the formation of
districts. In the New England states, representatives are apportioned
among the towns. In about one-half of the states, they are elected
annually; in the others, (including-most of the southern and western
states,) they are elected every two years.

§7. The different modes of apportioning members of the legislature have
in view the same object--equal representation; that is, giving a member
to the same number of inhabitants in one county or district as to an
equal number in another. But in some counties the population increases
more rapidly than in others. The representation then becomes unequal,
being no longer in proportion to population.