Editing Proportional representation (section)

=== Pre–19th century ===
One of the earliest proposals of proportionality in an assembly was by [[John Adams]] in his influential pamphlet ''[[Thoughts on Government]]'', written in 1776 during the [[American Revolution]]:
{{Blockquote|text=It should be in miniature, an exact portrait of the people at large. It should think, feel, reason, and act like them. That it may be the interest of this Assembly to do strict justice at all times, it should be an equal representation, or in other words equal interest among the people should have equal interest in it.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Adams |first1=John |title=Thoughts on Government |url=http://www.masshist.org/publications/apde/portia.php?&id=PJA04d040 |website=The Adams Papers Digital Edition |publisher=Massachusetts Historical Society |access-date=26 July 2014 |year=1776 |archive-date=27 May 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140527205110/http://www.masshist.org/publications/apde/portia.php?&id=PJA04d040 |url-status=dead }}</ref>}}

[[Honoré Gabriel Riqueti, comte de Mirabeau|Mirabeau]], speaking to the [[Parlement|Assembly of Provence]] on 30 January 1789, was also an early proponent of a proportionally representative assembly:<ref name="hoagHallett">{{cite book |last1=Hoag |first1=Clarence |url=http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015008357249;view=1up;seq=5 |title=Proportional Representation |last2=Hallett |first2=George |date=1926 |publisher=The Macmillan Company |location=New York}}</ref>

{{Blockquote|text=A representative body is to the nation what a chart is for the physical configuration of its soil: in all its parts, and as a whole, the representative body should at all times present a reduced picture of the people, their opinions, aspirations, and wishes, and that presentation should bear the relative proportion to the original precisely.}}

In February 1793, the [[Marquis de Condorcet]] led the drafting of the [[Girondin constitutional project|Girondist constitution]] which proposed a [[limited voting]] scheme with proportional aspects. Before that could be voted on, the [[The Mountain|Montagnards]] took over the [[National Convention]] and produced their own [[French Constitution of 1793|constitution]]. On 24 June, [[Louis Antoine de Saint-Just|Saint-Just]] proposed the [[single non-transferable vote]], which is semi-proportional, for national elections but the constitution was passed on the same day specifying [[first-past-the-post voting]].<ref name="hoagHallett" />

Already in 1787, [[James Wilson (Founding Father)|James Wilson]], like Adams a [[Founding Fathers of the United States|US Founding Father]], understood the importance of multiple-member districts: "Bad elections proceed from the smallness of the districts which give an opportunity to bad men to intrigue themselves into office",<ref>{{cite web |last1=Madison |first1=James |title=Notes of Debates in the Federal Convention of 1787, Wednesday, June 6 |url=http://teachingamericanhistory.org/convention/debates/0606-2/ |access-date=5 August 2014 |publisher=TeachingAmericanHistory.org}}</ref> and again, in 1791, in his Lectures on Law: "It may, I believe, be assumed as a general maxim, of no small importance in democratical governments, that the more extensive the district of election is, the choice will be the more wise and enlightened".<ref>{{cite book |last1=Wilson |first1=James |title=The Works of the Honourable James Wilson |date=1804 |publisher=[[Constitution Society]] |chapter=Vol 2, Part II, Ch.1 Of the constitutions of the United States and of Pennsylvania{{snd}}Of the legislative department, I, of the election of its members |access-date=5 August 2014 |chapter-url=http://www.constitution.org/jwilson/jwilson2.htm}}</ref> The 1790 [[Constitution of Pennsylvania]] specified multiple-member districts for the state Senate and required their boundaries to follow [[county line]]s.<ref>{{cite web |title=Constitution of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania{{snd}}1790, art.I,§ VII, Of districts for electing Senators |url=http://www.duq.edu/academics/gumberg-library/pa-constitution/texts-of-the-constitution/1790 |access-date=9 December 2014 |publisher=[[Duquesne University]]}}</ref>