To remedy this grievance, it was provided
by a statute in the reign of Charles II, that the intermissions should
not be protracted beyond a period of three years. On the accession of
William III, when a revolution took place in the government, the
subject was still more seriously resumed, and it was declared to be
among the fundamental rights of the people that parliaments ought to be
held FREQUENTLY. By another statute, which passed a few years later in
the same reign, the term "frequently," which had alluded to the
triennial period settled in the time of Charles II, is reduced to a
precise meaning, it being expressly enacted that a new parliament shall
be called within three years after the termination of the former. The
last change, from three to seven years, is well known to have been
introduced pretty early in the present century, under on alarm for the
Hanoverian succession. From these facts it appears that the greatest
frequency of elections which has been deemed necessary in that kingdom,
for binding the representatives to their constituents, does not exceed a
triennial return of them. And if we may argue from the degree of liberty
retained even under septennial elections, and all the other vicious
ingredients in the parliamentary constitution, we cannot doubt that a
reduction of the period from seven to three years, with the other
necessary reforms, would so far extend the influence of the people over
their representatives as to satisfy us that biennial elections, under
the federal system, cannot possibly be dangerous to the requisite
dependence of the House of Representatives on their constituents.
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