SUPPLEMENTAL CONTENT
Established in 2004, Thirty-Thousand.org is a non-partisan and non-profit organization that conducts research on, and educates the public about, the benefits of establishing Congressional districts that are both smaller and equally-sized relative to their populations.
© 2004 to 2023 Thirty-Thousand.org, Inc. All rights reserved.
Solely for the sake of brevity, masculine pronouns are used in this website. Unless otherwise suggested by the context, all such pronouns should be construed as gender neutral.
“If a nation expects to be ignorant and free… It expects what never was and never will be.”
-Thomas Jefferson
Thirty-Thousand.org’s “great seal” is derived from the reverse side of the United States Great Seal (shown above on the left) and is intended as an homage to that design which was adopted in 1782. However, the differences to the actual Great Seal may not be readily apparent to many observers until they are compared side by side.
Our version emphasizes the fact that the very first constitutional amendment proposed by congress, Article the first, was intended to ensure that the number of Representatives would forever increase along with the total population. Implementing this proposal will result in citizen equality (ÆQUALITAS CIVILIS) relative to the people’s political power. This equality, as well as the other benefits resulting from smaller electoral districts, will ensure true representation (REPRÆSENTATIO VERA) in the federal House. Hence, ÆQUALITAS CIVILIS = REPRÆSENTATIO VERA.
Not only was George Washington the “indispensable man” relative to the founding of our nation, but he also played a key role in the drama surrounding the size of the House of Representatives. September 17, 1787, was the final day of the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia. Two days earlier the convention unanimously agreed to the text of the Constitution and, having since been engrossed on the parchment, it was now ready to be signed by all the delegates. Despite that, an urgent proposal had just been made by one of the those delegates relative to the clause declaring that “the number of Representatives shall not exceed one for every forty thousand…”. The proposal was that “forty thousand” be reduced to “thirty thousand” in hopes of lessening the objections to the constitution they were proposing to the states. Said motion having been seconded by others present, George Washington rose to address this question. Though he had been the President of the convention, this was the first time he addressed the assembly on a substantive matter.
Our logo is derived from the triangle which hovers over the pyramid in Thirty-Thousand.org’s version of the “great seal”. The triangle symbolizes unity and perfectness, and the equal sign contained therein symbolizes the political equality among the citizens that the Constitution is intended to establish.