<P> As James Madison wrote in Federalist No. 39, "The House of Representatives will derive its powers from the people of America...The Senate, on the other hand, will derive its powers from the States, as political and co-equal societies; and these will be represented on the principle of equality in the Senate ." </P> <P> Currently, most of the United States' rules and regulation for the House of Representatives have not changed since they were introduced in the Constitution . The qualification criteria remain the same as well: Representatives must be twenty - five or older, have been a citizen for at least 7 years, and must be inhabitants of the state they represent . </P> <P> The Congress is divided into two houses, the House of Representative and the Senate, and the qualification for them are slightly different . Members of the Senate are required to be aged 30 years or older, and to have been a citizen for at least 9 years . The reason for this is because Senators represent an entire state, whereas members of the House represent only their congressional district . </P>

The author of federalist 52 argues that the qualifications for voters should