 In 1842 the debate on apportionment in the House began in the customary way with a jockeying for the choice of a divisor using Jefferson's method.On one day alone, 59 different motions to fix a divisor were made in a House containing but 242 members.The values ranged from 30,000 to 140,000 with more than half between 50,159 and 62,172.