The Senate of the United States shall be composed of two Senators from each State, elected by the people thereof, for six years; and each Senator shall have one vote. The electors in each State shall have the qualifications requisite for electors of the most numerous branch of the State legislatures.
When vacancies happen in the representation of any State in the Senate, the executive authority of such State shall issue writs of election to fill such vacancies: Provided, That the legislature of any State may empower the executive thereof to make temporary appointments until the people fill the vacancies by election as the legislature may direct.
This amendment shall not be so construed as to affect the election or term of any Senator chosen before it becomes valid as part of the Constitution.
With this amendment, ALL the members of the Congress were
chosen by direct election rather than through some intermediate body. The Representatives had always been so
chosen, but it was not until after April 8, 1913 with the ratification of the
17th Amendment that the people could vote directly for their
Senators. Why was that?
We use the words democracy and democratic with great
abandon here in the United States, but our founding fathers feared the
potential of utter chaos if they attempted to establish a pure democracy were
everyone had an equal voice and every decision had to have majority
approval. Therefore, they took steps in
the framing of the constitution to limit the potential for pure democracy. We see that in the appointment of Judges, in
the Electoral College, and in the selection of Senators, where article 1, section
3, clause 1 said, “The Senate of the
United States shall be composed of two Senators from each State, chosen by the
Legislature thereof, for six Years; and each Senator shall have one Vote.”
At the Constitutional Convention, there was only one
delegate, James Wilson[i]
- a Pennsylvanian, who favored the direct election of the Senators. During the next 100 years or so the process
worked, but with some difficulty. The
principle problems are the same thing we see today where political party
affiliation became the dominate concern, and if a State’s Legislature was
divided they might not reach consensus on a nominee, leaving that state without
a Senator, or perhaps having one too many and forcing the U.S. Senate to decide
who was the best qualified.
As in all things political, there were also allegations of
graft and other corruptions that led to investigations into a number of Senator
nominations and the odd removal for being found guilty of bribing their way
into office. These events flashed across
the social media of the day; cutesy of the muckraking journalists who made
their living through the exposure of political corruption.
Following this last Presidential election, we heard much caterwauling,
condemnation, intimidation and attempted corruption of the Electoral College as
it assembled to do its constitutional duty, by those who were upset their
beloved candidate was not victorious. To those who were so emotionally
distraught as to believe that life as we know it was ending, I suggest you
contact your elected officials and demand they follow the same process our
great grandfathers had followed when they wrote the 17th Amendment.
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