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The Ratification of the Seventeenth Amendment
In 1911, Kansas senator Joseph Bristow proposed what would become the Seventeenth Amendment to the Constitution. Following its proposal, it was passed by Congress on May 13, 1912, and shortly thereafter was ratified by the states on April 8, 1913. The Seventeenth Amendment provided changes to Article I, Section 3, of the Constitution by allowing voters to vote directly for US Senators. Prior to the amendment's ratification, each state's population elected their state legislatures which would then choose each state's two US Senators.
The Seventeenth Amendment was another result of the progressive movement that arrived at the end of the 19th century and start of the 20th century. Many statements from politicians such as Woodrow Wilson indicated that they believed that the Constitution was outdated and inadequate to govern in their "modern" times. The Seventeenth Amendment aimed at nothing less than to change the structure of the relationship between the federal government and the states. Ultimately, it weakened the state governments and their power to "check" the federal government, thus creating a more centralized government.
The Seventeenth Amendment stated:
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.1
The wording in Article I, Section 3 of the Constitution originally stated “chosen by the Legislature thereof” but was replaced with “elected by the people thereof."
A Brief History Prior to the Seventeenth Amendment
An inflection point occurred in 1906, thanks to the publisher William Randolph Hearst, who was a proponent of direct election. He was the owner of Cosmopolitan magazine and he hired the novelist David Graham Phillips to author various articles that were published in Cosmopolitan. Phillips’ propagandist collection of articles were known as “The Treason of the Senate.” These articles presented a picture, and in many ways a false picture of senators as corrupt instruments of the business and banker class. Undoubtedly, there were certain individuals that were accurately represented by Phillips' articles, however, these articles were meant to plant the idea in the mind of Americans that they needed to be able to directly elect their United States Senators.2
Although the Seventeenth Amendment completed the transition to a popularly elected Senate, some states, had already begun electing their United States Senators by popular vote. Oregon was the first state to elect its US senators in a direct election in 1907.
The required three-fourths majority needed for ratification was finalized by Connecticut on April 8, 1913. Augustus Bacon of Georgia was the first senator directly elected under the terms of the Seventeenth Amendment, on July 15, 1913.3 The senate elections of 1914 marked the first time that all senatorial elections were held by popular vote.
The Senate From 1913 to 1920
Following the ratification of the Seventeenth Amendment, the political landscape was completely different. In 1913, there were 48 states that had been admitted to the union. New Mexico and Arizona had just been admitted in 1912. That means that in total there were 96 United States Senators.
Table of US Senators, Republican vs Democrat: 1912 to 1920*
Election/Year | Republicans | Democrats |
1912-1913 | 45 | 47 |
1914 | 39 | 56 |
1916 | 42 | 54 |
1918 | 49 | 47 |
1920 | 59 | 37 |
*Where the total does not equate to 96, the remainder was independent.
In 1913, the Democrats and Republicans were split pretty evenly in the Senate. Following the Senate elections of 1914, the Democrats took overwhelming control of the Senate. They maintained their wide lead in 1916. Following the war, and after several increases in America's newly legalized income taxes, the senate swung back into Republican control through 1920. Republicans held a strong majority in most senate elections until 1932 when Democrats took an overwhelming majority in the midst of the Great Depression.
Problems With The Seventeenth Amendment
The Seventeenth Amendment replaced wording in Article I, Section 3 of the Constitution where it states “chosen by the Legislature thereof” with “elected by the people thereof.” In addition, it allowed the governor or executive authority of each state, if authorized by that state’s legislature, to appoint a senator in the event of a vacancy, until a general election occurs. See the Blagojevich scandal of 2008-09.
Weakening Individual State's Power
As people have learned about checks and balances within American government from their civics courses, most often they are spoken of as a check among the three branches of the federal government. However, this is but one type of check and balance and focusing on this alone neglects another important check and balance. That is the one that exists between state governments and federal governments. The Seventeenth Amendment took a steady aim at weakening this accountability that states could impose upon the federal government.
An article from the Heritage Foundation regarding the Seventeenth Amendment states:
It was designed to enhance the authority of the central government and expand the size and power of a federal bureaucracy.5
When the Constitution was written, the way in which senators were chosen was one of the checks that was carefully intended by the framers. One of the most famous framers of the Constitution and author of the Federalist Papers, Alexander Hamilton saw the importance of strong individual state governments to temper the power of the federal government. The US Senate and how its representatives would be chosen became an issue of debate at the New York Convention where the Constitution was being debated. There, Hamilton stated:
...that the senators will constantly look up to the state governments, with an eye of dependence and affection. If they are ambitious to continue in office, they will make every prudent arrangement for this purpose, and, whatever may be their private sentiments of politics, they will be convinced, that the surest means of obtaining a re-election will be a uniform attachment to the interests of their several states.6
Since the founding of America, there has always been a group of people that are either willfully ignorant or naïve to the nature of man when they come into contact with and receive power. Although Alexander Hamilton understood the importance of state legislatures selecting their senators, he believed that the concern that US Senators might become corrupt was not a valid concern due to how Article 1 Section 3 of the Constitution structured their selection process. Hamilton likely couldn't conceive the possibility that state legislatures would willfully hand over power via the Constitutional Amendment process and the Seventeenth Amendment. This is evident where Hamilton states:
Gentlemen indulge too many unreasonable apprehensions of danger to the state governments. They seem to suppose, that the moment you put men into the national council, they become corrupt and tyrannical, and lose all their affection for their fellow-citizens. But can we imagine that the senators will ever be so insensible of their own advantage, as to sacrifice the genuine interest of their constituents?7
Today, we have an answer to Hamilton's question. Despite Hamilton not taking the threat as serious as others, Hamilton implored men that the states must never sacrifice their power at the altar of the federal government.
This conviction can never leave them, unless they become madmen. While the constitution continues to be read, and its principles known, the states must, by every rational man, be considered as essential component parts of the union; and therefore the idea of sacrificing the former to the latter is totally inadmissible.8
Here is yet another quote from the legal expert and commentator, Mark Levin which agrees that the Seventeenth Amendment weakened the power of the individual states.
...state governments with direct input in the national government was not only an essential check on the new federal government’s power, but also a means by which the states could influence congressional lawmaking.9
"All The King's Men"
The ability to have senators popularly elected was essential to increasing the power of the United States executive branch, the president. The year the Seventeenth Amendment was passed, Woodrow Wilson expressly intended to usher in the age of administration. That's because when a president chooses his administration or cabinet, it must be approved by a percentage of the senate per Article II Section 2 of the Constitution.
[the president] shall nominate, and by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, shall appoint Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls, Judges of the Supreme Court, and all other Officers of the United States, whose Appointments are not herein otherwise provided for.10
In 1913, When the Constitution was written, the percentage needed for the US Senate to provide its consent was two-thirds. Today, thanks to the nuclear option being invoked during the 113th Congress, the threshold to appoint a presidential cabinet member only requires a simple majority.11 The Seventeenth Amendment made it easier for a US President to implement their "administrative agenda" during their presidency. Today, often times a President will campaign for US Senators of their party providing an unspoken quid pro quo.
Urban Areas Over Rural Areas
Prior to the Seventeenth Amendment, rural counties and cities received equal representation in their state legislatures. How so? When a rural voter chose their state legislature to represent their congressional district, their vote was tallied against those who also lived in their congressional district of the state. Naturally, this elected state legislators who aligned with rural American values and granted equal representation to the rural parts of the country. Then, when state legislators chose US Senators, it increased the likelihood that rural America would have a larger say in who became a US Senator. In other words, the United States Senate would be equally represented by the various regions of the United States, no matter whether their population was rural or urban. This is no longer the case and thanks in part to the Seventeenth Amendment, the cities have a larger impact on senators than rural America.
In the period since 2009, there has been several government officials speak out against the Seventeenth Amendment and advocate to repeal the amendment completely. People who wish to repeal the amendment rightly acknowledge the the Seventeenth Amendment is a source for the "swampiness" of DC politics and that it would put a degree of power back in the hands of the states.
A Leftward Drift
As one studies the makeup of the United States Senate between Democrats and Republicans over time, it becomes evident that it historically swings back and forth between the two parties. Sometimes the Democrats are in control and other times Republicans are in control. To some, this may make it seem like all is fair in the world and the Seventeenth Amendment has had no real harmful effect on the American political system. However, I would argue that simply observing the makeup of the US Senate over time does NOT tell the whole story. That's because since the current system favors the cities over rural America, this all but guarantees a continual leftward drift in American politics. Today, the Republican Party finds itself much further left ideologically than what even the Democrat Party was just fifty years ago. And today's Democrat Party is practically unrecognizable to the Democrat Party of just 20 to 30 years ago. So although one can make the argument that control of the US Senate is sometimes controlled by both parties, they are still both drifting away from what I would call truly conservative, Christian values. Repealing the Seventeenth Amendment and restoring the Constitutional process of selecting US Senators is one step Americans can take towards restoring the American Constitutional Republic.
Sources:
“Seventeenth Amendment,” Constitution Annotated, accessed October 20, 2023, https://constitution.congress.gov/constitution/amendment-17/.
“U.S. Senate: Landmark Legislation: The Seventeenth Amendment to the Constitution,” United States Senate, August 7, 2023, accessed October 20, 2023, https://www.senate.gov/about/origins-foundations/senate-and-constitution/seventeenth-amendment.htm.
“U.S. Senate: Landmark Legislation: The Seventeenth Amendment to the Constitution,” United States Senate.
“U.S. Senate: Landmark Legislation: The Seventeenth Amendment to the Constitution,” United States Senate.
Hans Von Spakovsky, “17th Amendment Weakened Balance of Power Between States, Federal Government | The Heritage Foundation,” The Heritage Foundation, accessed October 20, 2023, https://www.heritage.org/the-constitution/commentary/17th-amendment-weakened-balance-power-between-states-federal-government.
University of Virginia Press, “Founders Online: New York Ratifying Convention. Remarks (Francis Childs’s Versi ...,” accessed October 20, 2023, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Hamilton/01-05-02-0012-0023.
University of Virginia Press, Founders Online: New York Ratifying Convention.
University of Virginia Press, Founders Online: New York Ratifying Convention.
Hans Von Spakovsky, “17th Amendment Weakened Balance of Power Between States, Federal Government | The Heritage Foundation,” The Heritage Foundation, accessed October 20, 2023, https://www.heritage.org/the-constitution/commentary/17th-amendment-weakened-balance-power-between-states-federal-government.
“Interpretation: Article II, Section 2: Treaty Power and Appointments | Constitution Center,” National Constitution Center – constitutioncenter.org, accessed October 20, 2023, https://constitutioncenter.org/the-constitution/articles/article-ii/clauses/346#.
“Article II, Section 2: Treaty Power and Appointments | Constitution Center.