Thursday, November 3, 2016
The 17th Amendment of the Constitution
Before the 17th Amendment was issued, according to Articles 1, Clauses 1 and 2 of the Constitution, each state legislature elected their senators for a term of six years. Each state was allowed two senators as part of the Connecticut Compromise. This was done regardless of the size of the state. Originally, the old way of electing senators had its advantages for the states. Before the amendment was formed, the states could control their own government, which reporting to the central government. This would ensure the loyalty of the people to their states. This amendment forced the states to report to the central government. It also assured the anti-federalists that the states would have someone to report and that they wouldn't overpower the people. This amendment not only provided for direct election of the senators, but also a way to check and balance the power of the states' government. But, the states' still retained the right to control their senators and what the voted on. This gave the direct and indirect representation control in the federal government.
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Great post on an important piece of American legislature. It is important for everyone to realize that the direct election of senators was a rather Progressive piece of legislature at the time. Do you believe the passing of the 17th amendment was overdue or was it passed at an appropriate time?
ReplyDeleteFor more information on the 17th amendment:
https://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution/amendmentxvii
I think it obviously could have been passed at an earlier time. But given that the Constitution's drafter did focus heavily on meritocracy and checking against a lesser educated population, the changes probably could not have been made until progressive ideology like that of the late 19th and early 20th century came about. I'm curious about whether the passage of the amendments had any effect on senators themselves -- were many of them replaced by popularly elected ones? How did that affect politics in the coming years?
ReplyDeleteI liked this post and thought it gave good context for the passing of 17th amendment and tied back to the original Constitution (which we mostly forgot about already). I share Alex's sentiment for how the passing of this amendment affected the senators who were elected, an think the blog post did a good job of raising those types of questions. Were incumbents who had been corrupt replaced with fresher, democratically-elected senators? Were more bills passed, less bills?
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