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In 1911, the House of Representatives passed House Joint Resolution 39 proposing a constitutional amendment for direct election of senators. However, it included a “race rider” meant to bar Federal intervention in cases of racial discrimination among voters.
Passed by Congress on May 13, 1912, and ratified on April 8, 1913, the 17th Amendment modified Article I, Section 3, of the Constitution by allowing voters to cast direct votes for U.S. senators. Prior to its passage, senators were chosen by state legislatures.
House Resolution to Amend the Constitution for Direct Election of Senators, February 14, 1826. This was the first time a proposal for a constitutional amendment for direct election of senators was introduced in Congress.
The Direct Election of Senators. “It is harder for a poor man to enter the United States Senate than for a rich man to enter Heaven. The Constitution, as it was adopted in 1788, made the Senate an assembly where the states would have equal representation.
As Secretary of State in 1913, he announced via this notification that three-quarters of the states had ratified the proposed amendment for direct election of senators, and therefore it “had become valid to all intents and purposes as a part of the Constitution of the United States.”
The Constitution, as it was adopted in 1788, made the Senate an assembly where the states would have equal representation. READ MORE.
It overrides the previous Constitution’s provisions on the election of senators, changing it so that they are elected directly by the voting public during elections. The new amendment also authorizes state governors to have temporary officials hold vacant senate seats until a proper special election can be conducted.
Support grew slowly for popular, or direct, election of senators by voters. Strong resistance in the Senate to a proposed Constitutional amendment calling for direct elections meant the idea got nowhere for many years.
This 1826 proposal by Representative Henry Randolph Storrs of New York to have the people of each state directly elect their senators was the first of nearly 300 resolutions that would be introduced in Congress before 1912.
A substitute amendment by Senator Joseph L. Bristow (R-KS) provided for the direct election of Senators without the "race rider." Bristow’s version later passed both houses of Congress and was ratified by the states.