On May 13, 1912, Congress passed the 17th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which was ratified on April 8, 1913. The 17th Amendment instituted the direct election by voters of U.S. senators who until then were chosen by state legislatures pursuant to Article I, Section 3 of the Constitution. The Amendment was part of the early 20th century’s progressive movement reforms. It is time to repeal that amendment.
The remarkable group of men who devised our Constitution and the Bill of Rights sought to enhance the powers of the federal government (which were ineffectual under the Articles of Confederation), but share that power among the legislative, executive, and judicial branches of government. But they also believed that the state governments should have significant residual powers as evidenced by the 10th Amendment that reserves all powers not expressly delegated to the federal government to the states or the people.
In constructing the legislative branch of the federal government, the Founders established a bicameral Congress – the House of Representatives based on a state’s population that would directly represent the people in their legislative districts and the Senate that would afford the states equal representation in Congress regardless of their population. In Federalist 62, James Madison or Alexander Hamilton (we’re still not certain which man wrote it) explained the benefits of Article I, Section 3:
It is equally unnecessary to dilate on the appointment of senators by the state legislatures… It is recommended by the double advantage of favoring a select appointment, and of giving to the state governments such an agency in the formation of the federal government… (emphasis added)
Another advantage accruing from this ingredient in the constitution of the senate is, the additional impediment it must prove against improper acts of legislation. No law or resolution can now be passed without the concurrence, first, of a majority of the people, and then, of a majority of the states. (emphasis added).
The phrases “giving to the state governments such an agency in the formation of the federal government” and “no law or resolution can… be passed without the concurrence… of a majority of the states,” reveal what the Founders intended – a strong, institutionally protected federalism; the originally designed federalism that the 17th Amendment emasculated.