Making the Senate populist
Reading any pre-1900 writings about the U.S. Senate, it’s clear that people held it in high esteem; since Senators were not popularly elected, it was an aristocratic government position, typically filled with the best and brightest from each state. The 17th Amendment to the Constitution changed this in 1913, making the Senate popularly elected. Does it occur to anyone else that this might be part of the reason why our government seems so shoddy nowadays, and why the Senate doesn’t seem all that much different from the House of Representatives? My understanding of the Senate is that it has always viewed itself as the more sober half of the legislature — it’s elected for longer terms, for one thing, which is in no way accidental.
Indeed, rereading the Federalist Papers, I think you’ll find quite often that the government we have today either systematically departs from the Framers’ plans, or that the Federalists’ predictions have come true. E.g.,
If [a stranger to our politics] came afterwards to peruse the plan itself, he would be surprised to discover, that neither the one nor the other was the case; that the whole power of raising armies was lodged in the LEGISLATURE, not in the EXECUTIVE; that this legislature was to be a popular body, consisting of the representatives of the people periodically elected; and that instead of the provision he had supposed in favor of standing armies, there was to be found, in respect to this object, an important qualification even of the legislative discretion, in that clause which forbids the appropriation of money for the support of an army for any longer period than two years a precaution which, upon a nearer view of it, will appear to be a great and real security against the keeping up of troops without evident necessity.
I wish this country were as engaged in political debate of a high order as the Framers were over the Constitution.
And incidentally, if anyone feels like buying me a copy of The Debate on the Constitution : Federalist and Antifederalist Speeches, Articles, and Letters During the Struggle over Ratification (parts One and Two, and I thought there was a Three), you are welcome to do so.
Stephen — the reason the Constitution was amended so that the Senate is directly elected is that when they were selected by state legislatures, trusts and robber barons would routinely bribe the legislators to get senators who knew which side their bread was buttered on. Look up the phrase “the Senator from Standard Oil”. If you think the present government is corrupt and generally held in low esteem, go read Twain’s The Gilded Age.
Comment by Cosma — January 1, 1970 @ 8:00 am
Well-put, Cosma. The argument that senators were in industry’s back pocket should have occurred to me.
For anyone who’s interested, Twain’s Gilded Age is available through Project Gutenberg.
Comment by Steve Laniel — January 1, 1970 @ 8:00 am