The ratification of the Seventeenth Amendment was the outcome of increasing popular dissatisfaction with the original method of state legislatures selecting Senators set forth at Article I, Section 3, Clause 1.1 As more people were able to exercise the franchise, the belief became widespread that Senators ought to be popularly elected in the same manner as Representatives.2 Acceptance of this idea was fostered by the mounting accumulation of evidence of the practical disadvantages and malpractices attendant upon legislative selection, such as deadlocks within legislatures resulting in vacancies remaining unfilled for substantial intervals, the influencing of legislative selection by corrupt political organizations and special interest groups through purchase of legislative seats, and the neglect of other duties by legislators as a consequence of protracted electoral contests.

Footnotes

1

See ArtI.S3.C1.3 Selection of Senators by State Legislatures.

2

See ArtI.S2.C1.2 Voter Qualifications for House of Representatives Elections.