WHAT HAPPENED TO OUR CONSTITUTION? — PART 2

This is the second post in a series.  The purpose of this series is to discuss some of the reasons why we have begun “interpreting” the Constitution with so much latitude that the document is slowly becoming meaningless and therefore useless.   In addition to the introductory post, What Happened to Our Constitution?  — Part 1, the series consists of the following:

• Part 2 – The Direct Election of Senators
• Part 3 – Income Tax
• Part 4 – Public Education
• Part 5 – American Isolation

The Direct Election of Senators

Can you imagine anything like the passage below being written today?

The State government will have the advantage of the Federal government, whether we compare them in respect to the immediate dependence of the one on the other; to the weight of personal influence which each side will possess; to the powers respectively vested in them; to the predilection and probable support of the people; to the disposition and faculty of resisting and frustrating the measures of each other. The State governments may be regarded as constituent and essential parts of the federal government; whilst the latter is nowise essential to the operation or organization of the former. Without the intervention of the State legislatures, the President of the United States cannot be elected at all. They must in all cases have a great share in his appointment, and will, perhaps, in most cases, of themselves determine it. The Senate will be elected absolutely and exclusively by the State legislatures. Even the House of Representatives, though drawn immediately from the people, will be chosen very much under the influence of that class of men, whose influence over the people obtains for themselves an election into the State legislatures. Thus, each of the principal branches of the federal government will owe its existence more or less to the favor of the State governments, and must consequently feel a dependence, which is much more likely to beget a disposition too obsequious than too overbearing towards them. (from FEDERALIST No. 45 by Madison)

In 1913, our nation ratified the 17th Amendment to the Constitution.  As Wikipedia explains:

The amendment supersedes Article I, § 3, Clauses 1 and 2 of the Constitution, transferring Senator selection from each state’s legislature to popular election by the people of each state. It also provides a contingency provision enabling a state’s governor, if so authorized by his state’s legislature, to appoint a Senator in the event of a Senate vacancy until either a special or regular election to elect a new Senator is held.  (here)

Direct election does not always produce the best results.   Hamilton had certain expectations for the Senate.  He expected the Senate to:

be composed with peculiar care and judgment; that these circumstances promise greater knowledge and more extensive information in the national councils, and that they will be less apt to be tainted by the spirit of faction, and more out of the reach of those occasional ill-humors, or temporary prejudices and propensities.” (from FEDERALIST No. 27)

The direct election of Senators, however, has resulted in a unbounded partisanship and lessened the ability of state legislatures to check the powers of the Federal Government, particularly unfunded Federal mandates.

Note also that although Article 2, Section 1, Clause 2 of the Constitution provides for State legislatures to choose presidential electors in the manner they deem appropriate, for all practical purposes we now elect the President and Vice President.    That also has allowed for the aggregation of Federal power.

President Franklin Roosevelt in particular managed to take advantage of the situation.  With each successive election, four in all, he gathered greater and greater power to himself.   After Roosevelt’s death, the People had second thoughts about the wisdom of allowing the president to serve so long in office.  Those second thoughts resulted in the 22nd Amendment to the Constitution.  With that amendment, we term limited the office of the presidency in 1951 (see here).  Perhaps one day we will also be wise enough to term limit both the members of the Senate and the House of Representatives as well.

Some people dream direct democracy solves all problems; they hold elections sacred.  The Framers of the Constitution had carefully studied history.  They held no such illusions.  So they constructed a republic that incorporated a system of checks and balances.  One of the checks on the Federal Government consisted of the powers of the State governments.  That specifically included the election of Senators by State legislatures.  The 17th Amendment to the Constitution weakened this check with predicable results; the relative power of the Federal Government grew.