ABSTRACT

Under the original terms for a more perfect Union, the United States Senate was elected by the legislatures of the several states. As a final insurance that it remains "an anchor against popular fluctuations", the Senate was elected by the state legislatures. Because the uninhibited discussions for which it was intended required a smaller membership, which in turn entailed broader, state-wide constituencies, popular election was ruled out, even in those days of sparse population, as a mockery of the true principles of representation. The direct election of senators was also seen as a necessary revision to maintain the original constitutional principles against the social and economic transformations of the post-Civil War Era. Huge concentrations of business, capital and labor had diminished the significance of the individual and rendered him voiceless in many of the decisions which affected his daily existence.