Seventeenth Amendment to the United States Constitution

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Ratified on April 8, 1913, the Seventeenth Amendment (Amendment XVII) to the United States Constitution changed the method by which United States Senators were elected.^[1] For the first 125 years Article 1, section 3 of the Constitution required US Senators to be elected by the state legislatures.^[2] A number of problems in the United States Senate created the need to change how Senators were elected from indirect to direct elections by the people of the United States.^[3]

1. ↑ "17th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution: Direct Election of U.S. Senators (1913)". OurDocuments.gov. Retrieved 6 March 2016.
2. ↑ "17th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution: Direct Election of U.S. Senators". The U.S. National Archives and Records Administration. Retrieved 6 March 2016.
3. ↑ "Seventeenth Amendment - Popular Election of Senators". FindLaw. Retrieved 6 March 2016.