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Amendment 17
Section 1
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The Senate of the United States shall be composed of two Senators from each State, elected by the people thereof, for six years; and each Senator shall have one vote. The electors in each State shall have the qualifications requisite for electors of the most numerous branch of the State Legislatures. |
This Amendment changed Article 1, Section 3, Paragraph 1 of our Constitution.
Our Founding Fathers had a very contentious debate over how many Senators from each State and how they would be selected. The compromise was that there would be 2 Senators and they would be direct representatives of the States - appointed by the several State Legislatures.
This Amendment undoes the great compromise of the Federal Convention.
Instead of the Senate being a body where each State has equal representation, it now becomes a body elected by the people and subject to all of the political whims that come along.
As it turned out - this was a major step forward in letting the Federal Government make the States subject to its will.
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