The Road to Mass Democracy: Original Intent and the Seventeenth Amendment

by C. H. Hoebeke

Overview

Until 1913 and passage of the Seventeenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, US senators were elected by state legislatures, not directly by the people. Progressive Era reformers urged this revision in answer to the corruption of state "machines" under the dominance of party bosses. They also believed that direct elections would make the Senate more responsive to popular concerns regarding the concentrations of business, capital, and labor that in the industrial era gave rise to a growing sense of individual voicelessness. Popular control over the higher affairs of government was thought to be possible, since the spread of information and communications technology was seen as rendering indirect representation through state legislators unnecessary. However sincerely such reasons were advanced, C. H. Hoebeke contends, none of them accorded with the original intent of the Constitution's framers.

The driving force behind the Seventeenth Amendment was the furtherance of democracy—exactly what the founders were trying to prevent in placing the Senate out of direct popular reach. Democracy was not synonymous with liberty as it is today, but simply meant the absolute rule of the majority. In full reaction to the egalitarian theories of the Enlightenment, and to the excesses of popular government under the Articles of Confederation, the Constitution's framers sought a "mixed" Constitution, an ancient ideal under which democracy was only one element in a balanced republic. Accordingly, only the House of Representatives answered immediately to the people. But as Hoebeke demonstrates, the states never resisted egalitarian encroachments, and had settled for popular expedients when electing both presidents and senators long before the formal cry for amendment. The Progressives' charge that a corrupt and unresponsive Senate could never be reformed until placed directly in the hands of the people was refuted by the amendment itself. As required by the Constitution, two-thirds of the Senate and three-fourths of the legislatures agreed to a provision which reformers claimed was against their political self-interest.

Since 1913, the Senate has become less of a deliberative body, but it is certainly no less scandalous. Big campaign money is more important than ever, and the average citizen does not really know more about the character and conduct of senate candidates than before direct elections. The Road to Mass Democracy addresses these and other issues relating to the triumph of "plebiscitary government" over "representative checks and balances." This work offers a provocative, readable, and often satiric reexamination of America's perennial insistence on redressing the problems of democracy with more democracy. It will no doubt find an audience among historians, political scientists, and general readers interested in the legacy of the founding fathers.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781560002178
Publisher:	Transaction Publishers
Publication date:	01/30/1995
Pages:	224
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x (d)

About the Author

C. H. Hoebeke received his undergraduate and graduate training in history at James Madison University. Hoebeke is Head Librarian at the World Maritime University.

Table of Contents

Introduction; 1: The Progressive Myth; 2: A Precarious Balance; 3: The Tilt in the States; 4: Federal Repercussions; 5: The Anomalous Counterweight; 6: Beveling the Congress; 7: The Deliberation to End All Deliberations; Epilogue

Editorial Reviews

Until 1913 and passage of the Seventeenth Amendment, US Senators were elected by state legislatures, not directly by the people. Hoebeke (archivist, U. of South Carolina) argues that Progressive Era reformers were working against the intentions of the founders of the Constitution when they passed the Seventeenth Amendment. He discusses the triumph of plebiscitary government over representative checks and balances, and offers a sometimes satiric reexamination of America's attempts to redress the problems of democracy with more democracy. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Booknews

Hoebeke explores the contradictions present in the movement to adopt the Seventeenth Amendment and shows how this electoral change flies in the face of the intent of the framers of the Constitution . . . Well researched and clearly written, this work will be enjoyed by both general readers and scholars interested in either the Constitution or the US Senate.” —C. P. Chelf, Choice “This book is both an account of the passage of the Seventeenth Amendment and a meditation on the problems of representative government. . . . The reader need not share Hoebeke’s political views to find something of value in his discussion of the Seventeenth Amendment. He succeeds in placing the push for the amendment into the larger political context of the progressive reform movement. He also does well in highlighting the excessive expectations, dubious arguments, and questionable motives of some of the amendment’s advocates.” —Charles Byler, The American Journal of Legal History “Hoebeke’s interesting and provocative book is an important contribution to our understanding of the political and institutional issues at stake in the Progressive Era.” —Raffaella Baritono, The Journal of American History “The Constitution of 1787 provided for the appointment of United States senators by state legislatures. In 1913, the Seventeenth Amendment was ratified, installing the current regime of direct elections of U.S. senators. The bloated and special-interest-driven nature of the federal government during this century has led scholars in recent years to reexamine the original framework of the Senate and to consider the causes of the Seventeenth Amendment and its consequences for U.S. twentieth-century politics and society. C. H. Hoebeke’s The Road to Mass Democracy is an important addition to this growing literature.” —Todd J. Zywicki, Independent Review

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