“Soldiers at the Polls”:Race, Federal Control and the

Seventeenth Amendment

Joshua Heit

"The times, places, and manner of holding Elections for Senators and Representatives, shall be prescribed in each State by the legislature thereof; but the Congress may at any time by law make or alter such regulations, except as to the places of choosing Senators."

- Article I, Section 4 of the US Constitution

The Beginnings of Direct Election

• Four proposed methods– Senate appointed by the House of Representatives– President appoints Senators from a list made by the

state legislatures– Senators elected by the state legislatures– Senators elected by direct vote

• The main proponent of direct election was James Wilson of Pennsylvania. Election by state legislatures was favored by John Dickinson of Delaware.

• The Constitutional Convention passed election of senators by state legislatures 9 to 2, Pennsylvania and Virginia voting against it.

James WilsonPhoto credit:

http://www.constitution.org/img/found019.htm

Early Debate

• First Constitutional amendment for the direct election of Senators was proposed in 1826.

• A main proponent was Andrew Johnson, who worked for the reform as a Representative, Senator, and as President. Andrew Johnson

Photo credit:

http://www.americaslibrary.gov/cgi-bin/page.cgi/jb/nation/johnson_1

The Stockton Debate and the Election Law of 1866

• In 1866, the Senate debated the credentials of John Stockton of New Jersey – it was alleged that New Jersey law was violated in his election.

• Senate eventually ruled against Stockton, despite a controversial Senate vote.

• Stockton had pointed out the inconsistencies among the laws of the states governing the election of senators in the states.

• Led to a Senate bill in 1866 which laid out some ground rules for the states in the process of electing senators.

The Creation of the Solid South• The presence of Union troops during Reconstruction was

a hurtful memory for Southern whites.• After the end of Reconstruction, the Democratic Party

reemerged as the dominant party.• States across the former Confederacy passed laws and

state constitutional amendments in order to disenfranchise blacks: “reforms” such as the poll tax, the eight-box law, and the grandfather clause. This greatly reduced turnout in the Southern states and disenfranchised many poor whites as well as blacks.

• Republicans after Reconstruction did not want to expend any political capital in enforcing the Civil War amendments; as a result, the South was allow to do this mainly unhindered.

The Lodge Fair Election Bill of 1890, or The “Force Bill”

• Congress in 1890 undertook to enforce the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments – this bill was sponsored by Henry Cabot Lodge of Massachusetts.

• It passed the House, but failed in the Senate, allowing for the South’s disenfranchising laws to continue.

Henry Cabot Lodge

Photo credit:

http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=L000393

Agitation for Direct Elections

• In the wake of the 1866 law, deadlocks became common, and some states did not elect a senator at all for some Congresses.

• The movement into the Progressive Era also led to popular reforms in the states; these transferred to the federal government and the idea of direct election of senators.

Congress Takes On Direct Election

• The Senate debated the merits of direct election in 1890 and 1892, with men such as John Mitchell of Oregon and David Turpie of Indiana speaking for the resolution and William Chandler of New Hampshire coming out against it.

• The House passed a direct elections resolution in 1893, sponsored by Henry St. George Tucker of Virginia. Tucker’s resolution removed the federal control of Senators from the Constitution.

George Hoar Addresses the Senate

• George Hoar of Massachusetts made a long speech against direct election of senators on April 6 and 7 of 1893.

• This speech was so influential that it stemmed the discussion of direct election of senators on the Senate floor for a decade. George Hoar

Photo credit:http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=H000654

The Continued Debate• The House passed another direct elections bill in 1894; it

also lacked a provision to retain federal control.• In 1898, 1900, and 1902, the House passed direct

elections bills with Article I, Section 4 restored. The main debate at this time was whether or not to make the direct election of senators optional among the states.

• In 1902, the Senate consider direct election and an amendment by New York’s Chauncey Depew which would have allowed Congress to make uniform laws for the direct election of Senators. Southerners took offense, as the law was aimed at their discriminatory policies, which they defended. In the end, the bill was tabled.

The States Take the Lead• After 1902, Congress, for the most part, stopped

debating the direct election of Senators.• States began to enact systems to allow for the

practical popular election of Senators – the most popular of these was the “Oregon System”.

• States also began to petition Congress both imploring them to pass the direct elections amendment, and then to call for a constitutional convention for that purpose.

• Public furor was also aroused for the direct election of Senators, especially by David Graham Phillips’ “The Treason of the Senate” series in Cosmopolitan.

David Graham Phillips

Photo credit:

http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/USAphillipsDG.htm

1911: The Critical Year• The Senate discussed direct

elections at the end of the Sixty-First Congress; the resolution was presented by William Borah, a progressive Republican – a group known as “insurgents”.

• This resolution would have eliminated federal control – George Sutherland of Utah proposed an amendment to restore it.

• After much debate, the Senate voted to pass the Sutherland amendment, and then rejected the direct elections resolution, which gained a majority of votes, but not the required two-thirds.

William Borah

Photo credit:

http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=B000634George Sutherland

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http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=S001080

The Sixty-Second Congress• In the next Congress, Borah

reintroduced his resolution early. The Sutherland amendment was sponsored by an “insurgent”, Joseph Bristow of Kansas.

• Bristow had voted against the Sutherland amendment in the previous Congress – he was now accused of being influenced by the black voters in his state to change his mind.

• Augustus Bacon of Georgia felt the Bristow amendment was especially sinister – he called it a “revolutionary change” that would lead to the federal government having “soldiers at the polls” to enforce the myriad of laws that would be passed in the wake of the constitutional amendment.

Joseph Bristow

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Augustus Bacon

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http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=B000014

The Sixty-Second Congress, Continued

• The Senate voted on the Bristow amendment – it was a 44-44; the Vice-President voted to pass it.

• The direct elections resolution was then passed 64-24; the necessary two-thirds.

• However, the House had previously passed an amendment with federal control removed.

• The resolution now went back to the House; after debate, the Senate’s version was passed in April of 1912, and the resolution was sent to the states.

Amendment

• The states ratified the amendment quickly; the only states to reject it were Delaware and Utah.

• William Jennings Bryan signed the amendment into law on May 31, 1913, and it became the Seventeenth Amendment to the Constitution.