Constitutional Freedom

“Immediately after they shall be assembled in Consequence of the first Election, they shall be divided as equally as may be into three Classes. The Seats of the Senators of the first Class shall be vacated at the Expiration of the second Year, of the second Class at the Expiration of the fourth Year, and of the third Class at the Expiration of the sixth Year, so that one third may be chosen every second Year; and if Vacancies happen by Resignation, or otherwise, during the Recess of the Legislature of any State, the Executive thereof may make temporary Appointments until the next Meeting of the Legislature, which shall then fill such Vacancies.”

This paragraph effectively defined the initial term for the Senate, forcing a rotation of every other year of at least one third of the Senate.  The sentence in italics was superseded by the Seventeenth Amendment.  Interestingly enough this amendment has been part of some recent headline news.  At the time of this writing Barack Obama has just filled his role as the new President of the United States.  He was previously a Senator out of Illinois.  The executive of his state, Governor Rod Blagojevich, was preparing to exercise his constitutionally mandated right to appoint a temporary senator.  However, there are allegations that he was seeking bribes from potential appointees.  The news has opened up a bit of a Pandora’s box for him as the Illinois House and Senate seek to remove him from office.

“The Senate of the United States shall be composed of two Senators from each State, chosen by the Legislature thereof, for six Years; and each Senator shall have one Vote.”

This is only the first sentence of section 3, but deserves special attention.  Prior to 1913 (Amendment 17) the senate was elected not by the people but by the legislatures of the respective states.  Granted, the people ultimately elect the legislature of the state; however, it would be easy to imagine a certain amount of cronyism within the elected officials.  It is surprising to realize that the framers of the constitution in many ways did not fully trust the general American public.  Their form of government was revolutionary at the time, but was not exactly what we have today.  The framers of the Constitution did, however, allow for a mechanism for the government to improve, and that is through amendments.  Amendment 17 adjusted this verbiage to state that the senators shall be elected by the people.

The second important item to note is that this was part of the Connecticut Compromise.  The compromise was effectively between the small and large states.  The House of Representatives would be representative of population, whereas in the senate every state would have an equal voice.  Additionally, the Senators would have a longer period to govern.  Their term is 6 years as compared to the house’s 2 years.  It is important to recognize that every senator only has one vote, there are no “Super Delegates” in the Senate.