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"With the Seventeenth Amendment back in the news, Schiller and Stewart reexamine how state legislatures elected U.S. senators, to determine whether indirect elections were as unsavory and ineffective as charged, and whether popular elections have worked as well as reformers predicted. Their findings may surprise those on both sides of the ongoing debate."
--Donald A. Ritchie, author of The U.S. Congress: A Very Short Introduction"This eye-opening book examines some of the most important questions in the development of representative government in the United States. It explores the often disastrous consequences of the original Constitutional scheme, the ways in which party politics and corruption can overtake deliberative processes, the unfulfilled promises of reformers, and the institutional conditions that foster government responsiveness and accountability. Everyone interested in American politics must read this book."
--Steven S. Smith, Washington University in St. Louis"This is a fine book by two of the most accomplished and able scholars studying the U.S. Congress. Their findings will undoubtedly become the definitive work on how the indirect election of U.S. senators by individual state legislatures influenced the upper chamber of Congress and American politics."
--Richard Bensel, Cornell University"The U.S. Senate is front and center in determining policy in America, and given its importance, it is critical to understand the relationship of its members to constituents. Based on a careful and massive collection of original data, this excellent book provides a clear picture of indirect Senate elections and their consequences."
--John Lapinski, University of Pennsylvania
List of contents
List of Illustrations vii List of Tables ix Preface xi Chapter 1 Introduction 1 Chapter 2 A Theory of Indirect Election 20 Chapter 3 Candidate Emergence, Political Ambition, and Seat Value 51 Chapter 4 Party as Gatekeeper: Canvass, Convention, and Caucus as Nomination Mechanisms 82 Chapter 5 Political Dynamics and Senate Representation 121 Chapter 6 Senate Electoral Responsiveness under Indirect and Direct Election 157 Chapter 7 Myth and Reality of the Seventeenth Amendment 199 References 219 Index 227
About the author
Wendy J. Schiller & Charles Stewart III
Summary
From 1789 to 1913, U.S. senators were not directly elected by the people--instead the Constitution mandated that they be chosen by state legislators. This radically changed in 1913, when the Seventeenth Amendment to the Constitution was ratified, giving the public a direct vote. Electing the Senate investigates the electoral connections among const
Additional text
"Schiller and Stewart develop a database of breathtaking proportions to provide insight into the politics of indirect election of senators, and the consequences of direct and indirect election on electoral responsiveness. Rather than a dusty account of a long-forgotten reform, this book has implications for understanding the modern Senate."
