SEVENTEENTH AMENDMENT IS RATIFIED
Washington, D.C. (JFK+50) On April 8, 1913, the 17th Amendment* to the Constitution of the United States was ratified establishing the direct election of United States Senators.
Previously, by Article One, Section Three, Clauses 1 & 2, Senators were appointed by state legislatures. This method was chosen by our Founding Fathers to reassure anti-federalists that there would be protection against the federal government infringing on states rights and state powers.
*Massachusetts was the 1st state to ratify the 17th Amendment (1912) & Connecticut was the 36th & deciding state to ratify (1913).
SOURCE
"Seventeenth Amendment", Constitution of the United States, Constitution Annotated, www.constitution.congress.gov/
17th Amendment
The National Archives
