"DIRECT ELECTION OF U.S. SENATORS"

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

"DEFENDS CONSTITUTION & U.S. SUPREME COURT"

PRESIDENT APPEALS TO CITIZENS TO STAND BEHIND AMERICAN IDEALS

Baltimore, Maryland (JFK+50) On September 6, 1924, President Calvin Coolidge "appealed to patriotic citizens to range themselves firmly...behind American ideals."

The President spoke at the unveiling of a monument here in Baltimore to the memory of the Marquis de Lafayette*.

President Coolidge defended the United States Constitution and lauded the United States Supreme Court as "the final authority" to determine all questions arising under it.

*Lafayette Monument is a bronze equestrian statue by Andrew O'Connor, Jr., 1924.  It is located at Mt. Vernon Place in Baltimore, Maryland.

SOURCE

"Coolidge Appeals To All Patriots To Uphold U.S. Ideals," The Evening Star, Washington, D.C., September 6, 1924, Chronicling America, Library of Congress, www.loc.gov/

 

 

Lafayette Monument

Baltimore, MD

Photo by Daderot (2008)