Our Government: Local, State, and National: Idaho Edition

by James Alton James; Albert Hart Sanford

As we have seen, the provision that there should be two senators from each State was the result of a compromise. Consequently, New York and Pennsylvania have the same number as Delaware and Nevada.[^[17]] The term of six years for senators was likewise a compromise measure. There were members of the convention who favored three years; others wanted nine years, and Hamilton desired that the term should be during good behavior. Many States have practically lengthened the prescribed term by the wise policy of returning acceptable senators for more than one term.

Prior to April 8, 1913, when the Seventeenth Amendment became a part of the Constitution, through ratification by the requisite votes of three-fourths of the State legislatures, senators were chosen by the State legislatures. For years the demand for such an amendment was insistent. More than two-thirds of the State legislatures had gone on record in favor of such a reform. The House of Representatives had passed such a resolution a number of times, but the requisite two-thirds vote could not be secured in the Senate. The leading reasons for the amendment were: the frequent deadlocks in the legislatures, thus interrupting the course of regular legislation, and the use of bribery.

Classes of Senators and Vacancies.—Section 3, Clause 2. 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. When vacancies happen in the representation of any State in the Senate, the executive authority of such State shall issue writs of election to fill such vacancies. Provided, that the legislature of any State may empower the executive thereof to make temporary appointments until the people fill the vacancies by election as the legislature may direct.

This amendment shall not be so construed as to affect the election or term of any senator chosen before it becomes valid as part of the Constitution.

This provision makes the Senate a permanent body, since only one-third of the members go out of office every two years. In the first session of the first Congress, the senators were divided into three classes. It has been the custom to place the senators from new States in different classes. This is done in order to preserve, so far as possible, the equality of numbers in each class. Besides, a State is thus enabled to keep one man of experience in the Senate. When a new State is admitted, the senators from that State determine by lot, drawn in the presence of the Senate, which classes they are to enter.

Qualifications of Senators.—Section 3, Clause 3. No person shall be a senator who shall not hove attained to the age of thirty years, and been nine years a citizen of the United States, and who shall not, when elected, be an inhabitant of that State from which he shall be chosen.

The reasons for requiring different qualifications in senators from those of representatives is expressed in "The Federalist" as follows: "The propriety of these distinctions is explained by the nature of the senatorial trust, which, requiring greater extent of information and stability of character, requires at the same time that the senator should have reached a period of life most likely to supply these advantages." The attitude of Americans toward the Senate to-day differs from that manifest during the first quarter century of our history. Has the Senate degenerated is a question frequently asked. The presence in that body of numerous millionaires has also excited unfavorable comment. There have been two instances only in which senators have been disqualified because of inadequate citizenship.

Times and Places for Electing Senators and Representatives.—Section 4, Clause 1. 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 place of choosing senators.

It is desirable that Congress should have the final authority in providing for the election of its own members, because the very existence of the Union might otherwise be left, at times, to the whims of the State legislatures.

President of the Senate.—Section 3, Clause 4. The Vice-President of the United States shall be President of the Senate, but shall have no vote unless they be equally divided.