Adoption
By 1912, 239 political parties at both the state and national level had pledged some form of direct election, and 33 states had introduced the use of direct primaries. Twenty-seven states had called for a constitutional convention on the subject, with 31 states needed to reach the threshold; Arizona and New Mexico each achieved statehood that year (bringing the total number of states to 48), and were expected to support the motion, while Alabama and Wyoming, already states, had passed resolutions in favor of a convention without formally calling for one. To avoid a "runaway convention", in which unexpected or damaging amendments could be considered, the proposal to mandate direct elections for the Senate was finally introduced in the Congress; on June 12, 1911, it passed in the Senate by a vote of 64 to 24, with 4 not voting, and on May 13, 1912, passed in the House by a vote of 238 to 39, with 110 not voting. By April 8, 1913, the proposed amendment had been ratified by three-fourths of the states, adding it to the Constitution. On May 31, 1913, Secretary of State William Jennings Bryan declared the amendment to have been adopted.
Ralph A. Rossum, writing in the San Diego Law Review, notes that the debate over the amendment's adoption lacked "any serious or systematic considerations of its potential impact on federalism...The popular press, the party platforms, the state memorials, the House and Senate debates, and the state legislative debates during ratification focused almost exclusively on expanding democracy, eliminating political corruption, defeating elitism and freeing the states from what they had come to regard as an onerous and difficult responsibility. The only three exceptions were Root, Hoar, and Representative Franklin Bartlett". Ratification occurred in:
| State | Date of ratification |
|---|---|
| Massachusetts | May 22, 1912 |
| Arizona | June 3, 1912 |
| Minnesota | June 10, 1912 |
| New York | January 15, 1913 |
| Kansas | January 17, 1913 |
| Oregon | January 23, 1913 |
| North Carolina | January 25, 1913 |
| California | January 28, 1913 |
| Michigan | January 28, 1913 |
| Iowa | January 30, 1913 |
| Montana | January 30, 1913 |
| Idaho | January 31, 1913 |
| West Virginia | February 4, 1913 |
| Colorado | February 5, 1913 |
| Nevada | February 6, 1913 |
| Texas | February 7, 1913 |
| Washington | February 7, 1913 |
| Wyoming | February 8, 1913 |
| Arkansas | February 11, 1913 |
| Maine | February 11, 1913 |
| Illinois | February 13, 1913 |
| North Dakota | February 14, 1913 |
| Wisconsin | February 18, 1913 |
| Indiana | February 19, 1913 |
| New Hampshire | February 19, 1913 |
| Vermont | February 19, 1913 |
| South Dakota | February 19, 1913 |
| Oklahoma | February 24, 1913 |
| Ohio | February 25, 1913 |
| Missouri | March 7, 1913 |
| New Mexico | March 13, 1913 |
| Nebraska | March 14, 1913 |
| New Jersey | March 17, 1913 |
| Tennessee | April 1, 1913 |
| Pennsylvania | April 2, 1913 |
| Connecticut | April 8, 1913 |
| Louisiana | June 11, 1913 |
| Alabama | April 11, 2002 |
| Delaware | July 1, 2010 |
| Maryland | April 1, 2012 |
The following states did not ratify the Seventeenth Amendment
- Utah (explicitly rejected amendment)
- Florida
- Georgia
- Kentucky
- Mississippi
- Rhode Island
- South Carolina
- Virginia
Read more about this topic: Seventeenth Amendment To The United States Constitution
Famous quotes containing the word adoption:
“Frankly, I adore your catchy slogan, “Adoption, not Abortion,” although no one has been able to figure out, even with expert counseling, how to use adoption as a method of birth control, or at what time of the month it is most effective.”
—Barbara Ehrenreich (b. 1941)