eBook

Electing the senate

Stewart, Charles, Schiller, Wendy J

2014,2015

Overview

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 Senateinvestigates the electoral connections among constituents, state legislators, political parties, and U.S. senators during the age of indirect elections. Wendy Schiller and Charles Stewart find that even though parties controlled the partisan affiliation of the winning candidate for Senate, they had much less control over the universe of candidates who competed for votes in Senate elections and the parties did not always succeed in resolving internal conflict among their rank and file. Party politics, money, and personal ambition dominated the election process, in a system originally designed to insulate the Senate from public pressure. Electing the Senateuses an original data set of all the roll call votes cast by state legislators for U.S. senators from 1871 to 1913 and all state legislators who served during this time. Newspaper and biographical accounts uncover vivid stories of the political maneuvering, corruption, and partisanship-played out by elite political actors, from elected officials, to party machine bosses, to wealthy business owners-that dominated the indirect Senate elections process.Electing the Senateraises important questions about the effectiveness of Constitutional reforms, such as the Seventeenth Amendment, that promised to produce a more responsive and accountable government.

• Publisher: Princeton University Press
• Subject: 1876 / 19th Century / Activism / Amendment / American Government / Ballot / Bribery / Calculation / Campaign finance / Candidate / Caucus / Congress / Congressional caucus / Constitutional amendment / Democracy / Direct election / Election / Elections / Elections in the United States / Electoral college / Electoral fraud / Farmers' Alliance / Francis Kernan / General election / Government / History / History & Theory / HISTORY / United States / 19th Century. bisacsh / HISTORY / World / Incumbent / Indirect election / Insurgency / Jacksonian democracy / Jesse Jackson Jr / Joint session / Legislation / Legislative Branch / Legislative session / Legislator / Legislature / Major party / Majority / Member of Congress / Minor party / Nelson W. Aldrich / Nomination / Opposition Party / Party identification / Party leader / Party system / Political history / Political party / Political Process / POLITICAL SCIENCE / POLITICAL SCIENCE / General / POLITICAL SCIENCE / Government / Legislative Branch. bisacsh / POLITICAL SCIENCE / History & Theory / POLITICAL SCIENCE / History & Theory. bisacsh / POLITICAL SCIENCE / Political Process / Elections. bisacsh / Politician / Politics / Politics and government / Politics of the United States / Power broker (politics) / Precedent / Primary election / Ratification / Republican Party (United States) / Senate / Seniority in the United States Senate / Seventeenth Amendment to the United States Constitution / State government / State legislature (United States) / State senator / State treasurer / Supermajority / Swing state / Term limit / Two-party system / United States / United States -- Politics and government / United States Congress / United States House of Representatives / United States presidential election / United States presidential election, 1876 / United States Senate / United States. Congress. Senate / United States. Congress. Senate -- Elections / Voting / Voting behavior / Voting bloc / Voting system / Walter Dean Burnham
• ISBN: 9780691163178, 1400852684, 0691163170, 9781400852680, 0691163162, 9780691163161