Beyond the Shell and Husk of History: The History of the Seventeenth Amendment and Its Implications for Current Reform Proposals

The purpose of this article is to review and synthesize the lessons of recent Seventeenth Amendment scholarship and how these lessons apply to current reform proposals. Part I discusses the emerging understanding of the integral and multifaceted role played by the Senate in the original constitutional structure. Part II further reviews and critiques the traditional explanations which have been offered for the Seventeenth Amendment, and demonstrates their failure to explain the passage of the Seventeenth Amendment. Part III discusses an alternative explanation for the Seventeenth Amendment rooted in a public choice analysis of constitutional change, one which largely has been ignored by commentators.

Part IV examines several recent proposals for constitutional reform which either directly or indirectly affect the Senate, and illustrates the wisdom of these proposals in light of the Seventeenth Amendment. Part V presents concluding thoughts.