Soldiers at the Polls: Race, Federal Control and the Seventeenth Amendment

1
Soldiers at the PollsRace, Federal Control
and the Seventeenth Amendment
"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
places of choosing Senators." - Article I,
Section 4 of the US Constitution

• Joshua Heit

2
The Beginnings of Direct Election

• Four proposed methods
• Senate appointed by the House of Representatives
• President appoints Senators from a list made by
  the state legislatures
• Senators elected by the state legislatures
• Senators elected by direct vote
• The main proponent of direct election was James
  Wilson of Pennsylvania. Election by state
  legislatures was favored by John Dickinson of
  Delaware.
• The Constitutional Convention passed election of
  senators by state legislatures 9 to 2,
  Pennsylvania and Virginia voting against it.

James Wilson Photo credit http//www.constitution
.org/img/found019.htm
3
Early Debate

• First Constitutional amendment for the direct
  election of Senators was proposed in 1826.
• A main proponent was Andrew Johnson, who worked
  for the reform as a Representative, Senator, and
  as President.

Andrew Johnson Photo credit http//www.americasli
brary.gov/cgi-bin/page.cgi/jb/nation/johnson_1
4
The Stockton Debate and the Election Law of 1866

• In 1866, the Senate debated the credentials of
  John Stockton of New Jersey it was alleged that
  New Jersey law was violated in his election.
• Senate eventually ruled against Stockton, despite
  a controversial Senate vote.
• Stockton had pointed out the inconsistencies
  among the laws of the states governing the
  election of senators in the states.
• Led to a Senate bill in 1866 which laid out some
  ground rules for the states in the process of
  electing senators.

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The Creation of the Solid South

• The presence of Union troops during
  Reconstruction was a hurtful memory for Southern
  whites.
• After the end of Reconstruction, the Democratic
  Party reemerged as the dominant party.
• States across the former Confederacy passed laws
  and state constitutional amendments in order to
  disenfranchise blacks reforms such as the poll
  tax, the eight-box law, and the grandfather
  clause. This greatly reduced turnout in the
  Southern states and disenfranchised many poor
  whites as well as blacks.
• Republicans after Reconstruction did not want to
  expend any political capital in enforcing the
  Civil War amendments as a result, the South was
  allow to do this mainly unhindered.

6
The Lodge Fair Election Bill of 1890, or The
Force Bill

• Congress in 1890 undertook to enforce the
  Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments this bill
  was sponsored by Henry Cabot Lodge of
  Massachusetts.
• It passed the House, but failed in the Senate,
  allowing for the Souths disenfranchising laws to
  continue.

Henry Cabot Lodge Photo credit http//bioguide.co
ngress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?indexL000393
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Agitation for Direct Elections

• In the wake of the 1866 law, deadlocks became
  common, and some states did not elect a senator
  at all for some Congresses.
• The movement into the Progressive Era also led to
  popular reforms in the states these transferred
  to the federal government and the idea of direct
  election of senators.

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Congress Takes On Direct Election

• The Senate debated the merits of direct election
  in 1890 and 1892, with men such as John Mitchell
  of Oregon and David Turpie of Indiana speaking
  for the resolution and William Chandler of New
  Hampshire coming out against it.
• The House passed a direct elections resolution in
  1893, sponsored by Henry St. George Tucker of
  Virginia. Tuckers resolution removed the federal
  control of Senators from the Constitution.

9
George Hoar Addresses the Senate

• George Hoar of Massachusetts made a long speech
  against direct election of senators on April 6
  and 7 of 1893.
• This speech was so influential that it stemmed
  the discussion of direct election of senators on
  the Senate floor for a decade.

George Hoar Photo credithttp//bioguide.congress.
gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?indexH000654
10
The Continued Debate

• The House passed another direct elections bill in
  1894 it also lacked a provision to retain
  federal control.
• In 1898, 1900, and 1902, the House passed direct
  elections bills with Article I, Section 4
  restored. The main debate at this time was
  whether or not to make the direct election of
  senators optional among the states.
• In 1902, the Senate consider direct election and
  an amendment by New Yorks Chauncey Depew which
  would have allowed Congress to make uniform laws
  for the direct election of Senators. Southerners
  took offense, as the law was aimed at their
  discriminatory policies, which they defended. In
  the end, the bill was tabled.

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The States Take the Lead

• After 1902, Congress, for the most part, stopped
  debating the direct election of Senators.
• States began to enact systems to allow for the
  practical popular election of Senators the most
  popular of these was the Oregon System.
• States also began to petition Congress both
  imploring them to pass the direct elections
  amendment, and then to call for a constitutional
  convention for that purpose.
• Public furor was also aroused for the direct
  election of Senators, especially by David Graham
  Phillips The Treason of the Senate series in
  Cosmopolitan.

David Graham Phillips Photo credit http//www.spa
rtacus.schoolnet.co.uk/USAphillipsDG.htm
12
1911 The Critical Year

• The Senate discussed direct elections at the end
  of the Sixty-First Congress the resolution was
  presented by William Borah, a progressive
  Republican a group known as insurgents.
• This resolution would have eliminated federal
  control George Sutherland of Utah proposed an
  amendment to restore it.
• After much debate, the Senate voted to pass the
  Sutherland amendment, and then rejected the
  direct elections resolution, which gained a
  majority of votes, but not the required
  two-thirds.

William Borah Photo credit http//bioguide.congre
ss.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?indexB000634
George Sutherland Photo credit http//bioguide.co
ngress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?indexS001080
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The Sixty-Second Congress

• In the next Congress, Borah reintroduced his
  resolution early. The Sutherland amendment was
  sponsored by an insurgent, Joseph Bristow of
  Kansas.
• Bristow had voted against the Sutherland
  amendment in the previous Congress he was now
  accused of being influenced by the black voters
  in his state to change his mind.
• Augustus Bacon of Georgia felt the Bristow
  amendment was especially sinister he called it
  a revolutionary change that would lead to the
  federal government having soldiers at the polls
  to enforce the myriad of laws that would be
  passed in the wake of the constitutional
  amendment.

Joseph Bristow Photo credit http//bioguide.congr
ess.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?indexB000844
Augustus Bacon Photo credit http//bioguide.congr
ess.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?indexB000014
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The Sixty-Second Congress, Continued

• The Senate voted on the Bristow amendment it
  was a 44-44 the Vice-President voted to pass it.
• The direct elections resolution was then passed
  64-24 the necessary two-thirds.
• However, the House had previously passed an
  amendment with federal control removed.
• The resolution now went back to the House after
  debate, the Senates version was passed in April
  of 1912, and the resolution was sent to the
  states.

15
Amendment

• The states ratified the amendment quickly the
  only states to reject it were Delaware and Utah.
• William Jennings Bryan signed the amendment into
  law on May 31, 1913, and it became the
  Seventeenth Amendment to the Constitution.