Video: 'The 17th Amendment Explained: The Constitution for Dummies Series'

(Tuesday, April 8, 1913) — The Seventeenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, requiring the direct election of United States senators, was ratified today after it was approved by Connecticut, the 36th of the 48 states necessary for adoption.

The measure passed the state House, 150-77, and then passed unanimously by the state Senate.

The amendment supersedes Article I, Section 3, Clauses 1 and 2 of the Constitution, under which senators were elected by state legislatures. It also alters the procedure for filling vacancies in the Senate, allowing state legislatures to permit their governors to make temporary appointments until a special election can be held.

The amendment was proposed by the 62nd Congress in 1912. Sitting senators were not affected until their existing terms expired.

The transition began with two special elections in Georgia and Maryland, then in earnest with the November 1914 election; it was complete on March 4, 1919, when the senators chosen by the November 1918 election took office.