page_title: Seventeenth Amendment to the United States Constitution
hierarchical_section_title: Seventeenth Amendment to the United States Constitution
caption_attribution_description: Amendment XVII in the National Archives
context_page_description: The Seventeenth Amendment to the United States Constitution established the popular election of United States senators by the people of the states. The amendment supersedes Article I, §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 for 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 and became part of the Constitution on April 8, 1913, on ratification by three-fourths of the state legislatures. 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 at the November 1918 election took office.
context_section_description: The Seventeenth Amendment (Amendment XVII) to the United States Constitution established the popular election of United States senators by the people of the states. The amendment supersedes Article I, §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 for 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 and became part of the Constitution on April 8, 1913, on ratification by three-fourths (36) of the state legislatures. 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 at the November 1918 election took office.
caption: The Seventeenth Amendment in the National Archives
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