The 17th Amendment: The Case for Repeal Essay examples

The framers of the Constitution had a set image they wanted to put forth in America, and to get the document ratified they were forced to make compromises. Two of the most important compromises are the 3/5 clause and “Great Compromise”. During, the Constitutional Convention there was a deadlock about representation. Arguments from both sides seem valid, big states argue representation should be based on population while, small states argue it should be equal representation. In need for a solution, a few men proposed a bicameral legislature. Which, allows for both population based representation, and equal presentation by having a House of Representatives and a Senate. The Senate has equal representation that allows 2 senators from each state,

Ever since April 8, 1913, a portion of US citizens, primarily Conservatives politicians and commentators, have had mixed feelings of the ratification of the 17th amendment. Before, elected members of each House in a state would vote for two senators that they felt best represented their state. Many questioned why the amendment was necessary while a majority defended its ratification. As a result, it’s been argued that this modification took away one of the major powers of the states and increased the national government’s power. Others have said that repealing the amendment would strip away the people’s rights and bring back the corruption that took place in pre-17th amendment elections. But removing and repealing the 17th amendment would finally return powers to the states, decrease corruption, force voters to become more interested in who they’re electing, give Senate the ability to do what they are intended to do, restore the checks and balances system, and restore Federalism. Arguments to remove the amendment outweigh ones that fight to keep it. Repeal it or not, there are still going to be issues. For instance, before the ratification of the 17th amendment, U.S. Senators bought their seats through bribes (Mighell). After 1913, corruption was still present, but it was more of an “underground” deal. It used to be between a candidate and a state legislature, today, it’s the candidate and numerous unknown funding sources (The Campaign). In other words, there were obviously

Despite the fact that all races were permitted to vote, women did not completely have that benefit until the nineteenth amendment was set up in 1920. The current development for women to vote traces back to the start of the Seneca Falls Convention in 1848, when supporters of a Constitutional Amendment, wanted to permit women to vote, gathered. While their development was moderated amid the Civil War years, the two noteworthy suffragist associations united after the war and pushed forward with the development that was completed, after numerous troublesome years in the nineteenth amendment. The nineteenth amendment expresses that the privileges of citizens of the United States should not be denied or compressed to vote due to gender differences.

I am not sure there is such a thing as the “most important” amendment because they are all important with regard to the American people and the freedoms we have today. That being said, the amendment that had the most profound impact on U.S. history and government affairs alike is a triple header. According to Janda, the 13th, 14th, and 15th, ending slavery, granting new citizenships (including former slaves), and preventing any man from being deprived of his right to vote, respectively. Of those three amendments, the 15th has had the greatest influence on our government.

It wasn’t until 1912 that three fifths of the states supported the ideas that the 17th amendment upheld (). American citizens pushed their current politicians to get this amendment passed throughout 1912, but it wasn’t until April 8th 1913 that it was officially ratified and amended to the Constitution (). It was now no longer acceptable for Congressmen to elect their state Senators; this for many eliminating, or at least lessening, the fear of corruption. The other 20 states that were not in favor of the Amendment believed that by voters electing senators hindered their ability to have an elective that would stay connected enough to the state to understand its best interests. They feared, and still do, that their needs and interests would not be represented in the legislature as the founding fathers had meant for it to be ().

Achievement of lowered crime rates in society is always ideal and it involves citizens to band together to eliminate deviant behavior with the help of government policy makers that create laws to instill fear for displaying reckless behavior. Those with deviant behavior cause violent incidents and many reformationists believed that alcohol caused this behavior. A popular historical example is the 18th amendment, calling for a complete ban of alcohol sales, transportation, and manufacture in the United States. The 18th amendment, also known as Prohibition was created in 1920’s and lasted for a little over a decade. Alcohol consumption was at an extremely high rate and many believed that alcohol was the reason for deviant behavior in society. This controversial amendment wanted to change individual behavior for the better because they believed alcohol increases the chance of recklessness, which can be prevented. In order to achieve that, they wanted to lower the amount of alcohol consumption by using this bill

Imagine having something dear to you, that you and your elders have had for centuries, taken away by the government. That is what the 18th Amendment is and that special thing is Alcohol. The 18th amendment was ratified on January 16th 1919, but it wouldn’t go into effect until January 20th 1920. Ever since Colonists came to America, alcohol has played a major role in the lifestyle of Americans. The 18th Amendment was repealed by the 21st amendment, or its affect was no more. This took place in 1933. The 18th Amendment was controversial because the 18th Amendment both positively, and negatively affected the nation, the amendment came about by people who wanted to prohibit alcohol, and the amendment had more cons to it than pros.

Why were men allowed to fight in wars at the age of 18 but not allowed to vote? This all began in World War II and intensified during the Vietnam War. World War II began in 1941 and ended in 1961 which was a 20 years difference. Young men were being drafted for fighting in wars at the age of 18. They fought and protested for years because they wanted to be able to vote. Letting them vote affected a lot of people and things because it was many votes that counted towards helping the world out. This problem got passed in 1971 which became The 26th Amendment.

The United States of America's 16th amendment says, "The Congress shall have the power to lay and collect taxes on incomes, from whatever source derived, without apportionment among the several States, and without regard to any census or enumeration."

The nineteenth amendment to the United States Constitution states, “The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.” This amendment was ratified on August eighteenth of 1920 by the Secretary of State, Bainbridge Colby. The amendment did not get ratified till 1920, but the fight for women’s suffrage started long before, in the mid nineteenth century (General Records of the United States Government, 2002). Today many women assume that their right to vote as if it has always; however, this luxury has not long existed. The amendment is not even a hundred year old yet. The nineteenth amendment has great history behind it, strong women who led it, and effects on the way we live our lives today.

The powers of Congress have evolved throughout the multiple proposed plans for a structured government. In the first proposed plan The Articles Of Confederation congress held the power to create alliances with other countries, control and maintain the military, and dealt with the financial element of the country. In The Articles Of Confederation it was favored to be state sovereignty exclusive since many of the states favored this because they were represented equally. This also allowed for a unicameral legislature to be constructed. In the virginia plan the powers of congress differed from the articles of confederation when they became a bicameral legislature that consisted of two chambers of congress. In the virginia plan congress would have

The 18th Amendment of the Constitution which prohibited the sell of alcohol was first proposed in 1917, and then would get approved 2 years later in 1919. One year later on January 17, 1920 the Amendment would start to be in effect. Even before it was passed over half of the country had already banned it. Publically many had denounced it yet privately almost everyone thought the decision would be one they would soon end up regretting. With this law now in effect, there ended up being a rise in crime due to a rise in bootlegging which is the transportation of alcoholic beverages. The government was starting to face a dilemma because there was still a demand to drink, but people had no other option aside from obtaining it illegally.

After the passage of the 16th Amendment, the nature and process of taxation changed many times. An author for the Virginia Law Review wrote in 1972, “Developing and maintaining an appropriate tax structure for a nation as economically complex and dynamic as the United States is a mammoth task” (Graetz, p. 1401). Because of this complexity, the nature of the Tax Code would need to be altered to keep up with what the country requires at a given time. Several significant changes have been made to the Tax Code, but none more significant than the passage of the Tax Reform Act of 1986 (TRA 86). TRA 86 was one of the most polarizing changes in tax law and where the current Code gets its name (Spilker et all., 2016, p. 2-11). It brought about more revisions than most people and businesses could keep up with, and it brought to light the deficiencies in implementing amendments to the Code, namely a disturbing lack of awareness from taxpayers of the alterations. Many businesses benefited from the changes—mostly large, well-established firms, but small mom-and-pop stores who have less stake in tax planning suffered (Scholes, Wilson, Wolfson, 1992, p.181). This negative effect would have been avoided if taxpayers had taken precautions and been aware of the impending changes in tax laws and if those changes had been communicated clearly to them.

Framers thought that having a unicameral legislative would lead to too much power. Therefore, Congress has created a bicameral legislative. The two chambers are the Senate and the House of Representative. A reason for the separation of powers is because of the debate between the small states and large states. The small states demanded that representation in Congress be awarded equally to all states. While, the larger states insisted the representation should be based on population. The dispute had led to the bicameral legislature. Both chambers have certain powers only given to them.

of government that establishes a written constitution that divides the powers of government to a federal and state level. The U.S. Federal Government consists of three branches, the Executive, Legislative, and Judicial. It also utilizes checks and balances so these branches have equal power. The main goal of federalism is to balance the central government with the state government, and initially the U.S. Constitution established that the Senate “shall be composed of two Senators from each State, chosen by the Legislature”(US Const. Article I, Section 3). However, in 1912 the 17th Amendment was ratified, which changed how Senators are elected. Instead of the people voting for state legislators who elect Senators, the people elected the Senators, making the election process of Senators a direct democracy. The Framers chose to create a republic instead of direct democracy in order to prevent social and elite groups from taking power. The 17th Amendment goes against does not just oppose the Constitution, but it also disputes the ideology of the American Government as a federal republic. Although most supporters of the 17th Amendment believe that it serves as a better mechanism for a representative government, it is unconstitutional because of its opposing qualities against the Framers who created the United States government with the vision of federalism and a republic.