17th Amendment Video

"The Senate of the United States shall be composed of two Senators from each State, elected by the people thereof, for six years; and each Senator shall have one vote. The electors in each State shall have the qualifications requisite for electors of the most numerous branch of the State legislatures.

When vacancies happen in the representation of any State in the Senate, the executive authority of such State shall issue writs of election to fill such vacancies: Provided, That the legislature of any State may empower the executive thereof to make temporary appointments until the people fill the vacancies by election as the legislature may direct.

This amendment shall not be so construed as to affect the election or term of any Senator chosen before it becomes valid as part of the Constitution."

- 17th Amendment of The United States Constitution

The Seventeenth Amendment, which was ratified in 1913, provided for the direct election of U.S. senators by citizens. Until 1913 state legislatures had elected U.S. senators. Ratification of the amendment followed decades of insistence that the power to elect senators should be placed in the hands of ordinary voters. By the late nineteenth century, political opinion was changing in favor of a more fully participatory democracy, which gave way to the amendment. I feel as though this is an important amendment because it gives citizens with no governmental affiliation a chance to have their voice be heard when senators were selected.  

The video I chose talks about the importance of one's voice in government, specifically in choosing America's leaders if that is the President or if that is Senators. It also talks about alternative methods of communicating and getting the word out, which I also find important.