The 17th Amendment, ratified April 8, 1913, established direct election of United States senators by popular vote in each state. It superseded Article I, Section 3, Clauses 1 and 2, under which state legislatures appointed senators. Americans did not directly vote for senators for the first 125 years of the federal government.
Calls for reform started when Henry R. Storrs proposed an amendment in 1826, but support didn't substantially increase until the 1890s. Late in the 19th century, some state legislatures deadlocked over Senate elections when different parties controlled different houses, leaving Senate vacancies for months or years. Arguments for the amendment emphasized direct democracy, the problem of hung state legislatures, and freeing the Senate from influence of corrupt state legislatures. Congress passed the amendment May 13, 1912.