CSPAN2 Key Capitol Hill Hearings May 31, 2014
You could not have the direct election of senators without creating this allpowerful, centralized national government. They wanted a federal republic, not an allpowerful, centralized government. And they even made this case to the states when it went to the states for the ratification of the constitution. They said, look, the senate is made up of individuals chosen by the state legislatures, so youre going to have a role in the federal law making process, among other things. So the federalists used the senate, among other things, and the nature of the senate to persuade the antifederalists to ...