[{"command":"add_css","data":[{"rel":"stylesheet","media":"all","href":"\/sites\/default\/files\/css\/css_rZjCmUBEHftE91DeNru5KqLSSaOmvYzpnCjBdzKdLqM.css?delta=0\u0026language=en\u0026theme=heritage_theme\u0026include=eJwrTi1LzdNPzkksLq7Uy8tPSQUAPMsGtA"}]},{"command":"invoke","selector":null,"method":"openEssay","args":["10000012","\n\n\u003Carticle about=\u0022\/constitution\/articles\/1\/essays\/13\/senatorial-classes-and-vacancies-clause\u0022 class=\u0022node node--type-constitution-essay node--promoted node--view-mode-embedded clearfix\u0022\u003E\n \u003Ch1 class=\u0022title\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan\u003ESenatorial Classes and Vacancies Clause\u003C\/span\u003E\n\u003C\/h1\u003E\n\n \u003Cdiv class=\u0022con-location\u0022\u003E\n Article I, Section 3, Clause 2\n \u003C\/div\u003E\n \u003Cdiv class=\u0022con-essay-context\u0022\u003E\n \n \u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003EImmediately after they shall be assembled in Consequence of the first Election, they shall be divided as equally as may be into three Classes. The Seats of the Senators of the first Class shall be vacated at the Expiration of the second Year, of the second Class at the Expiration of the fourth Year, and of the third Class at the Expiration of the sixth Year, so that one third may be chosen every second Year; and if Vacancies happen by Resignation, or otherwise, during the Recess of the Legislature of any State, the Executive thereof may make temporary Appointments until the next Meeting of the Legislature, which shall then fill such Vacancies.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003C\/div\u003E\n \n \u003C\/div\u003E\n \n \u003Cdiv class=\u0022con-essay-body\u0022\u003E\n \n \u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003EWell before the delegates to the Constitutional Convention had reached \u0022the Great Compromise\u0022 that accorded the states equal votes in the Senate, they had already decided much about the upper house. They determined that the state legislatures would choose the Members of the Senate from their respective states; that it would have fewer Members than the lower house; and that the Members of the Senate would serve longer terms. By these mechanisms, the delegates integrated the states into the national legislative process, \u0022protected\u0022 and \u0022preserved\u0022 the states, provided for a forum to represent \u0022the great mercantile interest,\u0022 and made the Senate\u0027s membership more \u0022permanent,\u0022 in order to modify the more \u0022transient impressions\u0022 that would influence the House. They perceived the Senate to be a more deliberative body. The House of Representatives, the Framers thought, would initiate most legislation, whereas the Senate was to be a corrective and a refinement of what emanated from the House.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003EVarious delegates suggested terms ranging from three to nine years. James Madison argued for a longer term \u0022to give the Govt. that stability which was every where called for.\u0022 Most delegates seemed to support a term of seven years, but after Alexander Hamilton proposed a complex system of rotation, Hugh Williamson of North Carolina suggested a term of six years \u0022as more convenient for Rotation then 7 years.\u0022 After some hesitation, the delegates agreed to six-year staggered terms.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003EThe first Senate was able to reach a quorum on April 6, 1789, and immediately counted the electoral ballots that elected George Washington President. On May 13, they divided themselves into three geographically balanced classes, with no two Senators from the same state in the same class. Then, the Senate resolved that \u0022three papers of an equal size, numbered 1, 2, and 3, be, by the Secretary, rolled up and put into a box,\u0022 and drawn by three Senators representing the previously assigned classes. The class drawing \u00221\u0022 would vacate at the end of two years, \u00222\u0022 at the end of four, and \u00223\u0022 at the end of six. New states\u0027 Senators would be allocated among the classes. Thus began the institution of staggered terms by which the Senate continues to be elected, now through the terms of the Seventeenth Amendment.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003EAt the Convention, only James Wilson had objected to granting governors the power to make appointments to the Senate if there were a sudden vacancy and the legislature was not in session. He thought the device contrary to the principle of the separation of powers. Edmund Randolph, however, declared that the provision was \u0022necessary in order to prevent inconvenient chasms in the Senate,\u0022 and the Convention agreed.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003EThis provision was modified by the Seventeenth Amendment, which now, in the case of a vacancy, requires governors to \u201cissue writs of election to fill such vacancies.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003C\/div\u003E\n \n \u003C\/div\u003E\n\n \u003Cdiv class=\u0022con-essay-author\u0022\u003E\n \u003Cdiv class=\u0022con-essay-author--media\u0022\u003E\n \u003Cdiv class=\u0022con-essay-author--photo\u0022 style=\u0022background-image: url(\/sites\/default\/files\/David_Forte.jpg)\u0022\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n \u003C\/div\u003E\n \u003Cdiv class=\u0022con-essay-author--info\u0022\u003E\n \u003Ch4 class=\u0022con-essay-author--name\u0022\u003E\n \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/facultyprofile.csuohio.edu\/csufacultyprofile\/detail.cfm?FacultyID=D_FORTE\u0022\u003EDavid F. Forte\u003C\/a\u003E\n \u003C\/h4\u003E\n \u003Cdiv class=\u0022con-essay-author--job\u0022\u003E\n Professor, Cleveland-Marshall College of Law\n \u003C\/div\u003E\n \u003C\/div\u003E\n \u003C\/div\u003E\n\n \u003Cdiv class=\u0022con-essay-tabs\u0022\u003E\n \u003Cul data-tabs class=\u0022tabs\u0022\u003E\n \u003Cli class=\u0022button-more thirds\u0022\u003E\u003Ca data-tab href=\u0022#node-10000012-taba\u0022\u003EFurther Reading\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/li\u003E\n \u003Cli class=\u0022button-more thirds\u0022\u003E\u003Ca data-tab href=\u0022#node-10000012-tabb\u0022\u003ECase Law\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/li\u003E\n \u003Cli class=\u0022button-more thirds\u0022\u003E\u003Ca data-tab href=\u0022#node-10000012-tabc\u0022\u003ERelated Essays\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/li\u003E\n \u003C\/ul\u003E\n\n \u003Cdiv data-tabs-content\u003E\n \u003Cdiv data-tabs-pane class=\u0022tabs-pane\u0022 id=\u0022node-10000012-taba\u0022\u003E\n \n \u003Cdiv\u003E\n \u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp style=\u0022margin-left:16px; text-align:justify; text-indent:-11.95pt\u0022\u003EAaron-Andrew P. Bruhl, Burying the \u201cContinuing Body\u201d Theory of the Senate, 95 Iowa L. Rev. 1401 (2010)\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003C\/div\u003E\n \u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp style=\u0022text-transform:uppercase\u0022\u003EDANIEL WIRLS \u0026amp; STEPHEN WIRLS, THE INVENTION OF THE United States\u0026nbsp;SENATE (2004)\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003C\/div\u003E\n \u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003E2 COLLECTED WORKSOF JAMES WILSON 829,853(KERMIT L.HALL \u0026amp; MARK DAVID HALL EDS.,2007) (1790\u20131791)\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003C\/div\u003E\n \u003C\/div\u003E\n \n \u003C\/div\u003E\n \u003Cdiv data-tabs-pane class=\u0022tabs-pane\u0022 id=\u0022node-10000012-tabb\u0022\u003E\n \n \u003Cdiv\u003E\n \u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003EMcGrain v. Daugherty, 273 U.S. 135 (1927)\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003C\/div\u003E\n \u003C\/div\u003E\n \n \u003C\/div\u003E\n \u003Cdiv data-tabs-pane class=\u0022tabs-pane\u0022 id=\u0022node-10000012-tabc\u0022\u003E\n \u003Ca href=\u0022\/essay_controller\/10000011\u0022 class=\u0022use-ajax\u0022\u003ESenate\u003C\/a\u003E\n \u003Ca href=\u0022\/essay_controller\/10000013\u0022 class=\u0022use-ajax\u0022\u003EQualifications for Senators\u003C\/a\u003E\n \u003Ca href=\u0022\/essay_controller\/10000177\u0022 class=\u0022use-ajax\u0022\u003EPopular Election of Senators\u003C\/a\u003E\n \u003C\/div\u003E\n \u003C\/div\u003E\n \u003C\/div\u003E\n \n\u003C\/article\u003E\n"]}]