Indirect Election and the Democratization of the United States Senate: Constitutional Design, Historical Development, Roll Call Voting, and the Outcome of National Election
Sopp, James Reber
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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/82600
Description
Title
Indirect Election and the Democratization of the United States Senate: Constitutional Design, Historical Development, Roll Call Voting, and the Outcome of National Election
Author(s)
Sopp, James Reber
Issue Date
1999
Doctoral Committee Chair(s)
Paul J. Quirk
Department of Study
Political Science
Discipline
Political Science
Degree Granting Institution
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Degree Name
Ph.D.
Degree Level
Dissertation
Keyword(s)
History, United States
Language
eng
Abstract
The goal of this dissertation is to make a series of interrelated points regarding the relationship between ideas, institutions, and behavior with respect to indirect election and the United States Senate. The dissertation begins with an investigation of the origins and development of the Classical Republican and Classical Liberal principles that laid the foundation for indirect election in the American Constitution. The dissertation then goes on to explore the institutional, socioeconomic, and political factors responsible for the decline in the popularity of indirect election of the federal Senate in the aftermath of the Civil War. The dissertation then presents a detailed analysis of U.S. Senate roll call votes related to issues of federal power (vis-a-vis state power) and broad socioeconomic interests (vis-a-vis narrow socioeconomic interests) to investigate what impact direct and indirect election had upon the voting behavior of Senators. Finally, the dissertation investigates the impact of direct and indirect election upon the outcome of national elections, i.e. the frequency of divided government, the frequency of split Congresses, the average length of a single party's majority control of the Senate, the disruption of seat to vote ratios, and the question of partisan advantage.
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