In 1913, several important events took place that impacted the US federal government. The Federal Reserve System was created through the Federal Reserve Act. The 16th Amendment was ratified, which authorized the federal government to impose and collect income tax.
The 17th Amendment provided for the direct election of US senators by the citizens of each state. Before this, senators were chosen by the legislature. Mike Winther dives into how the direct election of senators affects us, our country, and the constitution's original intent.
You'll Learn:
[01:21] How our system was designed originally. Each state gets two senators who are chosen by the legislature for a term of six years. Each Senator gets one vote.
[02:58] The executive branch, the legislative branch, and the judicial branch. The legislative branch is broken into two subgroups of the house and the Senate.
[03:25] The president is appointed through the electoral college who were chosen by state legislatures. The Senate was appointed by the state legislature. The house was elected by the people. The Supreme Court Justices were appointed.
[04:35] The founding fathers wanted the Senate appointed by the states because that's who they represented. The federal government was created by the state governments.
[05:46] The states wanted control over the federal government by appointing the electors that appointed the executive branch. They also appointed the senators for two levels of veto.
[08:12] The 17th amendment allows the people to elect the senators.
[08:56] There are four reasons why the states wanted this change. 1. There was a lot of inefficiency in the state legislature. 2. Corruption. 3. The blatant use of money. 4. There was a change in the American mindset and a push for democracy.
[12:30] The different forms of government. The four main governments are monarchy, oligarchy, democracy, and a republic.
[21:07] Democracy tends to evolve towards oligarchy, and people vote to give more and more power to the government.
[23:39] In a republic, power is determined by the law. The people elected are supposed to enforce the law.
[26:35] Dictators often use anarchy to remove the government and become the ones in charge.
[29:58] The founding fathers intentionally tried to mix the forms of government.
[31:19] By changing how the senate is chosen, we begin to mix the forms of power.
[37:16] Nullification is the constitutional theory that individual states can invalidate federal laws or judicial decisions they deem unconstitutional.
[45:27] The First Bank of the United States and the Second Bank of the United States were previous attempts at creating a Federal Reserve.
[48:02] Mike tells an interesting historical story about how the states taxed the Bank of the United States using force.
[51:45] The ultimate interpreter of the constitution was intended to be the states.
[52:43] The constitution allows appropriation of funds for the Navy but limits appropriation of funds for the Army.
