What do transportation laws, public education and welfare programs have in common? All of them are not established exclusively by the state governments but by the central government. These are just a few examples that demonstrate that the power of the central government has increased significantly since it was established (Nosotro). There are many factors that have fueled this increase, but one of the main causes is the Seventeenth Amendment. The Seventeenth Amendment was added to the Constitution in the early 1900s and provided for the direct election of senators. Paradoxically, this amendment, sold as an expansion of democracy, greatly increased the power of the U.S. federal government. To understand how this amendment increased the power of the federal government, it is necessary to have a good understanding of the background to this amendment. It was not proposed and ratified due to a last-minute fanatical whim of some senators. Rather, a combination of bribes, scandals, electoral impasses, poorly apportioned legislatures, and changing political tastes combined to make the direct election of senators a popular option at the turn of the century (Schiller 2). At the time the House of Representatives was the only body elected directly by the people, and senators were elected by their respective state legislatures rather than by direct vote of their constituents (Keesee 51). The idea of ​​direct election of senators was not a new idea. Reformers as early as the 1800s were interested in limiting the role of state legislatures in Senate elections. Andrew Johnson, the seventeenth president of the United States, also proposed an amendment that would elect senators through popular election (Levin 44). The d...... middle of paper ......l. American government. 2nd ed. Greenville, SC: BJU Press, 2010. Print.Levin, Mark R. The Liberty Amendments. New York City, NY: Simon and Schuster, 2013. Print.Nosotro, Rit. “The Centralization of the United States Government.” Hyperhistory. HyperHistory.net and Web. November 17, 2013. “Repeal the 17th Amendment.” The campaign to restore federalism. RestoreFederalism.org, April 2009. Web. November 17, 2013. Schiller, Wendy, and Charles Stewart III. United States Senate Elections Before 1914. April 8, 2004. TS. Midwest Political Science Association Chicago, Illinois.Stephenson, Howard. “Overcoming the Flaws of the 17th Amendment: Direct Election of U.S. Senators.” Enterprise/Salt Lake City January 30, 2006: 23. MasterFILE Main Edition. Network. 6 September 2013.Wakeman, Raffaela. "United States Senate Elections Before 1914." MIT Journal of Undergraduate Research 14 (2006): 22-24. Network. 6 September. 2013.