s numerous class of proposed amendments may
be mentioned a shorter term for United States senators and election by
popular vote; direct election of the President and the abolition of his
veto power; a shorter term for Federal judges and their removal by the
President on the joint address of both houses of Congress. The aim of
all these proposed amendments has been the same, viz., to make the
Constitution accord better with the democratic spirit of the time. It is
interesting to observe, however, that with the single exception of the
proposed election of United States senators by popular vote, not one of
these had the support of either house of Congress, much less the
two-thirds majority in both, or a majority in the legislatures of
two-thirds of the states, as required to authorize their submission for
ratification or rejection. Even this measure, which has passed the House
of Representatives several times by an overwhelming vote, has been
entirely ignored by the Senate.

No proposal, then, to make any important change in the Constitution has
ever obtained the preliminary two-thirds majority, to say nothing of
the majority in three-fourths of the states, necessary for its adoption.

That the majority required to propose an amendment is almost prohibitive
of change, is shown by the record of popular elections and the journals
of representative bodies. From the presidential election year of 1828,
the first for which we have a record of the popular vote, down to 1900,
the largest majority ever received by any candidate for the Presidency
was that of Andrew Jackson in 1828, when he had less than 56 per cent.
of the popular vote.[49] Nine elections since Jackson's time resulted in
the choice of a President by less than a popular majority. No candidate
in any presidential election from 1876 to 1900 inclusive has carried
two-thirds of the states.[50]

It is still more difficult for any important reform measure to secure a
two-thirds majority in a representative assembly, as the proceedings of
Congress and our state legislatures abundantly prove. This is true for
the reason that a wealthy minority can exert an influence over such
bodies out of all proportion to its numerical strength at the polls.
Hence even a bare majority can seldom be obtained for any measure which
interferes with or restricts the privileges of organized wealth. A
two-thirds majority under such circumstances is practically impossible.
And when we remember