arge proportion of the celebrated men
of America. Scarcely an individual is to be perceived in it who does
not recall the idea of an active and illustrious career: the Senate
is composed of eloquent advocates, distinguished generals, wise
magistrates, and statesmen of note, whose language would at all times do
honor to the most remarkable parliamentary debates of Europe.

What then is the cause of this strange contrast, and why are the most
able citizens to be found in one assembly rather than in the other?
Why is the former body remarkable for its vulgarity and its poverty of
talent, whilst the latter seems to enjoy a monopoly of intelligence and
of sound judgment? Both of these assemblies emanate from the people;
both of them are chosen by universal suffrage; and no voice has hitherto
been heard to assert in America that the Senate is hostile to the
interests of the people. From what cause, then, does so startling a
difference arise? The only reason which appears to me adequately to
account for it is, that the House of Representatives is elected by the
populace directly, and that the Senate is elected by elected bodies. The
whole body of the citizens names the legislature of each State, and the
Federal Constitution converts these legislatures into so many electoral
bodies, which return the members of the Senate. The senators are elected
by an indirect application of universal suffrage; for the legislatures
which name them are not aristocratic or privileged bodies which exercise
the electoral franchise in their own right; but they are chosen by the
totality of the citizens; they are generally elected every year, and new
members may constantly be chosen who will employ their electoral rights
in conformity with the wishes of the public. But this transmission of
the popular authority through an assembly of chosen men operates an
important change in it, by refining its discretion and improving the
forms which it adopts. Men who are chosen in this manner accurately
represent the majority of the nation which governs them; but they
represent the elevated thoughts which are current in the community,
the propensities which prompt its nobler actions, rather than the petty
passions which disturb or the vices which disgrace it.

The time may be already anticipated at which the American Republics will
be obliged to introduce the plan of election by an elected body more
frequently into their system of representation, or they will in