Before 1913, with the adoption of the Seventeenth Amendment, senators were elected by their respective state legislatures.
In contrast, members of the Senate were appointed by the states until the ratification of the Seventeenth Amendment (1913), which mandated the direct election of senators.
Senate.gov has data on freshmen senators going back to 1914, the first election after the Seventeenth Amendment established direct election of United States senators by popular vote.
The Senate committee was organized in 1916 following the ratification of the Seventeenth Amendment, which provided for the direct election of senators.
Through most of its history, it has been a graveyard for legislation, even after the Seventeenth Amendment, ratified in 1913, established the direct election of senators.
He also wants to repeal the Seventeenth Amendment and return the election of senators to state legislators, rather than to voters.
On social issues, Perry wants to amend the Constitution to take away rights from gays and pregnant women, and eliminate the power of citizens to directly elect their senators (that's the Seventeenth Amendment, which Perry opposed in his book).
David Graham Phillips's series "The Treason of the Senate" (Cosmopolitan, 1906), which inspired President Roosevelt's speech in 1906, was influential in leading to the passage of the Seventeenth Amendment to the Constitution, providing for popular senatorial elections.
That the Seventeenth Amendment, which was adopted in 1913, be repealed, so that "the appointment of United States Senators" can again be made by state legislators, not by voters.
