The Treason of the Senate

The Treason of the Senate was a series of articles in Cosmopolitan magazine by David Graham Phillips, published in February, 1906. The series is a caustic exposé of the corruption of the United States Senate, particularly the corporate magnate-turned-Senator Nelson Aldrich^[1] from Rhode Island. During the composition of the articles Phillips received help from newspaper baron William Randolph Hearst, who then desired to publish sensationalist stories to attract more readership of his publications.

The release of the series precipitated the passage and ratification of the Seventeenth Amendment, which provides the direct election of the U.S. Senators.^[2] In the seven years it took to ratify the Amendment, some of the 20 Senators criticized by Phillips in the articles resigned or died. None of the 24 Senators who stood in the first direct election in 1914 was defeated. The option the Amendment allowed (for appointment by the affected state's governor of a new senator when a seat is vacated mid-term) has come under criticism in 2009.^[3]

See also

• Landmarks in Early 20th Century Muckraking

References