Tocqueville discusses the House of Representatives in the early 1800s to be "obscure people whose names form no picture in one's minds. They are mostly village lawyers, tradesmen, or even men of the lowest classes. In a country where education is spread almost universally, it is said that the people's representatives do not always know how to write correctly." He goes on to contrast the House with the Senate whose members are "eloquent advocates, distinguished generals, wise magistrates, and noted statement."
It can be shocking to imagine this difference between the two houses of Congress. Tocqueville attributes this contrast to Senators being elected by state legislatures, an indirect form of universal suffrage.
This passage from Tocqueville poses some questions:
1. Would there be a wide contrast between senators and representatives today if the election of senators remained the way it was in the 1800s?
2. How great of a role does campaign finance play in preventing "obscure people" to have seats in Congress?
3. Tocqueville writes, "It is easy to see a time coming when the American republics will be bound to make more frequent use of election in two stages, unless they are to be miserably lost among the shoals of democracy." Why did American government go against what Tocqueville predicted?
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