Answer: On March 4, 1789, the first group of elected senators reported for duty. From 1789 to 1913, when the Seventeenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was ratified, senators were elected by state legislatures. Beginning with the 1914 general election, all U.S. senators have been chosen by direct popular election.
Answer: Senators of the United States Congress were originally chosen by state legislatures. Citizens would vote for their state legislators, and those legislators would vote a man into the U.S. Senate.
