WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.700 Welcome to the Deep Dive. We have a massive amount 00:00:03.700 --> 00:00:06.280 of ground to cover today. We really do. Today's 00:00:06.280 --> 00:00:08.980 mission is an exploration of the surprisingly 00:00:08.980 --> 00:00:12.480 dramatic, intensely consequential, and constantly 00:00:12.480 --> 00:00:14.539 evolving history of the United States Senate. 00:00:14.919 --> 00:00:18.179 And we're basing this entirely on a comprehensive 00:00:18.179 --> 00:00:21.699 Wikipedia history of the institution. Exactly. 00:00:21.839 --> 00:00:25.000 So if you are listening to this, you're the learner 00:00:25.000 --> 00:00:27.399 here. You probably look at the modern Senate 00:00:27.399 --> 00:00:30.940 and see this maze of complex rules, parliamentary 00:00:30.940 --> 00:00:34.219 procedures and, well, frequent gridlock. Right. 00:00:34.380 --> 00:00:36.399 It can look pretty dry from the outside. But 00:00:36.399 --> 00:00:39.299 our goal today is to demystify all of that. We 00:00:39.299 --> 00:00:41.880 want to show you how a single 5 -4 vote at the 00:00:41.880 --> 00:00:45.340 1787 Constitutional Convention, the Connecticut 00:00:45.340 --> 00:00:47.859 Compromise, basically created this legislative 00:00:47.859 --> 00:00:49.840 body that would completely shape the nation. 00:00:50.060 --> 00:00:52.000 It really proves the Senate is far more than 00:00:52.000 --> 00:00:54.259 just a boring room where bills go to die. Okay, 00:00:54.299 --> 00:00:56.060 let's unpack this. We have to start with the 00:00:56.060 --> 00:00:58.020 wild early days of the Senate. Yeah, the early 00:00:58.020 --> 00:00:59.600 days are fascinating. Because the very first 00:00:59.600 --> 00:01:02.500 Congress met in 1789, they were in New York City, 00:01:02.659 --> 00:01:04.780 and they held their Senate sessions in complete 00:01:04.780 --> 00:01:07.750 secrecy. Completely locked down. I mean, no journalists, 00:01:07.829 --> 00:01:10.790 no public spectators allowed in the galleries, 00:01:10.950 --> 00:01:13.909 nothing. It sounds so bizarre to us now. Right. 00:01:14.269 --> 00:01:16.629 But there is a reason for it. It really matters. 00:01:16.769 --> 00:01:19.349 The founders intended the Senate to be a much 00:01:19.349 --> 00:01:22.230 slower, more deliberate check on the House of 00:01:22.230 --> 00:01:24.010 Representatives. Because the House was supposed 00:01:24.010 --> 00:01:26.530 to be the voice of the people. Exactly. The House 00:01:26.530 --> 00:01:29.129 was reacting to the passions of the day. But 00:01:29.129 --> 00:01:32.379 the Senate. They locked the doors so they could 00:01:32.379 --> 00:01:34.840 debate without that immediate public pressure. 00:01:34.980 --> 00:01:37.959 Wow. And you see this culture solidify early 00:01:37.959 --> 00:01:41.760 on. Take the 1804 impeachment acquittal of Supreme 00:01:41.760 --> 00:01:44.180 Court Justice Samuel Chase. Right. That was a 00:01:44.180 --> 00:01:46.799 huge moment. It was. The House impeached him 00:01:46.799 --> 00:01:49.180 basically over political differences. But the 00:01:49.180 --> 00:01:51.920 Senate acquitted him. And Aaron Burr, who was 00:01:51.920 --> 00:01:54.060 vice president at the time. He actually presided 00:01:54.060 --> 00:01:56.280 over that trial, right? He did. And he gave this 00:01:56.280 --> 00:01:58.980 famous farewell quote right after. He called 00:01:58.980 --> 00:02:02.340 the Senate a sanctuary, a citadel of law and 00:02:02.340 --> 00:02:05.939 order meant to resist the storms of political 00:02:05.939 --> 00:02:08.560 frenzy. The storms of political frenzy. I love 00:02:08.560 --> 00:02:10.419 that 19th century language. It's very traumatic. 00:02:10.699 --> 00:02:14.639 But those storms were very real. Which brings 00:02:14.639 --> 00:02:18.139 us to the 1820s through the 1860s, the crucible 00:02:18.139 --> 00:02:21.479 of slavery and sectional conflict. This is where 00:02:21.479 --> 00:02:23.780 that structural imbalance. really takes center 00:02:23.780 --> 00:02:25.860 stage. Right, because the defining feature of 00:02:25.860 --> 00:02:28.500 the Senate is equal representation. Every state 00:02:28.500 --> 00:02:30.939 gets two votes, regardless of population. And 00:02:30.939 --> 00:02:33.719 that made it the ultimate battleground for the 00:02:33.719 --> 00:02:35.939 issue of slavery. Because the North's population 00:02:35.939 --> 00:02:38.819 was just exploding at this time. Exactly. The 00:02:38.819 --> 00:02:41.120 North easily took control of the House of Representatives 00:02:41.120 --> 00:02:44.139 because of their population size. But the Senate... 00:02:44.520 --> 00:02:46.560 That was a different story. The Senate allowed 00:02:46.560 --> 00:02:49.500 the slave states to maintain this incredibly 00:02:49.500 --> 00:02:52.439 powerful grip on the legislative agenda. They 00:02:52.439 --> 00:02:55.020 absolutely needed to keep a perfect balance of 00:02:55.020 --> 00:02:57.780 free and slave states to hold on to that power. 00:02:57.960 --> 00:03:00.180 Which led to some incredibly intense moments, 00:03:00.360 --> 00:03:02.740 like the Webster -Haine debate of 1830. Oh, that 00:03:02.740 --> 00:03:04.979 was huge. New England pitted directly against 00:03:04.979 --> 00:03:07.560 the South. Just massive sectional tension. And 00:03:07.560 --> 00:03:10.080 lawmakers were constantly trying to pass legislation 00:03:10.080 --> 00:03:12.500 to keep the country from falling apart. You had 00:03:12.500 --> 00:03:14.750 the Missouri Compromise of 1820. And then the 00:03:14.750 --> 00:03:17.409 compromise of 1850 later on. But the tension 00:03:17.409 --> 00:03:19.990 kept building until it reached a literal boiling 00:03:19.990 --> 00:03:24.830 point. This detail is just shocking. In 1856, 00:03:25.129 --> 00:03:27.830 Senator Charles Sumner gave a speech heavily 00:03:27.830 --> 00:03:30.430 criticizing slavery. And then a few days later. 00:03:30.610 --> 00:03:33.090 A representative, Preston Brooks, walked right 00:03:33.090 --> 00:03:36.069 onto the Senate floor and physically assaulted 00:03:36.069 --> 00:03:38.449 Sumner. He beat him with a metal -topped cane. 00:03:38.629 --> 00:03:41.699 Right at his desk. beaten unconscious over a 00:03:41.699 --> 00:03:44.560 speech. It just emphasizes how insanely high 00:03:44.560 --> 00:03:46.439 the stakes were. It really does. And I want to 00:03:46.439 --> 00:03:49.060 ask, what stands out to you listening to this? 00:03:49.240 --> 00:03:51.419 It's a great question to think about. Because 00:03:51.419 --> 00:03:54.259 we often think of rules like equal state representation 00:03:54.259 --> 00:03:58.319 as just procedural math. But you have to think 00:03:58.319 --> 00:04:00.159 about how these structural rules can literally 00:04:00.159 --> 00:04:03.000 dictate the fate of millions of lives. Yeah. 00:04:03.080 --> 00:04:05.599 This mathematical rule pushed an entire nation 00:04:05.599 --> 00:04:08.060 towards civil war. It's heavy. And it changes 00:04:08.060 --> 00:04:09.659 the way you look at the institution. Definitely. 00:04:09.740 --> 00:04:13.280 Moving forward, post -Civil War, from 1865 to 00:04:13.280 --> 00:04:16.000 1945, we move from the Gilded Age power brokers 00:04:16.000 --> 00:04:18.980 to the era of direct democracy. Which was a massive 00:04:18.980 --> 00:04:21.180 transition. Because right after the Civil War, 00:04:21.439 --> 00:04:23.720 senators were still not elected by the people. 00:04:23.920 --> 00:04:26.519 They were chosen by state legislatures. Which 00:04:26.519 --> 00:04:29.959 meant wealthy financiers and party bosses essentially 00:04:29.959 --> 00:04:32.439 ran the chamber. People like Nelson Aldrich. 00:04:32.889 --> 00:04:35.310 The Millionaire's Club. Exactly. But even in 00:04:35.310 --> 00:04:38.230 that super restrictive era, we see some incredible 00:04:38.230 --> 00:04:41.790 trailblazers like Hiram Revels. The first African 00:04:41.790 --> 00:04:45.269 -American senator. Right. In 1870. And his seating 00:04:45.269 --> 00:04:48.569 wasn't easy. He had to survive a 48 to 8 vote 00:04:48.569 --> 00:04:50.930 just to take a seat because members formally 00:04:50.930 --> 00:04:53.870 objected. And he got in. He did. And he was followed 00:04:53.870 --> 00:04:57.709 by Blanche Bruce. Plus, in 1907, Charles Curtis 00:04:57.709 --> 00:05:00.470 became the first Native American senator. Some 00:05:00.470 --> 00:05:02.930 really significant firsts during a very elite 00:05:02.930 --> 00:05:05.269 time. But here's where it gets really interesting. 00:05:05.509 --> 00:05:09.170 The 17th Amendment? Yes, 1913. The 17th Amendment 00:05:09.170 --> 00:05:11.470 fundamentally changes everything. It mandated 00:05:11.470 --> 00:05:14.089 the direct popular election of senators. If we 00:05:14.089 --> 00:05:16.589 connect this to the bigger picture, being accountable 00:05:16.589 --> 00:05:18.970 to actual voters suddenly changed the entire 00:05:18.970 --> 00:05:20.910 face of the Senate. They actually had to campaign. 00:05:21.170 --> 00:05:23.839 Right. And because of that... The demographics 00:05:23.839 --> 00:05:26.680 started to shift. You get the first woman elected, 00:05:26.879 --> 00:05:30.279 Hattie Carraway, in 1932. And Dennis Chavez in 00:05:30.279 --> 00:05:33.920 1935, the first Latino elected to a full term. 00:05:34.079 --> 00:05:35.980 The democratization of the chamber was really 00:05:35.980 --> 00:05:38.519 underway. But while who was in the chamber changed, 00:05:39.120 --> 00:05:41.459 the rules of debate were still wild. Let's talk 00:05:41.459 --> 00:05:43.759 about the filibuster. The famous filibuster. 00:05:43.920 --> 00:05:46.699 It was actually rarely used until World War I. 00:05:46.800 --> 00:05:49.519 There was this small group of senators who completely 00:05:49.519 --> 00:05:53.180 blocked a bill to arm U .S. merchant ships. President 00:05:53.180 --> 00:05:55.199 Woodrow Wilson was furious about that. Livid. 00:05:55.300 --> 00:05:57.439 He called them a little group of willful men. 00:05:57.620 --> 00:06:00.339 And that public fury led directly to the 1917 00:06:00.339 --> 00:06:03.279 creation of the cloture rule, a way to actually 00:06:03.279 --> 00:06:05.860 end debate. Which originally required a massive 00:06:05.860 --> 00:06:08.800 two -thirds vote to pull off. Right. So moving 00:06:08.800 --> 00:06:11.160 into our third section here, the modern Senate, 00:06:11.360 --> 00:06:13.980 we're looking at... 1945 to the present, independence, 00:06:14.439 --> 00:06:17.060 the Cold War, and civil rights. The modern era 00:06:17.060 --> 00:06:19.240 really shows the Senate flexing its institutional 00:06:19.240 --> 00:06:21.879 muscles. Oh, absolutely. They weren't afraid 00:06:21.879 --> 00:06:24.100 to stand up to massively popular presidents. 00:06:24.379 --> 00:06:27.620 Like in 1937, FDR tried to push his court packing 00:06:27.620 --> 00:06:30.399 plan. And he was at the height of his popularity. 00:06:30.910 --> 00:06:33.410 But the Senate flat out rejected it. They protected 00:06:33.410 --> 00:06:36.290 their institutional norms. And you see that global 00:06:36.290 --> 00:06:39.550 focus shift, too, right after World War II. Managing 00:06:39.550 --> 00:06:42.769 the Cold War. Exactly. They ratified NATO, approved 00:06:42.769 --> 00:06:45.069 the Marshall Plan. They became heavily focused 00:06:45.069 --> 00:06:47.870 on global foreign policy. But domestically, things 00:06:47.870 --> 00:06:50.949 got very dark in the 1950s. The McCarthy era. 00:06:51.110 --> 00:06:53.750 Yeah. Senator Joe McCarthy leading these massive 00:06:53.750 --> 00:06:56.829 anti -communist investigations. He used his committee 00:06:56.829 --> 00:06:59.509 power to make these sweeping accusations, ruining 00:06:59.509 --> 00:07:01.870 lives across government in Hollywood. But ultimately, 00:07:02.029 --> 00:07:05.329 the Senate policed its own. In 1954, they formally 00:07:05.329 --> 00:07:08.810 censured him in a 67 to 22 vote. Which effectively 00:07:08.810 --> 00:07:11.089 ended his influence. And right around that same 00:07:11.089 --> 00:07:13.529 time, you have the rise of Lyndon B. Johnson. 00:07:14.060 --> 00:07:16.560 LBJ. The master of the Senate. He practically 00:07:16.560 --> 00:07:19.000 invented the modern majority leader rule. He 00:07:19.000 --> 00:07:21.500 used it to just completely dominate the chamber. 00:07:21.740 --> 00:07:23.980 He used every trick in the book to push through 00:07:23.980 --> 00:07:26.920 the 1957 Civil Rights Act. And the rules kept 00:07:26.920 --> 00:07:30.420 evolving. In 1975, they lowered that cloture 00:07:30.420 --> 00:07:32.699 rule threshold from two thirds down to three 00:07:32.699 --> 00:07:34.899 fifths. Making it slightly easier to break a 00:07:34.899 --> 00:07:37.000 filibuster, though it's still a huge hurdle today. 00:07:37.290 --> 00:07:39.670 Definitely. Now, looking at the modern era, it 00:07:39.670 --> 00:07:42.250 is just a joy to run through the rapid expansion 00:07:42.250 --> 00:07:44.870 of representation we've seen. It really accelerates 00:07:44.870 --> 00:07:47.129 here. Hiram Fong became the first Asian -American 00:07:47.129 --> 00:07:51.850 senator in 1959. Edward W. Brooke in 1966. Carol 00:07:51.850 --> 00:07:54.250 Moseley Braun became the first African -American 00:07:54.250 --> 00:07:57.550 woman elected in 1992. Tammy Baldwin, the first 00:07:57.550 --> 00:08:00.910 openly gay senator in 2012. Catherine Cortez 00:08:00.910 --> 00:08:04.310 Masto, the first Latina in 2017. The momentum 00:08:04.310 --> 00:08:06.410 is incredible. And even just looking at 2020. 00:08:13.009 --> 00:08:15.550 It's a completely different chamber than the 00:08:15.550 --> 00:08:18.069 one in 1789. And we should give a nod to the 00:08:18.069 --> 00:08:20.449 non -elected trailblazers, too. People like Paulette 00:08:20.449 --> 00:08:23.750 DeSalle, the first female page, and Kathy Alvarez, 00:08:23.870 --> 00:08:25.990 the first female legislative clerk. They broke 00:08:25.990 --> 00:08:28.170 massive barriers behind the scenes. Okay, so 00:08:28.170 --> 00:08:30.490 we wrap up. I have to mention this fun fact from 00:08:30.490 --> 00:08:33.490 the text. 17 U .S. presidents used the Senate 00:08:33.490 --> 00:08:35.750 as a stepping stone. That's a huge number. Right. 00:08:35.789 --> 00:08:41.029 Right. Truman, JFK, LBJ, Nixon, Obama, Biden. 00:08:41.250 --> 00:08:44.149 The list goes on. It's the ultimate proving ground 00:08:44.149 --> 00:08:46.830 for a national profile. So what does this all 00:08:46.830 --> 00:08:49.909 mean? We started with a secretive elite club 00:08:49.909 --> 00:08:53.169 of men chosen by state legislatures in a locked 00:08:53.169 --> 00:08:56.730 room. And we tracked it all the way to a transparent, 00:08:56.970 --> 00:09:00.179 directly elected body. A body that still grapples 00:09:00.179 --> 00:09:03.399 with immense power, constant filibusters, and 00:09:03.399 --> 00:09:05.860 trying to represent a highly diverse nation. 00:09:06.139 --> 00:09:08.639 At the end of the day, the Senate was designed 00:09:08.639 --> 00:09:11.879 by the founders to force compromise. To slow 00:09:11.879 --> 00:09:14.159 things down. Exactly. To slow down the passions 00:09:14.159 --> 00:09:15.840 of the day for better or worse. For better or 00:09:15.840 --> 00:09:17.940 worse. And I want to leave you, the listener, 00:09:18.179 --> 00:09:21.000 with a final thought to mull over. Go for it. 00:09:21.080 --> 00:09:23.200 The Senate was originally built to be isolated 00:09:23.200 --> 00:09:25.879 from popular opinion. They were chosen by state 00:09:25.879 --> 00:09:28.580 legislatures, yet they gave equal voting power 00:09:28.580 --> 00:09:31.679 to every single state. Right. But now the 17th 00:09:31.679 --> 00:09:34.039 Amendment has subjected senators to direct democracy. 00:09:34.320 --> 00:09:37.019 Yet the massive population disparities between 00:09:37.019 --> 00:09:39.779 modern states remain equally represented. That's 00:09:39.779 --> 00:09:42.779 a huge tension. So does the current Senate function 00:09:42.779 --> 00:09:46.419 as the constitutional framers intended? Or has 00:09:46.419 --> 00:09:48.759 it mutated into a fundamentally different institution 00:09:48.759 --> 00:09:52.279 that is just trapped inside its original 1787 00:09:52.279 --> 00:09:55.529 architecture? Wow. That is an incredibly provocative 00:09:55.529 --> 00:09:58.169 thought to end on, a mutated institution trapped 00:09:58.169 --> 00:10:00.309 in its original architecture. Well, thank you 00:10:00.309 --> 00:10:02.230 for joining us on this deep dive. We hope you 00:10:02.230 --> 00:10:04.149 feel a little more equipped to understand the 00:10:04.149 --> 00:10:05.970 history echoing through the halls of the Capitol 00:10:05.970 --> 00:10:08.169 today. Keep learning and we'll catch you next 00:10:08.169 --> 00:10:08.429 time.