The Seventeenth Amendment

"The Senate of the United States shall be composed of two Senators from each State, elected by the people thereof, for six years; and each Senator shall have one vote. The electors in each State shall have the qualifications requisite for electors of the most numerous branch of the State legislatures.

When vacancies happen in the representation of any State in the Senate, the executive authority of such State shall issue writs of election to fill such vacancies: Provided, That the legislature of any State may empower the executive thereof to make temporary appointments until the people fill the vacancies by election as the legislature may direct.

This amendment shall not be so construed as to affect the election or term of any Senator chosen before it becomes valid as part of the Constitution"

The video above is a cleaver rap about the Seventeenth Amendment.  The Seventeenth Amendment assured that the Senators of Congress were to be elected by the people instead of by state representatives.  The problem with have state appointed Senators was corruption.  A majority of Senators at the time had bribed their way to the position.  Originally it was thought that the people would elect state representatives whom would then appoint the Senators they would want.  The amendment also established that there were to be two elected Senators per every state.  

One of the major aspects of the Seventeenth Amendment was that it established that there were to be only two elected Senators from every state.  Unlike the Congress, the number of Senators per state did not depend on the population of that state.  This concept does two things, (1) It gave the voice back to smaller states, (2) It further protected the voice of the majority of the people of those states.  For instance, it will be a long time before we see the state of Texas elect a Democratic Senator or have the entire state go blue for that matter.