The progressive party was successful in getting congress to pass and the states to ratify the on april 8, 1913, which allowed for the direct election of u. s. senators by the voters themselves.

The progressive party was successful in getting congress to pass and the states to ratify the seventeenth amendment on april 8, 1913, which allowed for the direct election of u.s. senators by the voters themselves, substituting Article I, Section 3, Clauses 1 and 2 of the constitution, in which the Senate was elected by the State Legislatures.