History of the Recall
The following article is an excellent and well-documented history of the Progressive movement in the United States. Included in the mix is the development of the recall process. However, the Progressive movement is one more illustration of the Law of Unintended Consequences. One objective of the Progressives was to make the Senators elected by the people, rather than chosen by the state legislatures.
This change, the 17th Amendment, cut the connection between the legislatures of the states who more closely represent the people, and the Senators from that state who should also represent the people but now tend to represent national interests rather than those of their state. It is this disconnect which drives the present interest in recall elections to remove Senators who have abandoned the interests of “the people back home.”
Power To The People: The Progressive Movement for the Recall, 1890s-1920 (PDF)
