Brooke was the first African-American U.S. Senator elected after the end of Reconstruction and the first ever popularly elected, as Reconstruction ended before the passage of the Seventeenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. This election marked the first time since Reconstruction in 1874 that an African-American was elected to the United States Senate and Edward Brooke's inauguration was the first time since 1881 that an African-American United States senator held a United States Senate seat.