Chapter 3:2: Formally Amending the Constitution

Objectives: 3:2 Formally Amending

o Students will examine the formal

and informal methods of

amending the Constitution.

• Deu_27:8 And thou shalt write

upon the stones all the words

of this law very plainly.

FORMALLY AMENDING THE CONSTITUTION:

o The Constitution is considered a living breathing document.

o The process of constitutional change, of modifications and growth, had come about in two basic ways.

(1)Formal Amendment

(2)Informal Amendment.

FORMAL AMENDMENT:

o Constitution provides for its own amendment-that is, for change in its written words.

o Article V sets out two methods for the ratification of constitutional amendments.

o So there are four methods of formal amendment, changes or additions that become part of the written language of the constitution itself.

FIRST METHOD:

o An amendment may be proposed by a two-thirds vote in each house of Congress and be ratified by three-fourths of the state legislatures.

o Today, 38 state legislatures must approve an amendment in order to make it a part of the Constitution.

o 26 out of the first 27 amendments were adopted in this manner.

SECOND METHOD:

o An amendment may be proposed by Congress and then ratified by conventions, called for that purpose, in all three fourths of the states.

o Only the 21st Amendment added in 1933 was adopted in this way.

THIRD METHOD:

o An amendment may be proposed

by a national convention, called

by Congress at the request of

two-thirds of the state

legislatures---today, 34.

FOURTH METHOD:

o An amendment may be proposed by a national convention and ratified by conventions in three-fourths of the States.

o Remember that the Constitution itself was adopted in much this same way.

o Note, that when the Constitution is amended, that action represents the expression of the people’s sovereign will.

FOURTH METHOD:

o The people have spoken.

o Some criticize that sending amendments to State legislatures rather than a ratifying convention where delegates would be chosen by the people on the basis of their stand on the amendment being voted.

FOURTH METHOD:

o The Supreme Court has held

that a state cannot require an

amendment proposed by

Congress to be approved by a

vote of the people of the State

before it can be ratified by the

state legislature.

FOURTH METHOD:

o If a state rejects a proposed amendment, it is not forever bound by that action.

o It may later reconsider and ratify the proposal.

o But most constitutional scholars agree that the reverse is not true.

o Once a state has approved an amendment, that action is final and unchangeable.

27 AMENDMENTS:

o Congress proposed all of the first

10 amendments in 1789.

o Each of them arose from the

controversy surrounding the

ratification of the Constitution

itself.

27 AMENDMENTS:

o Many people, including Thomas

Jefferson agreed to support the

Constitution only on condition

that a listing of the basic rights

of the people be added to the

document immediately.

27 AMENDMENTS:

o Collectively, the first 10 amendments are known as the Bill of Rights.

o They set out the great constitutional guarantees of freedom of expression and belief, of freedom and security of the person, and of fair and equal treatment before the law.

27 AMENDMENTS:

o Another cluster of amendments came out of the aftermath of the civil war.

o The 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments are often called the Civil War Amendments.

o The 13th (1865) ended slavery and prohibits most other forms of “involuntary servitude.”

27 AMENDMENTS:

o The 14th defined American citizenship and granted it to former slaves.

o It also contains the Due Process and Equal Protection clauses, which protect basic civil rights from infringement by the States.

o The 15th Amendment (1870) forbids restrictions on the right to vote based upon, “race, color, or previous condition of servitude.”

o Is there an amendment you want to add to

the Constitution? Explain why you would

want to add that amendment.