The Congress, whenever two thirds of both Houses shall deem it necessary, shall propose Amendments to this Constitution, or, on the Application of the Legislatures of two thirds of the several States, shall call a Convention for proposing Amendments, which, in either Case, shall be valid to all Intents and Purposes, as part of this Constitution, when ratified by the Legislatures of three fourths of the several States, or by Conventions in three fourths thereof, as the one or the other Mode of Ratification may be proposed by the Congress; Provided that no Amendment which may be made prior to the Year One thousand eight hundred and eight shall in any Manner affect the first and fourth Clauses in the Ninth Section of the first Article; and that no State, without its Consent, shall be deprived of its equal Suffrage in the Senate.
OK, I know, you're glad. This is a short one, so let's get into it.
To get one of these buy Congress, it requires Congress or both Houses to approve an amendment by a two thirds vote, not like under the Articles of Confederation that required a unanimous approval. Basically, under the AOC there would never be any amendments. As it is with the Constitution, only 27 have been passed out of the thousands and thousands proposed--over 11,000! Aren't you glad it's difficult to get an amendment passed? I am. Otherwise, I'd be writing to the end of time.
You probably know that Congress proposes amendments, but did you know states could too? The framers were, once again, thinking of the people. Not a lot of that going on by governmental leaders before the colonists moved to the New World, so this void was often on the framer's minds.
But here we're not just talking about proposing. What about getting amendments added to the Constitution?
There were two methods of ratification or the approval of amendments to be added to the Constitution. States can ratify, but only the 21st amendment has been ratified in this manor. Generally, it's left up to the Legislative branch.
What about getting the ratification of an amendment done? Is there a deadline? or does the amendment after its proposal has been accepted just hang there indefinitely? Well, according to the 18th Amendment, there is a deadline. More on this when we get to amendments.
According to this article, there are three amendments that can't be added to the Constitution. The first two deal with slavery and are moot. The third one dealt with capitalization taxes not being passed before 1808. Another moot point. Remember, way back in the introductory summary I told you these moot points would arise on occasion and that I would not belabor these points. Such is the case here.
Let's move on.
We do have a point in Article V that applies to today that no amendment to the Constitution can deny a state equal representation in the Senate. Big problem today is that larger states like California are represented by two senators while Rhode Island, the smallest state, has the same representation in the Senate. Some, however, believe that Article V refers to governing bodies and not the people. But more on this when we get to amendments.
Let's move on.
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