The Amendment Process: Not an Easy Road
by Floyd Brooks
The Constitution of the United States of America is an amazingly complex
document to amend, or change. There have been over 11,539 proposals to amend
the Constitution between 1789 and January 2, 2013; that is well over 200 years.
However, of that amount, only 27 have been ratified, or accepted. What happened
to all of the other proposals, you may ask? Well, they all failed to become new
amendments.
The first ten amendments of the constitution are referred to as the Bill of Rights.
The Bill of Rights is designed to outline basic protections guaranteed to all
citizens of the United States of America. For a change to be made to the
Constitution of the United States, the vast majority of states (three-fourths) must
agree, as well as two-thirds of Congress. Congress is often referred to as the “First
Branch” of the federal government. The Congress of the United States is made up
of representatives from the Senate, as well as the House of Representatives.
Under the Constitution, Congress is responsible for organizing the other two
branches of the federal government— the Executive Branch and the Judicial
Branch. Congress is also in charge of raising money, declaring war on another
country, and making new laws to effectively carry out their responsibilities as the
“First Branch” of the federal government. The president (leader of the Executive
Branch) is allowed to veto specific legislative acts, thus preventing them from
becoming laws. However, Congress may override a presidential veto by a twothirds majority vote of both the Senate and the House of Representatives.
The Framers, or creators, of the constitution designed the government to work in
the manner in which it is currently working. The Framers wanted to make sure
that no arm, or branch, of the federal government had total control of government.
This is referred to as separation and balance of power in the government through
a series of checks and balances. Each branch, executive, legislative, and judicial
branch check each other so that no one branch can make decisions on their own.
The United States is a representative democracy. This means that the people of
the United States elect their leaders to carry out the “will-of-the-people”. Even
though the Framers made it difficult to make changes to the constitution,
changes are possible. Therefore, they also created guidelines under which the
Constitution of the United States may be amended, or changed. This is outlined
under Article V of the United States Constitution.
Article V of the Constitution outlines two ways in which an amendment can be
made to the Constitution of the United States. One way, has been used for all (27
of 27) ratified amendments made so far. In this method, Congress votes on a
proposal before it is sent to the states. However, two-thirds of Congress must
agree on the proposal before it can move ahead to the states. If two-thirds of
Congress agrees, then the proposal will be sent to all 50 states for ratification, or
acceptance. This ratification can either be done by the state legislatures or by
conventions within the states. However, three-fourths of all states must approve
of the proposal before it is added to the Constitution as an amendment.
The second way to make an amendment to the Constitution is to let the states
start the process. This method has never been used before. States can start the
process of requesting an amendment when two-thirds of states petition Congress
for such a convention to propose amendments; these are called Constitutional
Conventions. However, for the amendment to be accepted, it must be ratified by
three-quarters of the states as well. Neither method is easy as you can see by the
limited amount of proposals that have turned into actual amendments.
1. How many Amendments have been made to the Constitution of the United States?
a) 11,539 after many refusals.
b) Ten amendments have been made to the constitution.
c) 11,566 amendments made to the constitution.
d) Twenty seven amendments have been made to the constitution.
2. What differentiates an amendment from the Bill of Rights?
a) Both amendments and the Bill of Rights are the same thing.
b) The amendments are the changes accepted into the Constitution, while the Bill of Rights are the only
things people are free to do in the country.
c) Amendments are changes made to the constitution, however, the Bill of Rights is the name given to
the first ten Amendments of the constitution.
d) Amendments are the Bill of Rights.
3. What is the Congress of the United States government?
a) A group of elected officials who work together to change the constitution of the United States.
b) A group of elected officials from the states who are responsible for the operation of the White
House.
c) The name given to the branch of government responsible for making laws, declaring war and
proposing changes to the Constitution.
d) The name given to the Senate of the US government.
4. What are the three branches of the US government?
a) Senate, Congress, and the president.
b) The Supreme Court, Congress and the Senate.
c) Legislative Branch, Judiciary Branch and the Executive Branch.
d) The president, Senate and the Congress.
5. What is a presidential veto?
a) A threat made against the president.
b) A threat made by the president.
c) A rejection of a law by the president.
d) A rejection of a law by the president proposed by the Congress.
6. What is a representative democracy?
a) A government elected through elections by the people within a country.
b) A country in which leaders are allowed to lead.
c) A country that has a balance of power.
d) A country in which the people all need to vote.
7. What is the role of Article V of the U.S Constitution?
a) A section of the Constitution that makes it legal to have a presidential veto.
b) A section of the Constitution that makes it possible to amend the Constitution.
c) The shape that the Constitution has while you are reading the document.
d) An abbreviation that means Very Important.
8. Why do you think that 2/3 of Congress and ¾ of all states must be involved in the amendment
process?
a) The Framers knew that it would be difficult to gather such a large percentage of elected officials to
make changes to the constitution.
b) The Framers knew that changes to the constitution would be very popular.
c) The states are far apart, therefore, it is hard for them to come together.
d) Because they know that three-fourth plus 2/3 will not make one.
9. While trying to amend the Constitution, the congress refused to make such a proposal. Is there any
other way that an amendment proposal can be initiated or started?
a) Yes, the people could demand that local governments vote on the matter.
b) No, people do not like to write to their elected officials.
c) Yes, two-thirds of the states could call, or petition, congress for a constitutional convention.
d) Yes, people can wait until the next election for it to show up on the ballot.
10. Congress decided that they want to make changes to the constitution. What can Congress do to
make changes to the constitution?
a) They can vote on the proposal and make it into an amendment right way.
b) They will have to vote with 2/3 of Congress’ approval. After this, the proposal is sent to the states for
¾ approval.
c) They can do nothing; it must be placed on the election ballot.
d) They can veto the Constitution and create new a one anytime.