Constitutional Amendments

THE DOCUMENT signed in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1787 was structured to check abuses of government in a number of ways and to make it flexible enough to survive without constantly being rewritten. Over 10,000 constitutional amendments have been introduced in Congress, but both houses have approved only 33. Amendments that were never ratified by the states include the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA), statehood for Washington, D.C., and a ban on child labor. The Constitution has been changed only 27 times, and nearly half of the amendments were adopted in the first 15 years of government operation. Six additional amendments were ratified between 1913 and 1933 in response to the Progressive movement. The liberal mood of the 1960s and early 1970s resulted in four new amendments; but since 1971, only one amendment has received the necessary support to become part of the Constitution.

The fact that the amending process is difficult and lengthy makes it less likely that amendments will be passed in response to emotional issues such as abortion and flag burning. Originally, the Supreme Court decided that constitutional amendments only limited the national government; but through the process of incorporation, the court has also been restricted from interfering in basic rights. Conservatives in Congress continue to attempt to use the amending process to restrict individual rights. Liberals, on the other hand, have consistently argued against amendments that limit individual rights or those that restrict the ability of politicians to perform their responsibilities.

[Page 106]Article V of the Constitution details a two-step amending process of proposal and ratification with two options in each case. In order to be successful, a proposal requires a two-thirds vote in each house of Congress. The method by which state legislatures in two-thirds of the states call for a constitutional amending convention has never been used. If a proposed amendment wins the two-thirds vote needed, it is sent to state legislatures for ratification and must be ratified by three-fourths of the states. The only constitutional amendment adopted by a ratifying convention in threefourths of the states was the Twenty-First Amendment, which repealed the Eighteenth Amendment (Prohibition). Most proposed amendments now have a sevenyear deadline for ratification.

When the liberal Federalist constitution was sent to the states for ratification, conservative anti-Federalists tried to block its passage because they believed that a strong central government would threaten the sovereignty of the 13 individual states. James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, and John Jay published The Federalist Papers to allay their fears. While they could not block ratification of the Constitution, the anti-Federalists were successful in forcing the inclusion of a Bill of Rights. When Congress met for the first time, Madison introduced 12 amendments from the over 200 that were submitted. Ten of those became the Bill of Rights, which was designed according to the classical liberal belief that government should be limited in order to protect the “inalienable rights” of individuals.