44 CHAPTER 2|THE CONSTITUTION AND THE FOUNDING
Article V describes the two steps necessary to change the Constitution: pro-
posal and ratifi cation. Congress may propose an amendment that has the approval
of two-thirds of the members in both houses, or an amendment may be proposed by
a national convention that has been called by two-thirds of the states’ legislatures.
In either case the amendment must be ratifi ed by three-fourths of the states’ legis-
latures or state conventions (see Figure 2.2). A national convention has never been
used to propose an amendment, and every amendment except for the Twenty-
First, which repealed Prohibition, has been ratifi ed by state legislatures rather
than state conventions.FLAWS IN THE AMENDING PROCESS
Article V was a brilliant compromise that struck a balance between opposing views
and made it neither too diffi cult nor too easy to amend the Constitution. However,
the amending process has its fl aws. First, one reason that a new constitutional
convention has never been ca lled is fear of a “runaway convention.” Some scholars
argue that nothing in Article V would constrain the convention to consider only
a single issue, so it is possible that the convention could start from scratch, the
way the framers did, even proposing a new method of ratifi cation. Others dispute
this view, but we have come close to fi nding out on several occasions. In the 1960s,
35 states—one short of the necessary two-thirds—called for a convention to pro-
pose a constitutional amendment that would overturn a Supreme Court decision
concerning legislative redistricting. In the late 1970s, 30 states called for a con-
vention to propose an amendment requiring a balanced federal budget.
Second, Article V does not specify voting procedures for a constitutional con-
vention and is silent on the mechanism for choosing delegates to attend the state
conventions. Third, Article V does not address the question of time limits on amend-
ments; rather, this issue has been left up to Congress. The Eighteenth Amendment
(Prohibition) was the fi rst to have a time limit: it had to be ratifi ed within seven
years. All amendments before the Eighteenth and some after have been approved by
Congress and sent to the states for ratifi cation without time limits. This led to the
odd situation surrounding the Twenty-Seventh Amendment, which required that
no legislation granting a congressional pay raise could go into eff ect until after
the following election. This amendment was originally proposed in 1789 as part
of the original Bill of Rights, but it took until 1992 for enough states to ratify the
amendment and add it to the Constitution, after a lag of more than 202 years!A RANGE OF AMENDMENTS
Constitutional amendments have ranged from fairly narrow, technical correc-
tions of errors in the original document (Eleventh and Twelfth Amendments), to
important topics such as abolishing slavery (Thirteenth), mandating equal protec-
tion of the laws for all citizens (Fourteenth), providing for the popular election of
senators (Seventeenth), giving blacks and then women the right to vote (Fifteenth
and Nineteenth), and allowing a national income tax (Sixteenth). Potential consti-
tutional amendments have addressed many other issues, with more than 10,000
proposed; of those, 33 were sent to the states and 27 have made it through the
amending process (the fi rst 10 came at once in the Bill of Rights). Table 2.1 shows
several amendments that were introduced but not ratifi ed. The “You Decide” box
outlines the debate over when it is appropriate to amend the Constitution.