Describe the four possible ways for an amendment to be added to the Constitution.

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Answers will vary. Since the Constitution was written, more than eleven thousand amendments have been introduced in Congress. Nonetheless, in the years since the ratification of the Bill of Rights, only seventeen proposed amendments have actually survived the amendment process and become a part of our Constitution. Some contend that members of Congress use the amendment process simply as a political ploy. By introducing an amendment, a member of Congress often can show her or his position on an issue, knowing that the odds against the amendment's being adopted are high.One of the reasons there are so few amendments is that the framers, in Article V, made the formal amendment process difficult (although it was easier than it had been under the Articles of Confederation). There are two ways to propose an amendment and two ways to ratify one. As a result, there are four possible ways for an amendment to be added to the Constitution.The two methods of proposing an amendment are as follows:1. A two-thirds vote in the Senate and in the House of Representatives is required. All of the twenty-seven existing amendments have been proposed in this way.2. If two-thirds of the state legislatures request that Congress call a national amendment convention, then Congress must call one. The convention may propose amendments to the states for ratification. No such convention has ever been convened.The notion of a national amendment convention is exciting to many people. Many leaders, however, are uneasy about the prospect of convening a body that conceivably could do what the Constitutional Convention did-create a new form of government.There are two methods of ratifying a proposed amendment:1. Three-fourths of the state legislatures can vote in favor of the proposed amendment. This method is considered the "traditional" ratification method and has been used twenty-six times.2. The states can call special conventions to ratify the proposed amendment. If three-fourths of the states approve, the amendment is ratified. This method has been used only once-to ratify the Twenty-first Amendment.