Bill of Rights and Amendments
Amendments to the Constitution are difficult to produce, a fact that the Framers built into the document with Article V. Article V states: 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. (Patterson, 2009) Broken down into plain language a bill must pass both houses of the legislature by a two-thirds majority in each house then be passed on to the states to be ratified. This is the route that has been used for all of the current amendments, but it is not the only avenue for approving an amendment to the Constitution. The other method, that has never been used, is that a Constitutional Convention be called by two-thirds of the legislatures of the States to propose one or more amendments (Mount, 2011). Whichever method is used, the amendment must be ratified by three-fourths of the States, either by the state legislature or by a state convention (Mount, 2011).
The Constitution was written by a group of men who were attempting to create a government for the United States of America that would bring together those states as a cohesive nation. The enormous task they undertook was not going to be accomplished in a short period. The Constitutional...