|
|
Article: The constitutional amendment process.(teaching content)
- Article from:
- Social Education
- Article date:
- November 1, 2005
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2005 National Council for the Social Studies. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
|
Although the process is not described in great detail, Article V of the United States Constitution allows for and provides instruction on amending the Constitution. While the amendment process currently consists of six steps, the Constitution is nevertheless quite difficult to change. More than 10,000 amendments have been proposed since 1789, yet, not counting the original 10 amendments comprising the Bill of Rights (raft fled December 15, 1791), Congress has only amended the Constitution 17 times.
According to Article V, there are two ways to propose an amendment: via a two-thirds vote of both houses of Congress, or through a national constitutional convention, ...