CHAPTER XVI.

AMENDING THE CONSTITUTION.

§ 290. How the Constitution May Be Amended. No system of government can remain permanently unchanged. The most enduring governments have been those under which it was possible to alter political institutions to meet changed conditions.

The question as to the method by which the Constitution could be amended, was one of the new problems which the members of the Constitutional Convention were called upon to solve. The methods both of the English Constitution, and that of the Articles of Confederation, were entirely inappropriate for the New Constitution. Under the English system, where no distinction as to the method of their repeal or amendment is made between the different classes of laws, any of the laws which go to make up the so-called English Constitution, can be altered or repealed by Act of Parliament. Under the Articles of Confederation the unanimous vote of all the States was required to change these articles and experience had shown that it was practically impossible to ever obtain their unanimous consent. for any change, no matter how necessary and important.

The object of the framers of the Constitution was to make such provision on to this point, as would make it sufficiently difficult to amend the Constitution to give stability to that instrument; but, on the other hand, not so difficult as to prevent such amendments as were felt to be necessary by a large majority of the people. The method as finally adopted by the Constitutional Convention and contained in the fifth article of the Constitution is as follows:

"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 threefourths 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." The veto power of the President does not extend to the case of amendments to the Constitution.1

291. How the Constitution Has Been Amended. The Constitution provides two methods by which amendments to the Constitution may be proposed, and two methods by which such proposed amendments may be adopted. Amendments may be proposed either by a two-thirds vote of both branches of Congress or by a special Constitutional Convention called by Congress upon the request of the legislatures of two-thirds of the states. Amendments may be ratified either by the state legislatures or by special conventions in each state. Congress may determine which method of ratification shall be used, and under either method the vote of three-quarters of the states is required for the ratification of the amendment.

So far in the history of the country all constitutional amendments have been proposed by Congress and ratified by state legislatures.

In all, eighteen amendments have been proposed, of which fifteen have been ratified. The first Congress proposed twelve amendments, of which the first two were rejected. The other ten were ratified and became the first ten amendments. The two proposed amendments which failed to secure the approval of a sufficient number of states, related to the apportionment of representatives, and the pay of senators and representatives.

1

Hollingsworth v. Virginia, 3 Dallas, 378.

: The full text of the first rejected amendment was as follows: "After the first enumeration re

quired by the first article of the Constitution there shall be one representative for every thirty thousand, until the number shall amount to one hundred, after

In the winter of 1860-61, an amendment numbered the thirteenth, whose avowed purpose was the protection of slavery, was passed through Congress by a narrow margin, but was ratified by only three States.

APPENDICES

APPENDIX A.

MAGNA CHARTA.

JOHN, by the grace of God king of England, lord of Ireland, duke of Normandy and Aquitaine, and count of Anjou, to his archbishops, bishops, abbots, earls, barons, justiciaries, foresters, sheriffs, governors, officers, and to all bailiffs, and faithful subjects, greeting. Know ye, that we, in the presence of God, and for the salvation of our soul, and the souls of our ancestors and heirs, and unto the honour of God and the advancement of Holy Church, and amendment of our Realm, by the advice of our venerable Fathers, STEPHEN, Archbishop of Canterbury, primate of all England, and cardinal of the Holy Roman Church, HENRY, archbishop of Dublin, WILLIAM of London, PETER of Winchester, JOCELIN of Bath and Glastonbury, HUGH of Lincoln, WALTER of Worcester, WILLIAM of Coventry, BENEDICT of Rochester, Bishops; of Master PANDULF, Sub-Deacon and Familiar of our Lord the Pope, Brother AYMERIC, Master of the Knight-Templars in England; and of the Noble Persons, WILLIAM MARESCALL, Earl of Pembroke, WILLIAM, Earl of Salisbury, WILLIAM, Earl of Warren, WILLIAM, Earl of Arundel, ALAN de GALLOWAY, Constable of Scotland, WARIN FITZ GERALD, PETER FITZ HERBERT, and HUBERT DE BURGH, Seneschal of Poitou, HUGH de NEVILLE, MATTHEW FITZ HERBERT, THOMAS BASSET, ALAN BASSET, PHILIP of ALBINEY, ROBERT de ROPPELL, JOHN MARESCALL, JOHN FITZ HUGH, and others our liegemen have, in the first place, granted to God, and by this our present Charter confirmed, for us and our heirs forever:

1. That the Church of England shall be free, and have her whole rights, and her liberties inviolable; and we will have them so observed, that it may appear thence, that the freedom of elections, which is reckoned chief and indispensable to the English Church, and which we granted and confirmed by our Charter, and obtained the confirmation of the same from our Lord the Pope Innocent III. before the discord between