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Did the founding fathers intend for the US Constitution to be easy or difficult to amend?
Wiki User
∙ 16y ago
Difficult, but doable with broad public support.
The Constitution calls for the proposal of a constitutional amendment to be passed by 2/3 of both houses of Congress (or 2/3 of a national convention called by Congress--never been done). A 2/3 majority is hard to come by in Congress...that's the same majority needed to overturn a presidential veto, which rarely occurs.
After an amendment is proposed, it has to be ratified by either 3/4 of the state legislatures or 3/4 of state conventions. All but 1 of the amendments have been ratified by state legislatures. The one exception was the 21st amendment, dealing with the repeal of Prohibition, which was ratified by state conventions.
Of the 27 amendments to the Constitution, the first 10 came early on as a condition for the ratification of the Constitution. The other 17 have been scattered over 200 years of history.
So, the process is difficult, but changes can be made. Had the Founders made the amendment process easier, it would have weakened the document and our government because of the fickle nature of public opinion. This would have led to legal uncertainties with an ever-changing constitution.
Incidentally, this reasoning also led to the division of Congress into two houses.
Wiki User
∙ 16y ago
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The Founding Fathers for the federal government to have absolute authority in all areas?
did not intend
Did any of the founding fathers intend for The US to be more like today's European Union?
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