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In 1789, the first Congress proposed a set of twelve amendments, written by James Madison. As required by the Constitution, the amendments then went to the states. By December 1791, three fourths of the states had ratified 10 of the 12 amendments. These 10 amendments became known as the Bill of Rights.
- Article. V."when ratified by the Legislatures of three fourth of the several states, or by Conventions in three fourths thereof, as the one of the other Mode of Radification may be proposed by the Congress;"... so in the ratification of amendments in the constitution
Amendments to the constitution must be ratified by the states. To become part of the Constitution the Amendment must be approved by three-fourths of the states.
Changes to the Constitution are called amendments. Three-fourths of the states or 38 must ratify amendments for them to become part of the Constitution.
There are actually four methods.An Amendment may be proposed by two-thirds vote in each house of congress, and ratified by three-fourths of the state legislatures.An Amendment may be proposed by Congress and then ratified by conventions, called for that purpose in three-fourths of the state3.An Amendment may be proposed by a national convention, called by Congress at the request of two-thirds of state legislatures, and then ratified by three-fourths of the state legislatures.An amendment may be proposed by a national convention and ratified by conventions in three-fourths of the states.Answered directly from the "American Government" Textbook.
Article Five of the United States Constitution describes the process by which the Constitution may be altered. Amendments may be proposed by the United States Congress or by a national convention assembled at the request of the legislatures of at least two-thirds of the states. Amendments must then be ratified either by approval of the legislatures of three-fourths of the states or ratifying conventions held in three-fourths of the states.
No, no one is rewriting the US Constitution. Occasionally Congress proposes amendments (changes) to it, but these amendments must be approved by three fourths of the States
Ratification by the three-fourths of the state legislatures
27 amendments to the U.S. Constitution have been ratified. Three amendments (from 1798, 1810 and 1924) are technically still pending approval by three-fourths of state legislatures, though that is unlikely to happen. Then again, the 27th Amendment, regarding congressional salary increases, was proposed in 1789 but was not enacted until 1992. There have been, literally, thousands of proposed amendments that have not been passed by both houses of Congress. A study by C-SPAN counted 856 from 1989 to 1999 alone.
Amendments to the Constitution may originate from either body of Congress or from a Convention called into creation by two thirds of the state legislatures. Amendments from the former must pass both bodies of Congress with a two thirds majority at which point the Amendment is considered proposed to the states and the ratification process begins. For proposed Amendments to become law three fourths of the states' Legislatures must approve ratification of the Amendment. Currently this requires 38 of the 50 states.The President plays no official role in the passage or rejection of Amendments to the Constitution. The President has no veto power in the process.
Article Five of the United States Constitution describes the process whereby the Constitution may be altered. Such amendments may be proposed by the United States Congress or by a national convention assembled at the request of the legislatures of at least two-thirds of the several states. To become valid, amendments must then be ratified by either the legislatures of or ratifying conventions held in three-fourths of the several states, and may not deny any state its equal right to vote in the Senate without its consent.
There are two ways to propose and ratify amendments to the Constitution. To propose amendments two thirds of both houses of congress can vote to propose an amendment, and two thirds of the state legislatures can ask congress to call a national convention to propose amendments.