How are amendments made?

Answer 1

The first method of amendment is the only one actually used so far. An amendment is proposed in the Congress and approved by at least two thirds of each house. It must then be ratified by three fourths of the states. Either of two methods of state ratification can be chosen by Congress: approval by the state legislatures or by a special convention in each state. The second method of amending the Constitution has never been used successfully since the original Constitutional Convention. If two thirds of the state legislatures approve of a convention for proposing amendments, any amendments coming out of the convention are submitted for ratification by the states. This has been tried several times in recent decades to advance amendments requiring a balanced budged, term limits and the like.