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The Article V Convention: Historical Perspectives for Congress
Summary
The Philadelphia Convention of 1787 provided two methods of proposing amendments to the
U. S. Constitution. In the first, Congress, by two-thirds vote in both houses, proposes amendments
to the states. If three-fourths of the states (38 at present) vote to ratify the amendment, it becomes
part of the Constitution. Since 1789, Congress has proposed 33 amendments by this method, 27
of which have been adopted. In the second method, if the legislatures of two-thirds of the states
(34 at present) apply, Congress must call a convention to consider and propose amendments,
which must meet the same 38-state ratification requirement. This alternative, known as the Article
V Convention, has not been implemented to date. Several times during the 20th century, organized
groups promoted a convention that they hoped would propose amendments to the states, or to
"prod" Congress to propose amendments they favored. The most successful was the movement
for direct election of Senators, which helped prod Congress to propose the 17th Amendment. The
most recent, which promoted a convention to consider a balanced federal budget amendment,
gained 32 applications, just two short of the constitutional threshold. When the balanced budget
amendment campaign failed in the 1 980s, interest in the convention option faded and remained
largely dormant for more than 20 years.
Within the past decade, interest in the Article V Convention process has reawakened: several
policy advocacy organizations have publicized the Article V Convention option, particularly as an
alternative to what they portray as a legislative and policy deadlock at the federal level. An
important issue in the contemporary context is the fact that advances in communications
technology could facilitate the emergence of technology-driven issue advocacy groups favorable
to this phenomenon. The rise of instant interpersonal communications, email, and other social
media helped facilitate the rapid growth of such groups as MoveOn. org, the Tea Party movement,
and, most recently, Occupy Wall Street. These tools could be harnessed to promote a credible
campaign in a much shorter time than was the case with previous convention advocacy
movements.
Reviewing the history of the Article V Convention alternative, the record of the Constitutional
Convention of 1787 clearly demonstrated the founders' original intent. During the convention,
they agreed that a second mode of amendment was needed to balance the grant of amendatory
power to Congress. This method, clearly identified in Article V as co-equal to congressional
proposal of amendments, empowered the people, acting through their state legislatures, to
summon a convention that would have equal authority to propose an amendment or amendments,
which would then be presented to the states for ratification.
Only the states can summon an Article V Convention, by application from their legislatures.
Some of the issues concerning this process include procedures within the state legislatures; the
scope and conditions of applications for a convention; steps in submitting applications to
Congress; and the role of the state governors in the process.
This report identifies and examines these issues; a companion report, CRS Report R42589, The
Article V Convent[ion to Propose Constitutional Amendments: Contemporary Issues for Congress,
identifies contemporary issues for Congress and analyzes the congressional role in the Article V
Convention process in greater detail.Congressional Research Service
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Neale, Thomas H. The Article V Convention for Proposing Constitutional Amendments: Historical Perspectives for Congress, report, October 22, 2012; Washington D.C.. (https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc821587/m1/2/: accessed July 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, UNT Digital Library, https://digital.library.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.