Describe the process of amending the Constitution, making sure to include all parts of the process from Proposal to Ratification (4 points )
Amending the United States Constitution is a deliberate process with several steps intended to ensure that changes reflect a broad consensus and are not made hastily or without widespread support. The process can be divided into four primary points: proposal, congressional action/approval, submission to the states, and ratification.
1. **Proposal**:
a. Amendments can be proposed in one of two ways:
i. By Congress with a two-thirds majority vote in both the House of Representatives and the Senate.
ii. By a constitutional convention called for by two-thirds of the State legislatures, which has never happened in the history of the United States.
2. **Congressional Action/Approval**:
a. If proposed by Congress, the proposed amendment must achieve the necessary two-thirds vote in both legislative chambers. Each chamber has its procedures and debates the proposed amendment before the vote.
b. If the amendment is proposed by a constitutional convention, which is convened after the request of two-thirds of the states, the details of how the convention would work and how the amendment process would proceed are not fully defined, as this method has never been used.
3. **Submission to the States**:
a. Once an amendment proposal has successfully passed through one of the methods above, it moves to the states for consideration.
b. Congress typically specifies how the states must ratify the amendment, which is usually by the state legislatures or by specially called state ratifying conventions.
c. In modern history, almost all amendments have been sent to the state legislatures for ratification.
4. **Ratification**:
a. Once proposed, the amendment must be ratified by three-fourths of the states (currently 38 of 50 states) to become part of the Constitution.
b. Congress may set a time limit for the states to take action; traditionally, this has been seven years. If the deadline passes without the necessary number of states ratifying the amendment, it fails.
c. The states can ratify the amendment through a vote in their legislatures or by holding state conventions, depending on the route stipulated by Congress at the time of the amendment's proposal.
Upon reaching the required number of ratified states, the amendment is added to the Constitution, effectively changing or elaborating the terms by which the United States is governed. The National Archives and Records Administration is responsible for certifying that the ratification process has been completed and that the amendment is valid and part of the Constitution.