Limited Constitutional Conventions Under Article V Of The United States Constitution

This book describes the process of amending the federal constitution as defined in Article V by means of a convention for proposing amendments. It shows that the constitution can be amended in two ways: either by ratifying an amendment proposed by the Congress or by ratifying an amendment proposed by a convention. Article V requires the Congress to call a convention whenever the legislatures of two thirds of the states request one. The federal constitution has been amended twenty-seven times. All 27 amendments were proposed by the Congress. There has never been an Article V amendatory constitutional convention in the 230 year history of the nation. Over the years, every state in the union has asked for a convention at one time or another. Congress has never acknowledged those requests or evaluated them. The history of the 1787 constitutional convention in Philadelphia shows that the founders intended the Article V convention to be a means for the states to seek amendments which the Congress refuses to consider. The book describes the efforts of a number of citizens groups that are trying to get an Article V convention, and it describes the weaknesses and strengths of each. It comes to several conclusions: A. That the Congress will never voluntarily call a convention no matter how many petitions are received, because a convention might propose amendments which would decrease the powers or prerogatives of Congress. B. That the states have the right to call an Article V convention without the concurrence of the Congress whenever two-thirds of the states wish to participate. C. That citizens of the several states have the constitutional right to organize a convention for proposing amendments, without the call of Congress or the approval of the state legislatures. D. That no amendment proposed by a convention, of any kind, will become a part of the federal constitution unless it is ratified by three quarters of the states, as required by Article V. The book urges the convening of a constitutional convention by the voluntary action of citizens, and recommends a number of matters that should be on its agenda.

Vile surveys more than two centuries of scholarship on Article V and concludes that the weight of the evidence indicates that states and Congress have the legal right to limit the scope of such conventions to a single subject and that political considerations would make a runaway convention unlikely.

Since the first and only constitutional convention in 1787, 26 amendments have been added to our governing document, but not one of them became law by virtue of the convention method. Despite more than 400 applications, no constitutional convention has been called in 202 years. Indeed it was James Madison who wrote, "Having witnessed the difficulties and dangers experienced by the first Convention. . . . I should tremble for the result of a Second." In Unfounded Fears: Myths and Realities of a Constitutional Convention, Weber and Perry present a balanced, scholarly look on this controversial topic and introduce surprising conclusions. Weber and Perry seek to determine if, in fact, the first convention was a runaway, as common wisdom holds, and they examine the process by which the Convention was called. They also review the attempts since 1787 to call a second constitutional convention, and they confront many of the questions commonly raised about a potential convention, including the process for electing delegates and the ability of Congress to establish and control the convention's procedures and substance of what a convention does. In their final chapter, they reflect on the realities of a balanced-budget amendment.

Classic Books Library presents this brand new edition of “The Federalist Papers”, a collection of separate essays and articles compiled in 1788 by Alexander Hamilton. Following the United States Declaration of Independence in 1776, the governing doctrines and policies of the States lacked cohesion. “The Federalist”, as it was previously known, was constructed by American statesman Alexander Hamilton, and was intended to catalyse the ratification of the United States Constitution. Hamilton recruited fellow statesmen James Madison Jr., and John Jay to write papers for the compendium, and the three are known as some of the Founding Fathers of the United States. Alexander Hamilton (c. 1755–1804) was an American lawyer, journalist and highly influential government official. He also served as a Senior Officer in the Army between 1799-1800 and founded the Federalist Party, the system that governed the nation’s finances. His contributions to the Constitution and leadership made a significant and lasting impact on the early development of the nation of the United States.