Constitutional Amendments

Constitutional Amendments
HIS/301
August 27, 2012

Constitutional Amendments
The Framers of the Constitution knew their creation was not perfect and future generations would want to make changes, so they added an amendment process. They made the process easier than having a revolution, but hard enough to really have to think about what is being done. The authority to amend the United States Constitution is written in Article V of the Constitution. The Constitution allows an amendment to be proposed by Congress with a two-thirds majority vote in both the House of Representatives and the Senate, or by a constitutional convention called for by two-thirds of the State legislatures. None of the 27 amendments to the Constitution have been proposed by constitutional convention. To enact an amendment Congress proposes an amendment in the form of a joint resolution. The President does not have a role in the amendment process so the joint resolution does not go to the White House for a signature or approval like a Bill would. The original document gets sent straight to the Office of Federal Register (OFR) for processing and publication. The OFR adds history notes to the document and publishes it into slip law format. A slip law is a bill or constitutional amendment resolution printed individually in its approved form after being enacted into law or submitted to voters. The OFR produces an information package for the States which includes: formal “red-line” copies of the joint resolution, copies of the resolution in law format, and the statutory procedure for ratification under 1 U.S.C. 106b. A letter of notification goes out to each Governor along with the information packet. The Governors then submit the amendment to their state legislatures. The State then ratifies the proposed Amendment (or not), and sends the action to the OFR. A proposed amendment becomes part of the Constitution as soon as it is ratified by three-fourths of the states. (“The Constitutional Amendment Process”, 2012).
An amendment is created to update the original material of the Constitution or to make improvements to existing regulations. The original document was ratified in 1788, and since then twenty-seven amendments have been ratified, six amendments were disapproved, and many more were discussed in between. An amendment made to the Constitution will become part of it, laws or rules in the Constitution cannot be removed, but can be altered or modified, and the modifications become laws. An example is the 18th Amendment which prohibited the manufacture, sale, import or export of alcoholic beverages. It was ratified January 16, 1919, and then repealed by the 21st Amendment in 1933. In the two hundred plus years of the United States Constitution, the 18th Amendment remains the only Amendment to be repealed (“Why do Amendments Become Part of the Constitution”, 2008). The first ten amendments of the Constitution are known as the Bill of Rights. These amendments were added because many people believed the Constitution did not adequately protect them from government’s power. Amendments are made to protect the American peoples’ right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
The original Constitution proposed in 1787 contained very few individual right guarantees. The framers were more focused on establishing an effective federal government, and at that time, many States feared the government that was being created was too strong. Their fear was that a strong national government would one day destroy the liberties Americans had won in the Revolutionary War. They worried because the new Constitution did not list any specific rights for the people. Not everyone agreed that a Bill of Rights was needed claiming, the federal government was limited in its powers and could not interfere with the rights of the people or States. Alexander Hamilton argued against the Bill of Rights claiming, the problem with an explicit list of rights was people would assume that anything that is not on the list is not a right. Thomas Jefferson countered that argument with, “Half a loaf is better than no bread. If we cannot secure all our rights, let us secure what we can.” (Securing Rights”, 2002) Eventually, the Massachusetts Compromise was the solution to both ratifying the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights. This compromise allowed the Constitution to be ratified so long as once it went into effect; a Bill of Rights would be added. Basically the idea was to ratify now, and amend later. This led to the ratification of the Constitution, and the first Ten Amendments.
The effects of the Bill of Rights can still be felt today. The effect of the amendments of the Bill of Rights on American society is to provide a sense of purpose and focus to citizenship and governmental rule. The first ten amendments as seen as The Bill of Rights serve to identify the values and concepts that we, as a political society, value above all. The effect of this on American society is to provide a sense of focus and direction to our political state of being. For example, we as a political group of beings understand the importance of freedom of expression and political activism. We understand the need for the protection of the accused persons ' rights in our legal system. The Bill of Rights ' effect on American society is to bring focus and attention to the ideals and concepts upon which value must be placed. In their recognition, one of the hallmarks of American citizenship is accomplished in that American citizens fully grasp and understand the function and purpose of these amendments, recognizing their need to be present in daily activities and our political state of being. The first eight amendments limit the power of government by specifying a list of rights and liberties that cannot be taken away. The Ninth Amendment proposes that rights other than those listed may also exist. The Tenth Amendment underlines the fact that the United States federal government can only exercise powers granted to it in the Constitution. The Bill of Rights cannot be lawfully violated by the government unless the Constitution of the United States is amended. “The Bill of Rights are not “bills” enacted by legislative assemblies, but declarations of rights by the people themselves (Pittman, 1955). The Bill of Rights was designed to prevent the government from assuming total power over citizens with legal defenses. Without the Bill of Rights, nothing would prevent the government from imposing mandatory church attendance, banning books, detaining people for an indefinite amount of time, or confiscating firearms. Without the Bill of Rights, the government would be able to make laws limiting our civil liberties.
Beyond the Bill of Rights, there have been many other amendments to the Constitution that protect the rights of people. The Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Amendments are called Reconstruction Amendments both because they were the first enacted right after the Civil War (during the Reconstruction Era) and because all of them addressed questions relating to the legal and political status of African Americans. The Thirteenth Amendment ended slavery in the United States, the Fourteenth Amendment allows African Americans the same rights as Whites, and the Fifteenth Amendment allows African Americans the right to vote.
After the Civil War, the federal government began a process of reconstruction. During this time, the 13th-15th Amendments were passed. The Emancipation Proclamation was an executive order and open to legal challenges. It was inevitable that once the former Confederate states were readmitted to the Union, slave owners would sue in Federal courts for the return of their property. Only incorporating emancipation into the Constitution through an amendment would make emancipation permanent. Citizenship was also granted to the freed slaves so their interests would be protected under the Constitution. The final amendment resulted from Southern efforts to prevent the freed slaves from voting. Congress established the Freedmen’s Bureau to assist former slaves in the transition to freedom, several Southern states enacted “black codes” to curb their rights. The federal government eventually overturned these codes by passing the Civil Rights Act in 1866. (“Historical Data, 2012)
The Constitution is known as a living document. This means it grows and adapts to internal and external pressures, changing from one era and generation to the next. The Constitution is looked up for guidance, and is interpreted in many different ways. The framers of the Constitution realized civilization would change, and the Constitution would have to be able to be amended to keep up. This has allowed the Constitution to stay relevant, and keep protecting the rights of the people.

References:
Historical Data. (2012). Retrieved from http://www.baic.house.gov
Pittman, R. (1955). Our Bill of Rights: How it Came to Be. Retrieved from http://www.rcarterpittman.org
Securing Rights. (2002). Retrieved from http://www.famguardian.org
The Constitutional Amendment Process. (2012). Retrieved from http://www.archives.gov
Why do Amendments Become Part of the Constitution. (2012). Retrieved from http://www.knowswhy.com

References: Historical Data. (2012). Retrieved from http://www.baic.house.gov Pittman, R. (1955). Our Bill of Rights: How it Came to Be. Retrieved from http://www.rcarterpittman.org Securing Rights. (2002). Retrieved from http://www.famguardian.org The Constitutional Amendment Process. (2012). Retrieved from http://www.archives.gov Why do Amendments Become Part of the Constitution. (2012). Retrieved from http://www.knowswhy.com