The Pros And Cons Of Amending The United States Constitution

Although the U. S. S. Constitution was originally built as a defense against pirates during the Barbary War, it is most famous for the three major battles that it won during the War of 1812. The first of these battles, which was fought against the British H. M. S. Guerriere, was where the Constitution earned the nickname “Old Ironsides.” The second battle was against the H. M. S. Java, a merchant ship bound for India. In the third battle, the Constitution contended with both the H. M. S. Cyane and the H. M. S Levant. All of these victories are owed, at least in part, to the ingenious manner in which Old Ironsides was built. The building style of the U. S. S. Constitution gave it significant advantages over the English frigates during the War of 1812 that enabled it to emerge victorious from decisive naval battles against such ships as the H. M. S. Guerriere and H. M. S. Java.

Created on November 15, 1777 and ratified by the first 13 colonies on March 1, 1781, the articles of confederation is known for being the first constitution of the united states. “The constitution provides a division of powers, meaning it assigns certain powers to the national government and reserves others for the states.” (crouse, slide 4) The constitution is needed because if we didn't have it the government would be weak and would most likely have no power. Framers of the constitution chose a system of government on a territorial basis, between a central government and several states. “ the framers were worried about the government being too powerful because; government power inevitably poses a threat to individual liberty. Therefore the

The Texas Constitution of 1876 Certainly once one becomes familiar with the Texas Constitution and the Reconstruction period, they would recognize the need to redraft an entirely new document. Even though we can amend outdated legislation, this has contributed to the excessive length of the Texas Constitution. To date, there has been more than four-hundred and seventy- four amendments, and instead of organizing or thoughtfully placing these amendments with their correlating articles in the constitution, the amendments are scattered haphazardly throughout the body of the document. This exorbitantly long and restrictive document can be thought of as a model of what a constitution should not be.

Although during the time of the presidency of George Washington (1788-1797) many changes within the American political party system occurred, his election (1788-1789) itself did not foster significant change and instead maintained continuity in the existence of political division; thus it can not be a referred to as a turning point in the American political party system. Strong sentiments from the Federalist and Anti-Federalist factions of the Constitution of 1787 such as national versus state supremacy of power, the necessity of a Bill of Rights, as well as federal taxes met by rebellion continued after George Washington’s election. As Patriots embraced independence in 1776 they envisioned a central government with limited power. The Articles

The Constitutional Convention was the gathering point of the fifty-six delegates from the twelve states where the latest Constitution was written. This historical event took place at the Annapolis Convention in Philadelphia. The Constitutional Convention met between May and September of 1787. They argued on almost everything, some delegates argued over the powers that the president should have, and other argued about the number of representatives each state should have. To settle these problems, compromises were proposed. The most important compromises that led to the creation and ratification of the Constitution of the United States were: The Great Compromise, The Three-Fifths Compromise, The Slave Trade Compromise, and The Massachusetts Compromise.

The 16th amendment is an important amendment that allows the UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT to collect income tax from all americans. this allows for the government to keep an army, build road and bridges, enforce laws and carry out important rules and regulations. the 16th amendment was passed because many people believe an income tax would provide a more stable source of income than by a chief way in which government had been financed throughout history to that point but such a tax could not be imposed because the Supreme Court had ruled in Pollock v. Farmers' Loan and Trust Company. PROS of 16th amendment, The federal government can collect revenues from income and thus increase expenditures. and government gets money from tax revenue, fines and

At the constitutional convention in Philadelphia in 1787, building of a stronger national government to strengthen the weak central government under the Articles of Confederation was the focus of some leaders. The solution to this issue brought about the framing of the constitution. The framers of the new plan crafted a startling new approach through a ratifying procedure that went directly to the people. By this method, the Constitution would become law if nine of the thirteen states approved it after holding special conventions to consider the issue (Ratifying the Constitution, 2016). This marks the beginning of what many known as the Great Debate.

The 55 delegates sitting down in the hot, steamy and sticky room debating about what to add extra rules or change the Articles of Confederation. For about 4 months, the people debated about how the government should take care of the problems, not giving the states more power than needed, talking about compromises and many more. On September 17, 1787, the constitution was sent to Congress for review. Then it was sent to the states for ratification. It took about two years for the Constitution for ratification. There were obstacles to be avoided too. The Federalist had to face Anti-Federalist, people who opposed the ratification of the Constitution. They believed that because they felt as though it gave too much power to the national government.

Indeed, we got through the revolution. Our goal was not to make the same mistake as Britain, but to set an example for the rest of the world to follow. However, if we get stuck at this point, we will never achieve what we have been striving for since the beginning. Therefore, I, John Jay, believe it is necessary to ratify the Constitution for our own good. Prior to the talks of Revolution, I was a successful lawyer, and before that, studied at Kings College (Columbia University) (“John Jay”).

The delegates were aware of the forces dividing the states and that is the main reason that they came to the gathering in Philadelphia. Furthermore, some of the delegates that came there already had the full intention of creating a new constitution, “James Madison had come to Philadelphia battle-ready, determined to steer the convention away from the limited task of amending and correcting the Articles of Confederation and toward designing an entirely new constitution” (page 31). To include, one of the many risks of creating a new constitution was the potential of more riots and even states going into war with each other which would cause delegates to be pulled from the convention and stop states from ratifying the new constitution, “Animated

For an amendment to become official for the United States’ Constitution it would first need approval by the Senate and the House of Representatives with a superiority vote of

The Congress, whenever two thirds of both Houses shall deem it necessary, shall propose Amendments to this Constitution, or, on the Application of the Legislatures of two thirds of the several States, shall call a Convention for proposing Amendments, which, in either Case, shall be valid to all Intents and Purposes, as Part of this Constitution, when ratified by the Legislatures of three fourths of the several States or by Conventions in three fourths thereof, as the one or the other Mode of Ratification may be proposed by the Congress.

Since the creation of the constitution in 1789, people have found ways to disobey the laws written by our founding fathers. Most crimes have punishments that give fair consequences to the misconduct of the person, but some cases prove otherwise. The Bill of Rights were created to override all other law and provide a basis for moral wrongs and rights. Each amendment was written with a purpose to shape our country and give individual citizens the rights they believed were naturally theirs. One case, taken into the hands of the Supreme Court during World War I, caused an uproar of disagreement, to whether the case was decided unfairly. To this day, the case still remains arguable to whether this individual deserved the punishment that was given.

There are two formal methods for adding amendments to the Constitution with one having two-thirds of both houses proposing an amendment with three-fourths of State Legislatures ratifying it. The other method includes amendments being added at a national convention that two-thirds of state legislatures asked Congress to hold, which are then ratified by three-fourths of state conventions.

The Constitution is the cornerstone of America. It has lasted longer than any republican government on Earth. The constitution has lasted far longer than the framers of the constitution had expected. The constitution should not be changed because it is fundamentally sound and applicable to today’s society. That is not to say that there isn’t some changes warranted, but the changes to the constitution are allowed and the process to make these changes via amendment are spelled out within the constitution itself. Currently there are have been approximately 11,000 proposals within congress to amend the Constitution since 1789 of those thirty three have been passed. (Senate.gov)