Learning From Experience: A Historical Overview Of The States' Use Of Article V

From The Heritage Foundation and The Goldwater Institute:


The Constitution/Civil Liberties

Learning from Experience: A Historical Overview of the States’ Use of Article V

by Robert G. Natelson

Goldwater Institute

November 04, 2010

Policy Brief

In the face of growing federal power and mounting deficits, some want states to call for a convention for proposing amendments to the U.S. Constitution that would rein in the federal government. Article V of the Constitution authorizes states to initiate amendments with a convention. Critics claim no one really knows how the process works and calling a convention would open the door to mischief by Congress, the courts, and convention delegates. But states frequently applied for an amendments convention between 1789 and1913. A study of that history reveals much about how states can–and cannot–use the Article V process today.



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