Chapter 3 Section 2
Formal Amendments
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Formal Amendment
Changes to the constitution can happen in two ways
– _____________________________ Amendments
– _____________________________means
Constitution is about 200 years old
Scattered population
– Travel and communication was limited
Today
– Stretched across 50 states
The Constitution of today is/is not the same of 1787
Formal Amendment Process
Amendment: _______________________________________________
Established in Article 5
– Two methods of proposal
– Two methods of constitutional amendments
1st Method:
– Proposed by Congress by _____________________________
– Both houses of Congress
– Today: 38 states must approve
– 26 of 27 amendments were adopted this way
2nd Method:
– Proposed by Congress
– _____________________________
– ¾ states needed
– 21st Amendment (1933)
• Believed popularly elected delegates = reflect public opinion
• _____________________________
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3 Method
– Proposed by _____________________________
– Called by Congress
– Request 2/3 of states
– Must be ratified by _____________________________
– Congress has not called a convention
4th Method:
– Proposed by national convention
– Ratified by _____________________________
– ¾ states needed
– _____________________________ was adopted in this way
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Federalism and Popular Sovereignty
Amendment Process:
– Emphasizes the Federal Character of governmental system
– Proposes take place at _____________________________
– Ratification is a _____________________________manner
– Represents the expression of the People’s sovereign will
Criticize the practice of sending to State legislatures vs. conventions
Permits change _____________________________from the people
Representatives elected:
– Party membership
– Name familiarity
– Stands on taxes, schools, welfare programs
– Not elected for _____________________________
Conventions: people elected specifically for the yes-no vote on Amendment
Federalism and Popular Sovereignty: Supreme Court Role
State cannot require an amendment proposed by Congress to be approved by
a vote of the people of a State before it can be ratified by State legislature
State can call for an advisory vote by the people
Proposed Amendments
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One Restriction
– “NO State, without its consent, shall be deprived of its equal Suffrage in the
Senate.”
If both houses approve it _____________________________go to the
president for approval/veto
– It is not making LAW (not legislating)
State rejections:
– Not forever bound by the action
– Can _____________________________
15,000 since 1789
Only 33 have been sent to states
Only 27 have been ratified by States
1st 10 Amendments = _____________________________ (1791)
Congress can put “a _____________________________”
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The 27 Amendments
Bill of Rights
Added less than 3 years after ratification of Constitution
Proposed 1st session of _____________________________
Set out the guarantees:
– of freedom of belief and expression
– of freedom and security of the person
– of fair and _____________________________before the law
Chapter 3 section 3
Constitutional Change by Other Means
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_____________________________by Congress
Actions taken by the President
Key decisions of the Supreme Court
The activities of politcal parties
Custom
Constitutional Change by other means: Basic Legislation
Congress passes laws to _____________________________of the
Constitution
– Ideas framers left Skeletal
– Example: federal court systems/ 25th amendment (succession of president)
Added by the way it has used its powers
– Example: Foreign commerce and trade
• Does not specifically say what congress does
• Define it by _____________________________
Constitutional Change by other means: Executive Action
• Presidential actions
– produced a number of important _____________________________
– Example: the use of the military under the power of commander in chief.
• Executive agreements:
– Pact made by the President directly with head of a foreign state
– Do not need to be _____________________________
• Treaties: agreement b/w Sovereign states
– They have to be approved by congress
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Constitutional Change by other means: Court Decisions
The nation’s courts, most importantly the United States Supreme Court,
interpret and apply the Constitution in many cases they hear.
– Example: _____________________________
Constitutional Change by other means: Party Practices
Constitution makes _____________________________of Political Parties
Neither Constitution or Law provides for nomination of candidates for
presidency
National Conventions
_____________________________
– Group that makes the formal selection of the nation’s president
Congress conducts business in parties
President makes _____________________________on party affiliation
Constitutional Change by other means: Customs
• Cabinet:
– 15 member executive advisory board to President
– Constitution _____________________________mention a cabinet
• _____________________________took over for presidents who died in office
– Johnson for Kennedy
– 1963: 25th amendment addressed succession
• Senatorial Courtesy:
– Senate will approve only those presidential appointees who are acceptable
to the senator or senators of the President’s party from the State involved
• 150 years of “_____________________________”
– Started with George Washington
– Lasted till 1940
– Roosevelt sought and was elected to a 3rd and 4th term
• Result _____________________________limiting term limits
– Once unwritten and informal became part of the constitution