To exercise exclusive legislation in all cases, over a district (not more than ten square miles) which, by the cession of certain states and the adoption of Congress, may become the seat of the Government of the United States, and to exercise the same authority in all places, which is determined by the consent of the legislature of the State in which it is to be, were acquired for the construction of forts, stores, arsenals, shipyards and other necessary buildings; And in his farewell address, President George Washington said: [34] The Constitution is silent on whether Congress can limit the time states have to ratify constitutional amendments under consideration. He is also silent on whether Congress, once it has sent an amendment that includes a ratification deadline to states for consideration, can extend that deadline. You can compare this change to a change in the way we elect the president. Formally, the president is elected by the voters, not directly by the voters. Originally, the idea was that voters would be people with good judgment who would form their own opinion about who should become president. For practical reasons, voters automatically vote for the candidate who won the vote in their state. No constitutional amendment authorized this major change. Section 1. The eighteenth article of the amendment to the United States Constitution is repealed. It turned out that two of these amendments were rejected, but ten were ratified shortly after the adoption of the Constitution (the Bill of Rights). As a result, article 5 was created to allow for the adoption of constitutional amendments.
An amendment becomes an operational element of the Constitution when it is ratified by the required number of states, and not at a later stage when its ratification is confirmed. [16] No further action by Congress or anyone else is required. On three occasions, after being informed that an amendment had reached the threshold for ratification, Congress adopted a resolution declaring the process successfully completed. [d] [17] Such measures, while perhaps important for political reasons, are constitutionally unnecessary. Section 1. The term of office of the President and the Vice-President shall end on 20 January at noon and that of Senators and Deputies at noon on 3 January of the years in which such terms would have ended had this Article not been ratified; then the mandates of their successors begin. Section 5. Sections 1 and 2 shall enter into force on 15 October following the ratification of this Article.
It is important to note that the problem of the Out-of-Control Convention is due, once again, to the fact that it does not respect the original meaning of the Constitution. Many constitutional commentators have argued that an out-of-control convention is constitutional. In their view, the Constitution did not allow States to limit the Convention to a specific subject and, therefore, the Convention was free to make proposals on any subject of its choice. However, at the time of the election of the President, the votes shall be cast by the States, the representation of each State having one vote; A quorum for this purpose shall consist of one or more members of two-thirds of the States, and a majority of all States shall be required for an election. And if the House of Representatives does not elect a president every time the right to vote is transferred to it, before the fourth of March next year, then the vice president acts as president, as in the event of the death or other constitutional obstruction of the president – the person who has the most votes as vice president is the vice president, if that number is a majority of the total number of electors appointed and no one has a majority, the Senate shall elect the Vice-President from among the two largest numbers on the list; A quorum for this purpose shall consist of two-thirds of the total number of senators, and a majority of the total number shall be required for an election. But no person who is constitutionally eligible for the office of President is entitled to the office of Vice President of the United States. But there could be other problems too. For example, article V stipulates that an amendment proposed to states becomes an integral part of the Constitution when three-quarters of the states ratify it.
What happens if a state ratifies quickly, but before many other states ratify, changes their mind and tries to unblock (i.e. withdraw) its ratification – can a state do that? Some commentators would say no – once a state has ratified, it`s one of three-quarters required, no matter what the state does later. But other commentators would say that a state can revoke its ratification as long as it does so before the process of change is complete. Therefore, there is no definitive answer to this question. This kind of uncertainty could be very worrisome – we may not know for sure whether a proposed amendment was part of the Constitution or not. The second method is for one or more States to convene a constitutional convention. Both chambers must approve this proposal by Congress. Article V can provide states with a way to bypass Congress, even if it has never been used. Article V states that “at the request of two-thirds of the legislators of the various states [Congress], a convention shall be convened to propose amendments.” The Convention may propose amendments, whether or not Congress approves them. These proposed amendments would then be sent to States for ratification. As with an amendment proposed by Congress, three-quarters of states would have to ratify the amendment to become part of the Constitution. .