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To ratify amendments, three-fourths of the state legislatures must approve them, or ratifying conventions in three-fourths of the states must approve them.
in three-fourths of the states must approve them.
Use of the convention ratification option
As is true for a state legislature when ratifying a proposed federal constitutional amendment, a state ratifying convention may not in any way change a proposed constitutional amendment, but must accept or reject the proposed amendment as written.
State ratifying conventions are one of the two ways established by Article Five of the United States Constitution for ratifying proposed constitutional amendments. Ratifying conventions have only been used on one occasion. … A state ratifying convention may be called by a two-thirds vote by a state legislature.
Method | Step 1 |
---|---|
1. | A two-thirds vote in both houses of the U.S. Congress |
2. | A two-thirds vote in both houses of U.S. Congress |
3. | A national constitutional convention called by two-thirds of the state legislatures |
4. | A national convention called by two-thirds of the state legislatures |
In the state convention method, two-thirds of states ask Congress to organize a convention. The amendment is proposed at this meeting. As in the congressional proposal method, the proposed amendment then must be ratified by three-fourths of state conventions or state legislatures, as chosen by Congress.
Ratification is the official way to confirm something, usually by vote. … In the United States, any amendment to the Constitution requires ratification by at least three quarters of the states, even after Congress has approved it.
Congress must pass a proposed amendment by a two-thirds majority vote in both the Senate and the House of Representatives and send it to the states for ratification by a vote of the state legislatures. … This process has been used for ratification of every amendment to the Constitution thus far.
Amendments proposed by Congress or convention become valid only when ratified by the legislatures of, or conventions in, three-fourths of the states (i.e., 38 of 50 states).
Ratification: approval of agreement by the state
After approval has been granted under a state’s own internal procedures, it will notify the other parties that they consent to be bound by the treaty. This is called ratification. The treaty is now officially binding on the state.
Instead, on September 28, Congress directed the state legislatures to call ratification conventions in each state. Article VII stipulated that nine states had to ratify the Constitution for it to go into effect. Beyond the legal requirements for ratification, the state conventions fulfilled other purposes.
(1) Both houses propose an amendment with a two-thirds vote, and three-fourths of the state legislatures approve. Twenty-six of the 27 amendments were approved in this manner. (2) Both houses propose an amendment with a two-thirds vote, and three-fourths of the states approve the amendment via ratifying conventions.
An amendment may be proposed by a Two-Thirds vote in each house of congress and then ratified by Three-Fourths of the state legislatures. … An amendment may be proposed by a Two-Thirds vote in each house of congress and then ratified by conventions called for that purpose, in Three-Fourths of the states.
For a proposed amendment to be ratified, it must be approved by legislatures in three-fourths of the states or by special ratifying conventions in three-fourths of the states. All amendments but the 21st have been ratified using the state legislature method.
Article Five of the United States Constitution describes the process whereby the Constitution, the nation’s frame of government, may be altered. Under Article V, the process to alter the Constitution consists of proposing an amendment or amendments, and subsequent ratification.
transitive verb. : to approve and sanction formally : confirm ratify a treaty.
As verbs the difference between ratify and pass
is that ratify is to give formal consent to; make officially valid while pass is to move or be moved from one place to another.
Ratify means to approve or enact a legally binding act that would not otherwise be binding in the absence of such approval. In the constitutional context, nations may ratify an amendment to an existing or adoption of a new constitution. … The first amendments to the Constitution were the Bill of Rights, ratified in 1791.
Article V of the Constitution provides two ways to propose amendments to the document. Amendments may be proposed either by the Congress, through a joint resolution passed by a two-thirds vote, or by a convention called by Congress in response to applications from two-thirds of the state legislatures.
Congressional proposal of the amendment is by a two-thirds majority vote in both houses. State ratification is by three-fourths majority. … A state convention differs from the state legislature in that it is usually an entirely separate body from the legislature.
Once the territory meets the requirements of Congress, Congress votes. A simple majority in the House and the Senate is all that is required to make a new state.
The term “ratification” describes the act of making something officially valid by signing it or otherwise giving it formal consent. For example, ratification occurs when parties sign a contract. The signing of the contract makes it official, and it can then be enforced by law, should the need arise.
2, Cl. 3), the Framers believed that any combination of nine states would comprise a majority of American citizens. Even if the five most populous states all refused to ratify, the remaining nine still would represent a majority of the electorate.
The document was written at the 1787 Philadelphia Convention and was ratified through a series of state conventions held in 1787 and 1788. … From May 1787 through September 1787, delegates from twelve of the thirteen states convened in Philadelphia, where they wrote a new constitution.
o Step 1: Two-thirds of both houses of Congress pass a proposed constitutional amendment. This sends the proposed amendment to the states for ratification. o Step 2: Three-fourths of the states (38 states) ratify the proposed amendment, either by their legislatures or special ratifying conventions.
Two methods for amending the Constitution are provided for, but only one has been used: Congress proposing amendments and the states ratifying them.
Under Article V of the Constitution, there are two ways to propose and ratify amendments to the Constitution. To propose amendments, two-thirds of both houses of Congress can vote to propose an amendment, or two-thirds of the state legislatures can ask Congress to call a national convention to propose amendments.
The two ways in which an amendment may be ratified is the proposed amendment can be sent to the state legislatures for approval. All but one of the amendments to the Constitution were approved this way. The second way is the proposed amendment can be sent to state conventions for consideration.
Terms in this set (4)
Two methods of ratifying amendments are a two-thirds vote in the House and Senate and two-thirds of the states petition, or appeal to, Congress to call a convention.
1. the Constitution can be amended by a 2/5 vote in the House and Senate. This is the only method that has been used so far. 2.
38 states must ratify an amendment before it becomes part of the Constitution. What does the First Amendment do? It provides citizens with basic liberties including freedom of religion, speech, and press.