Why do we have amendments

The 27 th Amendment, which prevents members of Congress from granting themselves pay raises during a current session, was ratified in — years after it was first submitted to the states. The following steps must be completed for an amendment proposed by Congress to be added to the United States Constitution. Step 1. Passage by Congress. Proposed amendment language must be approved by a two-thirds vote of both houses.

Step 2. Notification of the states. The national archivist sends notification and materials to the governor of each state.

Step 3. Ratification by three-fourths of the states. Ratification of the amendment language adopted by Congress is an up-or-down vote in each legislative chamber. A state legislature cannot change the language. If it does, its ratification is invalid. Step 4. Tracking state actions. Explore More Rights Topics.

Learn More. Separation of Powers The framers of the Constitution feared too much centralized power, adopting the philosophy of divide and conquer. Political Parties The Constitution does not mention political parties, yet they play an important role in U. Your purchase supports PBS and helps make our programming possible. Shop PBS Amazon. Support your local PBS station in our mission to inspire, enrich, and educate.

Stream the best of PBS. The Constitution provides that an amendment may be proposed either by the Congress with a two-thirds majority vote in both the House of Representatives and the Senate or by a constitutional convention called for by two-thirds of the State legislatures.

None of the 27 amendments to the Constitution have been proposed by constitutional convention. The Congress proposes an amendment in the form of a joint resolution. Since the President does not have a constitutional role in the amendment process, the joint resolution does not go to the White House for signature or approval. The OFR adds legislative history notes to the joint resolution and publishes it in slip law format.

The OFR also assembles an information package for the States which includes formal "red-line" copies of the joint resolution, copies of the joint resolution in slip law format, and the statutory procedure for ratification under 1 U.

The Archivist submits the proposed amendment to the States for their consideration by sending a letter of notification to each Governor along with the informational material prepared by the OFR. The Governors then formally submit the amendment to their State legislatures or the state calls for a convention, depending on what Congress has specified. In the past, some State legislatures have not waited to receive official notice before taking action on a proposed amendment.