How failed attempts to amend the Constitution mobilize political change / Roger C. Hartley.
2017
KF4555 .H39 2017 (Mapit)
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Author
Title
How failed attempts to amend the Constitution mobilize political change / Roger C. Hartley.
Imprint
Nashville : Vanderbilt University Press, [2017]
Description
ix, 253 pages ; 24 cm
Formatted Contents Note
Amendment efforts as a movement building resource
Amendment efforts as a resource for expressing dissent and promoting deliberation
Prodding Congress through use of the Article V "Application Clause"
The impact of Article V on federal legislation
Failed amendment efforts and the President's war-making and foreign relations powers.
Amendment efforts as a resource for expressing dissent and promoting deliberation
Prodding Congress through use of the Article V "Application Clause"
The impact of Article V on federal legislation
Failed amendment efforts and the President's war-making and foreign relations powers.
Summary
"Since the Constitution's ratification, members of Congress, following Article V, have proposed approximately twelve thousand amendments, and states have filed several hundred petitions with Congress for the convening of a constitutional convention. Only twenty-seven amendments have been approved in 225 years. Why do members of Congress continue to introduce amendments at a pace of almost two hundred a year? This book is a demonstration of how social reformers and politicians have used the amendment process to achieve favorable political results even as their proposed amendments have failed to be adopted. For example, the ERA 'failed' in the sense that it was never ratified, but the mobilization to ratify the ERA helped build the feminist movement (and also sparked a countermobilization). Similarly, the Supreme Court's ban on compulsory school prayer led to a barrage of proposed amendments to reverse the Court. They failed to achieve the requisite two-thirds support from Congress, but nevertheless had an impact on the political landscape. The definition of the relationship between Congress and the President in the conduct of foreign policy can also be traced directly to failed efforts to amend the Constitution during the Cold War. [The author] examines familiar examples like the ERA, balanced budget amendment proposals, and pro-life attempts to overturn Roe v. Wade, but also takes the reader on a three-century tour of lesser-known amendments. [The author] explains how often the mere threat of calling a constitutional convention (at which anything could happen) effected political change."-- Provided by publisher.
Bibliography, etc. Note
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Location
STA
Available in Other Form
Online version: Hartley, Roger C. How failed attempts to amend the Constitution mobilize political change. Nashville : Vanderbilt University Press, [2017]
Call Number
KF4555 .H39 2017
Language
English
ISBN
9780826521484 hardcover ; acid-free paper
0826521487 hardcover ; acid-free paper
9780826521491 paperback ; acid-free paper
0826521495 paperback ; acid-free paper
9780826521507 electronic book
0826521487 hardcover ; acid-free paper
9780826521491 paperback ; acid-free paper
0826521495 paperback ; acid-free paper
9780826521507 electronic book
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