Article V of the U.S. Constitution: Amending the Constitution

Article V of the Constitution creates the process by which this document can be changed.  There are two ways to initiate an amendment to the Constitution.  Both ways require a two-step process.

First, Congress may initiate the process by passing a proposed constitutional amendment.  Two-thirds of both the House of Representatives and the Senate must vote in favor of an amendment in order for it to be forwarded to the states for ratification.  The state legislatures may serve as the vehicle for ratification (approval), or states may hold conventions which are specifically granted the authority to vote on ratification of proposed amendments.  Either way, the requirement for ratification is that three-fourths of the states must approve the constitutional amendment.

Second, the states may petition Congress to call a special constitutional convention.  Congress is obligated to  call such a convention once two-thirds of the states have petitioned it to do so.  This convention would be empowered to create proposed amendments that would then be sent to the states for ratification.  Again, three-fourths of the states would have to approve the proposals either through their legislatures or through specifically called state conventions.

Here's a chart that might be helpful to understand the different ways to amend the Constitution:

Three issues were protected from the amendment process:

• No amendment interfering with the importation of slaves into the U.S. was allowed prior 1808
• No amendment creating a direct tax unless it was in proportion to the census was allowed prior to the year 1808
• No amendment can alter the equal representation of each state in the Senate