today we're looking at article 5 of the us constitution
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thus far in the united states constitution we've shown how the first three articles created the
framework for the united states government then in article 4 it established state relationships
but now we move on to article 5. article 5 which is the first article to not include sections
and actually all the remaining articles 6 and 7 do not include sections either
but article 5 establishes the process by which the constitution can be amended or changed
an amendment is simply an addition or changing of the constitution now before i get into the
procedure laid out in the constitution i want to take a brief moment to discuss the
difference between a law and an amendment if you remember back to article 1 section 7 it
established how a bill becomes a law by passing with a majority vote in both houses of congress
the house of representatives and the senate and then being signed or approved by the president
now laws are continually being debated and voted upon and and the way i describe the difference
between a law and amendment is a law is like a stream of water over time it flows and changes
course and if i were to throw a rock into a stream it would change the course and if i were
to dig a ditch next to a stream it would fill with water and again change the stream's course
all of these would take work but it would not be an extreme amount of effort to get that done
on the other hand an amendment is like a concrete path or sidewalk if i wanted to change the course
i would have to get a jackhammer and bust it out and then pour new concrete which would take a lot
of work and a lot of effort two i could use the concrete to build say a dam that could completely
change the course of a stream of water or even block the water all together likewise an amendment
is difficult to get added to the constitution but once it's added it can block and shape
laws that are proposed so in all of us history the constitution has only been amended 27 times
and actually the first 10 of those amendments the bill of rights were all adopted at one time
now how do you amend the constitution of the united states there's actually two different
methods laid out in the document however only one method has ever been used in all of u.s history
the main method includes the following first the amendment is introduced in congress
and must get a super majority or in other words a two-thirds majority vote in both houses from
there the amendment is sent to the states to be debated by each state's individual legislatures
in the state legislatures they must vote and if three quarters of the states
vote in favor of the amendment the amendment is then added to the constitution
so again the numbers to remember here is two thirds of congress in favor of it
and three quarters of the states for the amendment to pass now notice that the president has nothing
to do with this entire process it's purely the legislative branch and the states so like i said
there is only this is the only method that has ever actually been used to amend the constitution
however the founders were concerned about the federal government having too much power so they
also wrote in i guess you could say a back door method to get an amendment added in this alternate
method two-thirds of the states have to call for a constitutional convention for an amendment to be
introduced the introduced amendment then has to be voted on and three quarters of those states that
called for the conventions have must approve the amendment for it to be added to the constitution
so the numbers to remember here is two-thirds of the states call for a convention and then three
quarters of the states approve the amendment note with this method the federal government plays no
role whatsoever this was a loophole purposely put in by the founders so that the states
had some power to change the federal government in case they felt the federal government became
too powerful or was abusing their power and as i mentioned before amending the constitution
is not an easy process in fact it's so difficult it hasn't happened in the united states
since 1992 with the 27th amendment that's over 25 years ago so when and if you hear talk of
amending the constitution be sure to take note as it's something that does not happen very often
so with that hopefully you learned something and thanks for watching