How failed attempts to amend the Constitution mobilize political change / Roger C. Hartley.

Author
Hartley, Roger C. [Browse]
Format
Book
Language
English
Published/​Created
Nashville, Tennessee : Vanderbilt University Press, [2017]
Description
ix, 253 pages ; 24 cm

Availability

Available Online

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Firestone Library - Stacks KF4555 .H39 2017 Browse related items Request

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    Subject(s)
    Summary note
    "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.
    Bibliographic references
    Includes bibliographical references and index.
    Contents
    • 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.
    ISBN
    • 9780826521484 ((hardcover ; : alk. paper))
    • 0826521487 ((hardcover ; : alk. paper))
    • 9780826521491 ((pbk. ; : alk. paper))
    • 0826521495 ((pbk. ; : alk. paper))
    LCCN
    2016042797
    OCLC
    959035320
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