Once upon a time, when knickerbockers were the rage and a gentleman could not sally forth without a fashionable white wig perched upon his natural locks, something truly remarkable happened.
The leaders in 13 British colonies below the St. Lawrence Seaway decided that they’d had enough of British rule and that they were going to form their own government. And not only that – their new country was going to be so big and so rich that it would one day put Britain in the shade. But that wasn’t going to happen without central organization.
Not everyone was enamored of this plan – many of the local farmers liked to keep things more grassroots. They penned castigating letters to newspaper editors, complaining that they had left Europe for a reason and were quite satisfied with local government the way it was. Considering these differences, the people in the 13 States (so recently colonies) called a convention to sort it all out. And at that fateful convention those who favored a big country and central government stole a march on their opponents, drafted a Constitution and pushed it through at State level tout suite in circumstances that are still controversial.
That country was the United States of America, the convention was the Philadelphia Convention and the ambitious Empire-builders who made it all happen are known as the Federalists or the Founding Fathers of the American Constitution.
Article v conventions The Founding Fathers also cleverly sealed the door behind themselves, by making it difficult for anyone to hold another such convention. According to Article V of the Constitution, only two-thirds
“of the several States” may call for a convention to propose amendments to the constitution. If those amendments are then ratified by three-quarters of all states (through legislature or convention) they will become law. This kind of consensus is difficult to achieve, and so far the first constitutional convention remains the only one.
Until now.
Last month, Michigan’s legislature called for a constitutional convention under Article V, becoming the 34th State to do so...
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