The states for ratification
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ratification by the states -apex
William Few missed large segments of the Constitutional Convention proceedings, being absent during all of July and part of August because of congressional service, and he never made a speech. Nonetheless, he contributed nationalist votes at critical times. Furthermore, as a delegate to the last sessions of the Continental Congress, he helped steer the Constitution past its first obstacle, approval by Congress. And he attended the state ratifying convention.
The constitution was approved by the convention on September 15th 1787 by the constitutional convention in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.It was actually written at the constitutional convention. The meeting was designed to amend the previous "constitution" know as the Articles of Confederation. As the new Constitution was a new set of laws, it had to have the approval of 9 out of the 13 states to be legal and attributed to said states, as stated in the Articles of Confederation. However, after the first 9 states approved it, they wanted to go for the others so that there wasn't a split in the country, specifically in NY which would have caused both a geographical split as well as a political on. To help convince NY to approve, a set of essay's known as The Federalist Papers were sent to the representatives to New York, written by John Jay, Madison and (I think) Jefferson.
Yes and No. A Constitutional Convention, as defined by Article V of the U.S. Constitution, involves the legislatures of two thirds of the states calling for the Convention, as representatives of the people. The Convention maintains a republican-federalist quality, not direct democracy involving the sovereign.However, one of the grievous defects of the constitution is the functional impossibility of amending the Constitution with regard to anything truly significant. Interestingly, Sanford Levinson argues that "the strictures (and structures) of Article V are limits on the agents of the people rather than on the general citizenry itself (or ourselves)." We should assert the sovereignty announced in the Preamble to "ordain and establish" a constitution -- which would be a "Yes" to your question.Note the precedence from the framers ignoring Rhode Island and Article XIII, and establishing that a new convention could legitimately "declare that its handiwork would be binding if ratified in a national referendum where each voter had equal power."Good Constitutional critiques include, Sanford Levinson's Our Undemocratic Constitution: Where the Constitution Goes Wrong (And How We the People Can Correct It) (2008) and Robert Dahl's How Democratic is the American Constitution (2003).Go Vermont! Freedom & Unity!
The proposal for an amendment to the Constitution is initiated by either a two-thirds vote from both houses of Congress or from two-thirds (34) of state legislatures' call for a national convention. Ratifying (approving) amendments can only occur when either three-fourths of state legislatures approve, or through three-fourths approval at a state convention.