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The legal reason is that Article 5 of the Constitution requires amendments to be ratified by 3/4 of the states either through their legislatures of ratifying conventions as Congress may direct. The Constitution itself when it was created had to be accepted by 3/4 of the states in order to become effective. This was to ensure that the new union would consist of a large number of states to be stable enough to survive as a union of states. Anything less would leave too many states unwilling to support the union if the federal government did something contrary to some state's interests. An amendment to the Constitution is the same as re-writing the contitution, therefore it was felt that the same type of super-majority should be required. Without this requirement, it is theoretically possible to change an agreement that had to be ratified by at least 3/4 by some smaller majority.

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Q: How come only three fourths of the states approve amendments to the constitution?
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