ECU Libraries Catalog

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

Author/creator Hartley, Roger C. author.
Format Book and Print
Publication Info Nashville, Tennessee : Vanderbilt University Press, [2017]
Descriptionix, 253 pages ; 24 cm
Subject(s)
Contents Part I. Lessons from the ERA [Equal Rights Amendment] -- Amendment efforts as a movement building resource -- Amendment efforts as a resource for expressing dissent and promoting deliberation -- Part II. Impact of failed amendment efforts on Congressional politics -- Prodding Congress through use of the Article V "Application Clause" -- The impact of Article V on federal legislation -- Part III. Impact of failed amendment efforts on federal executive policy -- Failed amendment efforts and the President's war-making and foreign relations powers.
Abstract "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.
Bibliography noteIncludes bibliographical references (pages 225-240) and index.
Issued in other formOnline version: Hartley, Roger C. How failed attempts to amend the Constitution mobilize political change Nashville : Vanderbilt University Press, [2017] 9780826521507
LCCN 2016042797
ISBN9780826521484 (hardcover : alk. paper)
ISBN0826521487 (hardcover : alk. paper)
ISBN9780826521491 (pbk. : alk. paper)
ISBN0826521495 (pbk. : alk. paper)
ISBN(ebook)

Available Items

Library Location Call Number Status Item Actions
Joyner General Stacks KF4555 .H38 2017 ✔ Available Place Hold