1. Get your notebooks and have a seat.
The Amendment Process
Get your notebooks and have a seat.

3. Amendments
The authors of the Constitution knew that people might want to change it in the future
They provided rules for the Constitution to be amended (added to or changed)
Article V established a two-step process for amendments

4. Step 1: Proposing the Amendment
Option 1
Option 2
Two-thirds vote of both houses of Congress
Used: 27 times
Two-thirds of state legislatures request a national convention to amend the Constitution
Used: never!

5. Step 2: Ratifying the Amendment
Option 1
Option 2
Ratification by three-fourths of the state legislatures
(3/4 state legislatures vote to pass it)
Ratification by special ratification conventions in three-fourths of states.
(special meetings in 3/4 of states)

6. ‘Amending Class Music’
Assume that the list of songs were put on the list as a part of the ‘proposing the amendment’ stage.
We now have to get ¾ the student population to play the chosen song.

7. Song Choices Courtesy Of The Red, White And Blue (Toby Keith)
I Got A Feeling (Justin Timberlake)
I’m Still Standing (Taron Egerton)
Uptown Funk (Mark Ronson ft Bruno Mars)
Forget You (Cee Lo Green)
Tutti Fruitti (Little Richard)
Halo (Beyonce)
Radioactive (Imagine Dragons)
Cups (Anna Kendrick)
See You Again (Wiz Khalifa ft Charlie Puth)

8. Writing Prompts:
Is it difficult to amend the U.S. Constitution? Why or why not? Use examples from the activity and connect them to real world challenges.
Think about a change you’d like to make to our federal laws. Write it down in the form of a new amendment to the Constitution.

9. A FEW AMENDMENTS…SO YOU CAN SEE THE LANGUAGE
No law, varying the compensation for the services of the Senators and Representatives, shall take effect, until an election of representatives shall have intervened. The right of citizens of the United States, who are eighteen years of age or older, to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of age. The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude. The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes on incomes, from whatever source derived, without apportionment among the several States, and without regard to any census or enumeration.
A FEW AMENDMENTS…SO YOU CAN SEE THE LANGUAGE