If the US Constitution is so good why has it been amended 27 times?

Question

I was just thinking, that in 1776, these 39 citizens "good & true" signed this famous document, and yet throughout history it has been amended 27 times, and with the exception of the 13th (abolition of slavery), it all seems pretty old school. Who had the audacity to think they could start changing it?

Answer 1

Because the framers already knew that the whole area of individual liberties had not been addressed, and the way presidents are elected, and replaced has changed, This was required constitutionally!

Prohibition was passed and repealed, that's 2! Rights to vote were given to women and freedom to slaves, thats another 2.

The framers knew it needed to be changed and 12 of those amendments were submitted and 10 adopted by the FIRST Congress of the United States and ratified by the states! There were only 13!

You know how many times it has been amended, then disparaged the Constitution! Before you do that you should take in account the process! But you didn't read that I assume because you failed to mention it in your diatribe!
And you are wrong, it is the greatest document since the Magna Carta in 1215!http://www.bl.uk/treasures/magnacarta/magna.html

"During the debates on the adoption of the Constitution, its opponents repeatedly charged that the Constitution as drafted would open the way to tyranny by the central government. Fresh in their minds was the memory of the British violation of civil rights before and during the Revolution. They demanded a "bill of rights" that would spell out the immunities of individual citizens. Several state conventions in their formal ratification of the Constitution asked for such amendments; others ratified the Constitution with the understanding that the amendments would be offered.

On September 25, 1789, the First Congress of the United States therefore proposed to the state legislatures 12 amendments to the Constitution that met arguments most frequently advanced against it. The first two proposed amendments, which concerned the number of constituents for each Representative and the compensation of Congressmen, were not ratified. Articles 3 to 12, however, ratified by three-fourths of the state legislatures, constitute the first 10 amendments of the Constitution, known as the Bill of Rights"

It has been amended 16 times since 1789 and most of those were housekeeping issues!

Answer 2

The constitution is good because it can change and adapt with the times. The men who wrote it know that they could not foresee every circumstance so they created a mechanism to change the constitution. The did however have the foresight to make it a difficult process, one that doesn't allow changes on a whim.

By the way, the constitution has really only been amended 14 times since 1800. The first 10, the bill of rights, were added immediately after the original constitution was ratified. The prohibition amendments essentially cancel each other out and the 27th amendment was passed by congress during Washington's administration but wasn't ratified until the 1990's.

Answer 3

Because we as a society are ever changing and the Founding Fathers wanted to make sure we had a way to keep the Constitution relevant for the changing times. Hence the right to make amendments. And BTW, what may seem old school to you looking at it now, was NOT old school when it was ratified.

Answer 4

Actually, the Constitution wasn't signed until 1787.

And it was always meant to be a document that was to be changed as times changed. None of the Amendments reverses something stated in the original document; they ALL clarify things that were previously unclear.

You really need to study the Constitution's history before you make yourself look ignorant by posting things like this.

LOL: 1776...

Answer 5

Society was very different in 1787. Values change over time, and this leads to legal change. At the end of the day a constitution is just a comprehensive piece of legislation about constitutional law, and as constitutional law has to change, constitutions change. It is probably a good job Britain doesn't have a written constitution... we have bits of constitutional law all over the place, and we don't have a good track record of codifying our law (i.e. Theft Acts).

Answer 6

I think you're referring to the Declaration of Independence.

As for the Constitution, the founding fathers weren’t gods. They were men trying a very novel and radical experiment. They made provisions to amend the Constitution so that it could grow with the nation.

Answer 7

alot of the amendments are unconstitutional. the civil war was not about slavery. it was about state's rights. the fact is it is unconstitutional for congress to write any laws. every law should be decided at the state levels. during the civil war, the south was fighting for the constitution to be upheld and the government was fighting for more centralized power in the federal government. when the north won, it opened a whole can of worms that is unconstitutional. like the abortion issue. it is unconstitutional to decide this at the national level. what works in new york will not work in mississippi. different people. this is the beauty of the constitution. it used to be that there were "more free" states than others. you could pick what state and their laws you wanted to live under.

Answer 8

Which would you do away with first the bill of rights or the one that gave women the right to vote? The constitution is a living document the founding fathers knew that they did not know what the future would hold and made provisions to change the original document.

Answer 9

As a "living document" it is subject to change to reflect the times. The core points in the Constitution are still valid, however, like a piece of machinery it needs to be fine tuned once in a while.

Answer 10

a. is the closest to correct, but I don't like the wording. You could say the Bill of Rights addressed structural problems but, after that, the amendments addressed unanticipated developments in society.