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Constitutional Amendment Pros And Cons

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The U.S. Constitution was adopted as the backbone of the American Government. It was democratically enacted as the framework for which the governing institution would be built on. As a result all public policy and government action must fit within the constitution, as the vessel which enables those things is bound to the powers and shape described in the framework. The Bill of Rights is the first set of amendments to the Constitution - when the Constitution was enacted it was done so under the informal condition that the Bill of Rights would be established shortly after. As such it is considered an extension of the Constitution in some respects because the main reason for it not being included intitally was due to fears regarding the possible …show more content…
There are many debates today filled with high tensions regarding key issues, but rarely is it ever suggested that Americans make a Constitutional amendment to settle the issue once and for all. While it's obviously not a good idea to make an amendment for every single policy decision, we should really consider the purpose of making an amendment. Simply put if the citizenry feels that something ought to be allowed or disallowed, but the Constitution conflicts with that consensus (or can't be said to affirm it), then an amendment should potentially be purposed. In the years succeeding the American Civil War, two amendments were purposed to do just that. But if citizens today view the Constitution as an unfallible document which needs to be upheld without question, then is there room for more amendments? And if not, then perhaps the Constitution (and by extension, the Bill of Rights) isn't truly living at all. In the end, however, I feel that it would be too rash to come to those conclusions. We had 12 amendments in the 20th century - and while the last amendment to the US constitution was over 40 years ago (aside from a 1992 amendment regarding Congressional salaries) it's still too short a time in historical terms to condemn the "living" status of the

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