Amending the Constitution
Article V, u.s. Constitution
"The Congress, whenever two thirds of both Houses shall deem it necessary, shall propose Amendments to this Constitution, or, on the Application of the Legislatures of two thirds of the several States, shall call a Convention for proposing Amendments, which, in either Case, shall be valid to all Intents and Purposes, as Part of this Constitution, when ratified by the Legislatures of three fourths of the several States, or by Conventions in three fourths thereof, as the one or the other Mode of Ratification may be proposed by the Congress; Provided that no Amendment which may be made prior to the Year One thousand eight hundred and eight shall in any Manner affect the first and fourth Clauses in the Ninth Section of the first Article; and that no State, without its Consent, shall be deprived of its equal Suffrage in the Senate."
Notice that two thirds of Congress, (Representatives and Senators), must vote on and ratify a proposed amendment before it is sent to the states for final ratification by three fourths of the states. The process to amend the Constitution requires the participation of the state's Representatives in Congress as well as the legislators of the several states.
States that join the Union while a proposed amendment is pending are not eligible to vote on acceptance of the proposed amendment in question, because the state was not represented in Congress when the amendment was being considered.
When the 13th amendment was proposed in 1810 it was approved in the Senate by a margin of 19-5 and in the House of Representatives by a margin of 87-3.
When it was submitted to the 17 states existing at the time, it was reported by John Quincy Adams, the Secretary of State that it had been lawfully ratified by 12 states and that it fell one vote short of the number required for ratification.
While the amendment was pending, Louisiana, Indiana, Mississippi and Illinois joined the Union. The new states did not participate in drafting the proposed amendment and were therefore denied the opportunity to participate in the ratification process.
It has always been the responsibility of the Secretary of State to declare proposed amendments as lawfully ratified.
When the first 12 amendments to the Constitution were submitted to the states, on September 25, 1789 there were only 11 states which had ratified the Constitution. Even though North Carolina and Rhode Island had not yet done so, they were allowed to participate in the ratification process. Vermont which had been a part of New York before becoming a state was also permitted to vote on the ratification of the Bill of Rights.
To ratify any or all of the amendments it would take the approval of a minimum of 10.5 of the 14 states. By rounding the 10.5 down to 10, it would have been successfully ratified and if the 10.5 was rounded up to 11, it would have fallen one vote short of ratification.
Congress declared that the First and Second proposed amendments fell short of receiving the requisite number of 11 votes for ratification. To ratify the Constitution it required 9.75 or the 13 states, but the number of states required was lowered to 9 states. Based on this precedent, the first two proposed amendments of the Bill of Rights should have been considered successfully ratified.
Replies
In order for a state to vote on the ratification of a proposed amendment the representatives and senators from the state must participate in the drafting of the proposed amendment in Congress.
The Constitution was a contract between the states that had ratified the Constitution and the government of the united States. The territories that had not yet become states were not a party to the contract. North Carolina, Rhode Island and Vermont were not states when the Bill of Rights were submitted to the states for ratification.
I disagree on the states having a contract with the federal government. I say the sovereign states installed the people and powers to the federal as employees. of the state. The sad fact the employees have seized control formed a corporation and they are now a tyrannic banker owned corporation that needs to be overthrown.
The amendments would have been put in place no matter what. They were corporate directives. The 13th,14th and 15th amendments were passed fraudulently because the governments of the southern states were all caret bagger governments. Carpet baggers were people brought down from the northern states and basically appointed to their positions by the military overseeing the total control of southern society after the war.
Ya, that was called Reformation.