The Amendment Process

The Amendment Process

Multiple Choice

another word for executive branch is..

• President

• Supreme Court

• Congress

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another word for legislative branch is..

• President

• Supreme Court

• Congress

Multiple Choice

another word for Judicial branch is..

• President

• Supreme Court

• Congress

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this branch has only one person who must be over 35

• President

• Supreme Court

• Congress

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this branch has 9 members that serve for life

• President

• Supreme Court

• Congress

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this branch is bicameral (meaning two houses)

• President

• Supreme Court

• Congress

Multiple Choice

has 535 members

• President

• Supreme Court

• Congress

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the system that allows each branch of government to limit the powers of the other two branches

• checks and balanaces

• elastic cause

 The Amendment Process

Thomas Jefferson believed that “the earth belongs to the living and not to the dead.” When drafting the Constitution, the framers kept this belief in mind because they knew that the Constitution would need to be changed over time to include new ideas from each new generation. At the same time, they wanted the Constitution to provide a lasting and stable framework for the government, so they made changing the Constitution possible but difficult.

Multiple Choice

who said “the earth belongs to the living and not to the dead.”

• Washington

• Jefferson

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“the earth belongs to the living and not to the dead.”

Who does the earth belong to?

• Whoever is alive

• the founding fathers

Changing the Constitution

 Article V describes two ways in which changes, called amendments, can be added to the Constitution. Congress may propose an amendment with a two-thirds vote in each house of Congress. A national convention, called by Congress at the request of at least two-thirds of the state legislatures, may also introduce an amendment proposal. Thus, either Congress or the states can start the process of amending the Constitution.

Multiple Choice

amendments ... means...

• checks and balances

• changes

After an amendment is proposed, it must be ratified before it can become part of the Constitution. The Constitution gives two ways of ratifying an amendment. It may be approved by the legislatures in at least three-fourths of the states, or it may be ratified by special conventions in at least three-fourths of the states. Once an amendment has been approved, it becomes part of the Constitution.

Multiple Choice

The Constitution gives ____ ways of ratifying an amendment.

• 2

• 4

• 6

Amendments So Far

 Over the years, people have suggested more than 10,000 amendments to the Constitution, but only 27 have been approved. The first ten amendments were added almost immediately after the Constitution was ratified. These amendments were demanded by many Americans in exchange for their support of the Constitution. Called the Bill of Rights, these ten amendments primarily guarantee specific rights to citizens.

Multiple Choice

Over the years, people have suggested more than 10,000 amendments to the Constitution, but only ____ have been approved.

• 72

• 37

• 27

The other 17 amendments became part of the Constitution one at a time. Some of them changed the way certain public officials are elected, while others guaranteed the rights of certain groups of Americans. The Thirteenth Amendment made slavery illegal. The Nineteenth Amendment guaranteed women the right to vote. The Twenty-sixth Amendment gave the right to vote to all citizens over the age of 18.

Multiple Choice

The framers made it possible to change the Constitution so that the document could evolve with the nation.

• true

• false

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However, the framers made changing the Constitution easy because they wanted to provide a lasting and stable framework for the government.

• true

• false

Multiple Choice

first 10 amendments are called..

• The Bill of Rights

• The Preamble