Amending the Constitution Quiz

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 forever live on unchanged.

• future generations would always live just as they did.

• the Constitution would eventually have to change over time.

• the Walking Dead would inherit the earth.

The framers made changing the Constitution ________, but __________, because they knew it would need to eventually change but it also needed to be a lasting and stable framework for government.

• impossible, open for debate

• possible, very difficult

• possible, only if a new Constitution was created and ratified

• possible, only if the President decided to.

Who can start the process of amending the Constitution?

• only Congress

• only the States

• must be both the Congress and the States.

• either Congress or the States.

Once an amendment has been approved,

• moves to the Executive Branch for ratification.

• it becomes part of the Constitution.

• it moves to the Supreme Court for ratification.

• it gets filed in the Library of Congress and forgotten about.

Over the years, people have suggested more than _______ amendments to the Constitution, but only ___ have been approved.

• 10,000 / 27

• 1,000,000 / 50

• 10 / 5

• 30 / 10

The first 10 amendments, called the Bill of Rights, primarily ....

• guaranteed the rights of certain groups of Americans.

• govern the way certain public officials are elected.

• guaranteed specific rights to citizens.

• were rejected.