Introduction

Article 5 of the United States Constitution created four methods for amending the Constitution, and the first Congress made use of the amendment process immediately. During the ratification process for the Constitution, the Anti-Federalists argued that the lack of a Bill of Rights in the Constitution was a threat to individual liberty. Congressman James Madison ultimately took the lead in drafting and passing amendments in the House of Representatives. The House of Representatives and Senate approved twelve amendments and sent them to the state legislatures for debate and ratification. Ten of the first twelve proposed amendments were ratified by the states and became the Bill of Rights.

The Constitution has been amended 27 times in total with some amendments fundamentally changing America by ending slavery and granting women the right to vote, while other amendments were housekeeping amendments that moved the date of Presidential inaugurations and changed the conditions for congressional pay raises. The Constitution has not been amended since 1992 and people ranging from elected officials to academics believe that the Constitution is in need of amendments to address deficiencies.

A 2023 Pew Research Center report underscored the lack of faith that Americans have in present-day political and governmental systems, and highlighted potential amendments that the public would like to see, including age limits for Supreme Court justices, term limits for members of Congress, and eliminating the Electoral College. However, the United States has not gone through the constitutional amendment drafting and ratification process in over fifty years, and some are concerned that the amendment process would become hyper-partisan and no amendment could be passed by Congress or ratified by three-quarters of the states in the current political climate. However, an alternate view is that going through the amendment process would reinvigorate the country’s civic muscles and serve as a unifier across political divides.

So what should be done? This deliberation presents thirteen video clips, four articles, and numerous education activities to guide students through a review of the debate over whether the Constitution needs a 28th Amendment to address the government’s deficiencies, using several specific examples as case studies. After a careful review of multiple perspectives, students will be able to consider whether a 28th Amendment to the Constitution is necessary or unnecessary.

Objectives and Outcomes

• Students will be able to understand the amendment process created by the U.S. Constitution.
  
  
• Students will be able to assess the arguments in favor of and opposed to specific proposed constitutional amendments, in order to determine if the document has deficiencies that need to be fixed.
  
  
• Students will be able to compose an argument in favor or opposed to a proposed constitutional amendment.