Re: "but how can the people amend the Constitution without electing Representatives....?"
Easy... it's plainly described in the Constitution.
Congress is not required to amend the Constitution (Congress can be bypassed:
1) Congress can vote out a suggested amendment, and it then goes to the States for ratification.
2) Or the States can each call for a Constitutional Convention.
Then, whichever way the amendment gets started, it would then next go directly back to the States to get ratified (either by the legislatures of the states, or by special conventions called in each State).
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.
en.wikisource.org
List of all amendments which have been proposed, but not yet ratified:
en.wikisource.org |
