What was the government in the United States before the U.S. Constitution? It was the Articles of Confederation, ratified by the States on this day – March 1 – in 1781. Signed by such statesmen as John Hancock and Samuel Adams, it was an attempt to loosely knit the thirteen States together. The Articles of Confederation declared: “The said states hereby severally enter into a firm league of friendship with each other, for their common defense, the security of their liberties, and their mutual and general welfare.”
When the first Constitutional Convention met in 1787 to discuss improvements to the Articles, the delegates changed the rules, threw out the Articles entirely, and developed a new document from the ground up – what we know today as our U.S. Constitution. Although an excellent work that has stood the test of time, this is wonderful reminder of just how dangerous the same sort of convention to amend our Constitution could be today.
There are many groups, by many names, who want a new Convention. You may hear – Convention of States or Article V – but all of these names mean the same thing. They want a convention for the purpose of amending the constitution, just like our framers did in 1787 for the Articles of Confederation. But in 2017, there aren’t any Ben Franklins, George Washingtons, or James Madisons to be found - only special interest groups who want to add to, change, or completely destroy our Constitution and the Bill of Rights.
Phyllis Schlafly likened this unnecessary gamble of a new convention to a game of Russian roulette. Article V of the Constitution doesn’t contain the safeguards many people claim. Article V leaves the process wide open to Congressional control – the very entity who’s power we want to limit. And quite frankly, the problems that we face today really aren’t a result of our present constitution. The real problem is the federal government that doesn’t want to follow our Constitution. Amending the Constitution or writing an entirely new one will not change anything if politicians ignore it just like they do now. The solution to our nation’s problems is not to run away from our Constitution. The real solution is to get back to it.
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