Tne Constitutional Convention was Not a Runaway Convention

[Keith Broaders]

 

In the Declaration of Independence it is affirmed that the people have a right and duty to alter or abolish their government. When the Framers of the Constitution met in Philadelphia in 1787 they were sent their to alter or abolilsh compact between the 13 colonies. Congress recognized that their were major flaws in the Articles of Confederation and that merely amending the document would not suffice.

The delegates were sent to Philadelphia to do whatever was necessary to a much stronger National government which could not have been accomplished by merely proposing amendments to the Articles of Confederation. The assignment that they were given was enormous. Their power was limited to proposing the changes, it would be up to the delegates representing the people of the states to accept or reject the Constitution.

The idea that the Convention was a runaway convention is simply not true. The delegates did precisely what they were assigned to do. They did not convene to mke cosmetic changes to the Articles of Confederation, they were assigned the task of revising or re-writing the contract between the states.

The Articles of Confederation was more of a treaty between 13 independent nations than it was a Constitution. The Convention produced a document that would give birth to a nation consisting of 13 states. The Constitution effectively merged the 13 colonies into one Nation. By ratifying the Constitution, a system known as Federalism was established with the powers to govern being shared. The Constitution delegated to the national government a short list of delegated powers while all powers not delegated to the United States nor prohibited by it to the states respectively, or to the people.

A Con Con refers to a general convention that is authorized to revise , rewrite or ablosh the Constitution. The Article V Convention only has the authority to propose amendments to the Constitution. Calling an Article V Convention a Con Con is misleading and inaccurate.

 

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[M]

I agree, the problem is that the people have never been allowed to propose an Article V Convention. The require number of States have never petitioned for one. We need to first remove Obama and the incumbent Socialists in November and then work together to get the States call one between November and January. This will serve two purposes; It will help block the Lame Duck Senate from passing Treaties, and it will keep them busy enough that they will not have sufficient time to legislate any more crap like the 111th did with health care