The Constitution of the United States of America came into force in 1789. At 229 years old, it is arguably the oldest Constitution still in use in the world today. Despite being the supreme law of the land, the sovereign power remains vested in the people of the United States who can exercise their power to amend the constitution to suit their needs. Since it came into force, the Constitution has been amended 27 times to suit the needs of evolving modern society. This article addresses its strengths and weaknesses as well as the complexity of effecting amendments to it.
Strengths of the Constitution
Perhaps the biggest strength of the United States’ Constitution is its Bill of rights. The Bill of Rights places a clear distinction between successful and unsuccessful democracies. The Bill of rights was incorporated into the Constitution following the 15th
December 1791 amendment that adopted ten fundamental rights and freedom. The Bill of rights is designed to protect individual liberties and freedoms from state interference (Corwin 53). The Bill of Rights empowers the citizens making America a model state in terms of democracy, with several upcoming democracies framing their Bill of Rights in its footsteps.
The supremacy of the Constitution is another great aspect of the American constitution. In Article 4, Clause 2 (here in after known to as "the Supremacy Clause") provides that the Constitution, together with treaties ratified with the permission and power of the United States, shall be the ultimate law of the land. A perusal of the supremacy clause leads to the interpretation that legislators draft federal laws in the spirit of the Constitution and that in so doing, Congress ought to be guided by Article 1, Section 7 (Ramsey 5). This interpretation leads to the conclusion that there are three sources of the Supreme law, that is, the Constitution itself, laws drafted in furtherance of the Constitution's objectives, and Treaties binding the United States (Ramsey 565). It is a well-known fact that the greatness of a nation lies in its fidelity to its constitution. The importance of a strict adherence to the supreme law of the land cannot be underestimated.
Another strength of the Constitution is the doctrine of separation of powers. This doctrine is based on the fundamental assumption that where power is concentrated, there is a high likelihood of abuse. Therefore, it is important to divide state power into three separate organs, which perform varied state functions and are not only equal as per the Constitution but also independent of each other (Corwin 21). Independence of the state organs enables them to freely critique each other, hence the doctrine of checks and balances. The three state organs in the United States are the Legislature, the Executive, and the Judiciary.
Weaknesses of the Constitution
Disproportionate Senate Representation
The constitutional requirement is that every state elects two representatives to the Senate. It is a well-known fact that some states are larger than others both geographically and demographically. This being the case, allocating two senate representatives per state violates the one man one vote principle. There is a prevailing danger that members representing a big portion of the population will end up making decisions for the entire population as it takes forty-one Senators to block legislation (Macedo 613). This injustice also affects the Electoral College system of voting, therefore violating political equity. In the long run, disproportional representation in the Senate is a direct threat to democracy.
Lack of Checks and Balances on the Senate
Another problem with our constitution is that it prescribes no term limit for members of the Senate. This means that a person can run for Senate as many times as they wish. The result of a lack of term limits is that since Senators are elected for a term of two years, there is a danger that most of them end up spending the entire period in activities seeking reelection. Senators end up promoting projects that are likely to increase their popularity rather than carrying out development for the common good. As a result, a lot of incumbents get reelected for several years, therefore establishing a career in the Senate. Because they are allocated more funds for the campaign purposes, it is not surprising that incumbents have a higher chance of being re-elected against newcomers. Continued reelection leads to performance stagnation in the Senate, and also encourages impunity and corruption. Eventually, members of the public become less interested in the electoral process as they are tired of perennially electing the same names to the Senate.
A lot of political scientists have criticized the Electoral College system. It has often been termed as an outdated electoral system that has no place in the modern society. Various scholars argue that this system may lead to a suppressed voter turnout or lead to of a minority statement. States are allocated the same number of the electoral vote despite their voter turnout thereby violating the one man, one vote principle. As a result, many voters are discouraged from participating in the electoral process. The Electoral College system may also lead to candidates concentrating their energies on some states while neglecting others, which also discourages participation in the electoral process across the board. It has been argued that the popularity of a presidential candidate in all states should be taken into consideration. From the foregoing, it is evident that the Electoral College system is a violation of democracy.
Constitutional Amendment
The United States Constitution has evolved over the years according to the changing times. The first proposed amendment took place on 25th September, 1789 when the Congress forwarded twelve amendments. The first two amendments dealt with representation in the Senate and remuneration. The third to twelfth amendments were the first to be adopted in 1791 and subsequently became the Bill of rights. Three of the proposed twelve is our First Amendment. It takes an average of seven years for an amendment to be approved by three-quarters of the Senate. The first twelve amendments were, however, not subjected to this constraint. The first ten amendments were affected in 1971 and are referred to as the Bill of Rights. On 7th May 1992, the amendment proposing restrictions on pay rises in the Senate became the 27th and the last amendment to be approved. Subsequent amendments are outlined below.
Amendment number 11, 1795 - This amendment limits the exercise of judicial power by restricting its application on citizens of the United States by Citizens of foreign state.
- Amendment number 12, 1804 - It was this amendment that gave birth to the Electoral College system. It sets out the criteria for election of the President and Vice President. it also addresses the issue of eligibility for office.
- Amendment number 13, 1865 - This is my favorite amendment of all. With it came the abolition of slavery. It gave the Congress the mandate to see to it that slavery was eradicated in the United States.
- Amendment number 14, 1868 - It came up with civil rights in a bid to protect the privileges and immunities of citizens. Its fundamental features were Right to life. Right to property. Equality before the law. This amendment also established the various legislative organs as well as the criteria for electing representatives into Congress.
- Amendment number 15, 1870 - This provision was the first step towards the eradication of racism in the United States. Pursuant to this amendment, people of color were allowed to vote.
- Amendment number 16, 1913 - This amendment gave the Congress the power to levy taxes.
- Amendment number 17, 1913 - This amendment established the Senate. It prescribes the eligibility criteria and procedure for election.
- Amendment number 18, 1919 - This amendment outlawed the importation, manufacture, sale, importation, transportation and exportation in the United States.
- Amendment 19 of 1920 - This amendment was one of the first milestones in the Feminism movement. Women became eligible to vote.
- Amendment number 20, 1913 - This amendment prescribed the term of Presidency as well as the terms of office of Congressmen.
- Amendment 21, 1933 - This amendment served as a repeal of amendment 18.
- Amendment 22, 1951 - Limited the presidency to two terms
- Amendment 23, 1961 - District of Colombia was allowed to have representatives in Congress.
- Amendment 25, 1967 - Contains provisions on presidential removal and succession
- Amendment 26, 1971 - Persons above the age of eighteen were allowed to vote. Before then, 21 was the age of majority.
Procedure for Amendment
Article 5 of the constitution set out the procedure for amendment. It states that an amendment is effective if proposed by legislators of two-thirds of the states and ratified by three-quarters of the legislatures from the said states. To achieve this, each state can either have their legislature vote in favor of the amendments or hold a separate ratification convention with delegates from all States. As we can see, both processes require a supermajority.
Conclusion
From the foregoing, it is evident that the Constitution of the United States is extremely difficult to amend. This difficulty is evidenced by the fact that for 220 years, 11,000 amendments have been put forward; however, only 27 have succeeded to date (Posner 2). The last successful amendment occurred in 1992. This stagnation makes the United States constitution very unprogressive. The process gets harder as America becomes more populous and diverse.
I am of the opinion that it should not be difficult to amend the constitution. We need a different system of law for every generation. It is important that the supreme law of the land be adjusted from time to time according to societal dynamics. Io hinder that would be tantamount to democracy. In the words of Thomas Jefferson, the earth belongs to the living, and not to the dead.
Works Cited
Corwin, Edward. The Constitution of the United States of America: Analysis and Interpretation. 2006. http://library.umac.mo/ebooks/b28029744.pdf
Macedo, Stephen. “TOWARD A MORE DEMOCRATIC CONGRESS? OUR IMPERFECT DEMOCRATIC CONSTITUTION: THE CRITICS EXAMINED .” vol. 89, no. 609, 2009, file:///C:/Users/Bonareri/Desktop/MACEDO
Our Imperfect Democratic Constitution BU 09.pdf.
Posner, Eric. “The U.S. Constitution Is Impossible to Amend. Blame the Founders.” Slate Magazine, 5 May 2014, www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/view_from_chicago/2014/05/amending_the_ constitution_is_much_too_hard_blame_the_founders.html.
Ramsey, Michael D. “The Supremacy Clause, Original Meaning, and Modern Law.” Ohio State Law Journal, vol. 74, no. 4, 2013, pdfs.semanticscholar.org/281d/673d74838b217135e4547fb2bece1c3aa518.pdf.
