Title: Myth Busting: A Convention Cannot Be Controlled
Original CoS Document (slug): it-can-t-be-controlled
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Created: 2022-07-06 01:40:08
Updated: 2024-07-16 04:38:51
Published: 2023-07-07 01:00:00
Converted: 2025-04-14T21:18:09.885838749
Myth
An Article V convention cannot be controlled
Fact
An Article V convention is a state-led process. State legislatures control the process from beginning to end.
How do we know?
We know from comments made during the ratification debates. And we know from the historical record of other interstate conventions held before and after the Philadelphia convention.
From the ratification debates in PA
“…the proposed Federal Constitution cannot be very dangerous while the legislature[s] of the different states possess the power of calling a convention, appointing the delegates and instructing them in the articles they wish altered or abolished.”
From the historical record
Numerous interstate conventions had been held in the America before the Philadelphia convention. The founding generation was intimately familiar with them.
A list of several of these can be found here.
In every instance, state legislatures controlled their delegations. States voted as states. And the conventions stayed on topic.
Control by 34
It must be remembered that an Article V convention doesn’t even happen until 34 states agree on why they’re meeting. That’s a ⅔ supermajority of states dedicated to keeping the convention on track. Even if we throw away the other 16 states as hostile to the agenda, that won’t matter because states vote by state. Each state gets one vote. And there’s no scenario in which 16 beats 34. The 16 states would have to convince 10 other states to abandon the scope limitations in order to even formally propose an off-topic amendment. And those 16 states would have to convince a total of 22 other states to get any of those amendments ratified.
Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kXqO2fWnxZg