Does the World Really Belong to the Living? The Decline of the Constitutional Convention in New York and Other US States, 1776–2015

Bibliographic Data

ID13044206
AuthorsJ H Snider (0000-0001-5460-3972, corresponding author)
Year2017
Volume6
Issue2
Pages256-293
Publication date2017-03-01
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueAmerican Political Thought (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 2161-1580 • E-ISSN: 2161-1599
PublisherUniversity of Chicago Press (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1086/691177
OpenAlexW2605705284
LanguageEN
Citations received3
References cited14

In the preamble to the US Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson wrote that people have an “unalienable” right “to alter” their government. A total of 37 US states would eventually include in their state constitutions a similar provision promising the people the right at all times to alter or reform their government. Jefferson would later also argue that people should have a right to alter their constitution at periodic intervals. Eventually, 14 states, including New York, would adopt a constitutional provision implementing such a right. The distinctive democratic function of that right—except in states with the constitutional initiative—is that it allows the people to bypass the legislature’s gatekeeping power over constitutional reform. This article explains the long-term structural forces leading to increased opposition to calling a state constitutional convention. Some of these forces signal democratic dysfunction and should be cause for alarm

Constitution · Convention · Declaration of independence · Democracy · Legislature · Opposition (politics · Political science · Politics · Preamble · Presidential system · State (computer science · American Constitutional Law and Politics · Electoral Systems and Political Participation · Judicial and Constitutional Studies · Law

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