A constitutional convention is a gathering for the purpose of writing a new constitution A constitution is set of rules for government — often codified as a written document — that establishes principles of an autonomous political entity. In the case of countries, this term refers specifically to a national constitution defining the fundamental political principles, and establishing the structure, procedures, powers and duties, of or revising an existing constitution. A general constitutional convention is called to create the first constitution of a political unit or to entirely replace an existing constitution. An unlimited constitutional convention is called to revise an existing constitution to the extent that it deems to be proper, whereas a limited constitutional convention is restricted to revising only the areas of the current constitution named in the convention's call, the legal mandate establishing the convention. In the case of the Philadelphia Convention The Philadelphia Convention took place from May 25 to September 17, 1787, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to address problems in governing the United States of America, which had been operating under the Articles of Confederation following independence from Great Britain. Although the Convention was purportedly intended only to revise the Articles, delegates met for the "sole purpose of revising the Articles of Confederation The Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union, commonly referred to as the Articles of Confederation, was the first constitution of the thirteen United States of America. The Second Continental Congress appointed a committee to draft the 'Articles' in June 1776 and proposed the draft to the States for ratification in November 1777. The." George Washington George Washington was the commander of the Continental Army in the American Revolutionary War (1775–1783) and served as the first President of the United States of America (1789–1797). For his central role in the formation of the United States, he is often referred to as the father of his country was elected president of this convention. Once the body convened, meeting and deliberations were conducted in secrecy with James Madison James Madison was an American politician and political philosopher who served as the fourth President of the United States (1809–1817), and one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. Considered to be the "Father of the Constitution", he was the principal author of the document. In 1788, he wrote over a third of the Federalist serving as recorder. It was rapidly decided that the body would ignore the limitations of its call and propose the replacement of the Articles with an entirely new basic instrument of government.
Examples of constitutional conventions include the:
United States The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its 48 contiguous states and Washington, D.C., the capital district, lie between the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, bordered by Canada to the north and Mexico to the south: Annapolis Convention (1786) The Annapolis Convention was a meeting at Annapolis, Maryland of 12 delegates from five states that called for a constitutional convention. The formal title of the meeting was a Meeting of Commissioners to Remedy Defects of the Federal Government. The defects that they were to remedy were those barriers that limited trade or commerce between the, which proposed what became the Philadelphia Convention (1787) - Drafted the United States Constitution The Constitution of the United States of America is the supreme law of the United States. It is the foundation and source of the legal authority underlying the existence of the United States of America and the Federal Government of the United States. It provides the framework for the organization of the United States Government. The document for ratification by the states. Article V Article Five of the United States Constitution describes the process whereby the Constitution may be altered. Such amendments may be proposed by the United States Congress or by a national convention assembled at the request of the legislatures of at least two-thirds of the several states. To become valid, amendments must then be ratified by of the constitution sets forth a mechanism whereby future constitutional conventions can be held. The constitution has been amended several times since the Philadelphia Convention, but never (as of 2009 2009 is the current year of the Anno Domini/Common Era in accordance with the Gregorian calendar. It is a common year starting on Thursday and the last year of the 2000s decade) by this method.
- France France (pronounced /ˈfræns/ or /ˈfrɑːns/; French: [fʁɑ̃s]), officially the French Republic (French: République française, pronounced: [ʁepyblik fʁɑ̃sɛz]), is a country located in Western Europe, with several overseas islands and territories located on other continents. Metropolitan France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the: The National Convention of 1792 During the French Revolution, the National Convention or Convention, in France, comprised the constitutional and legislative assembly which sat from 20 September 1792 to 26 October 1795 . It held executive power in France during the first years of the French First Republic. It was succeeded by the Directory, commencing 2 November 1795. Prominent (commonly referred to as The Convention) convened during The French Revolution on September 20 September 20 is the 263rd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. There are 102 days remaining until the end of the year with the purpose of writing a Republican Constitution following the suspension of the French Monarchy On 10 August 1792, during the French Revolution, a mob — with the backing of a new municipal government of Paris that came to be known as the "insurrectionary" Paris Commune — besieged the Tuileries palace. King Louis XVI and the royal family took shelter with the Legislative Assembly. This proved to be the effective end of the. The monarchy was officially abolished on September 21 September 21 is the 264th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. There are 101 days remaining until the end of the year by The Convention.
- Missouri Constitutional Convention (1861-63), established Missouri's provisional government during the American Civil War The American Civil War , also known as the War Between the States and several other names, was a civil war in the United States of America. Eleven Southern slave states declared their secession from the U.S. and formed the Confederate States of America (the Confederacy). Led by Jefferson Davis, they fought against the U.S. federal government (the
- Canada Canada is a country occupying most of northern North America, extending from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west and northward into the Arctic Ocean. It is the world's second largest country by total area and shares the world's longest common border with the United States to the south and northwest: (1864), Quebec Conference, 1864 The 16 delegates from the Province of Canada, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Prince Edward Island had agreed at the close of the Charlottetown Conference to meet again at Quebec City in October 1864. Newfoundland also sent two observers, but did not participate directly in the proceedings, and London Conference of 1866 The London Conference was held in the United Kingdom in December 1866 and was the final in a series of conferences that led to Canadian confederation in 1867. Delegates from the Province of Canada, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick met with officials of the British government to draft the British North America Act. A major issue of contention was (1866).
- Australian constitutional conventions - 1891, 1897, 1973 and 1998.
- Germany Germany (pronounced /ˈdʒɜrməni/ ), officially the Federal Republic of Germany (German: Bundesrepublik Deutschland, pronounced [ˈbʊndəsʁepuˌbliːk ˈdɔʏtʃlant] ( listen)), is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south: Parlamentarischer Rat (Parliamentary Council) (1948) - Drafted the Basic Law of the Federal Republic The Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany is the constitution of Germany. It was formally approved on 8 May 1949, and, with the signature of the Allies, came into effect on 23 May 1949, as the constitution of West Germany for ratification by the Länder Germany is a Federal Republic consisting of sixteen states, known in German as Länder (singular Land). Since Land is the literal German word for "country", the term Bundesländer (federal states; singular Bundesland) is commonly used colloquially, as it is more specific, though technically incorrect within the corpus of German law.
- Northern Ireland Constitutional Convention (1975-1976) - a failed attempt to find a solution to the status of Northern Ireland Northern Ireland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and is situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west. At the time of the 2001 UK Census, its population was 1,685,000, constituting between a quarter and a third of the.
- Scottish Constitutional Convention (1989) - produced a plan for Scottish Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the southwest. In addition to the mainland, Scotland devolution Devolution is the statutory granting of powers from the central government of a state to government at a subnational level, such as a regional, local, or state level. It differs from federalism in that the powers devolved may be temporary and ultimately reside in central government, thus the state remains, de jure, unitary.
- European Convention (2001) - Drafted the Constitution for Europe The Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe , commonly referred to as the European Constitution, was an international treaty intended to create a constitution for the European Union. It would have replaced the existing Treaties of the European Union with a single text, given limited legal force to the Charter of Fundamental Rights (which was for approval by the European Council The European Council is the highest political body of the European Union. It comprises the heads of state or government of the Union's member states along with the President of the European Commission. Its meeting is chaired by the member from the member state currently holding Presidency of the Council of the European Union and ratification by the member states A Member State of the European Union is any one of the 27 sovereign states that have acceded to the European Union since its de facto inception in 1951 as the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC). From an original membership of six states, there have been six successive enlargements, the largest occurring on 1 May 2004, when ten states joined.
- Philippine Constitutional Convention
- 1935 - to draft a constitution to create the autonomous Commonwealth of the Philippines under the U.S. Tydings-McDuffie Act The Tydings-McDuffie Act approved on March 24, 1934 was a United States federal law which provided for self-government of the Philippines and for Filipino independence (from the United States) after a period of ten years. It was authored by Maryland Senator Millard E. Tydings and Alabama Representative John McDuffie. The constitution was also used in the 3rd Republic (1946) until the passage of the 1973 constitution. Members were elected through the Philippine Constitutional Convention election, 1934
- 1971 - to draft a revised constitution to replace the old U.S. customed 1935 Philippine constitution. Members were elected through the Philippine Constitutional Convention election, 1970. The system of government changed from Presidentitial to Parliamentary to Presidentital-Parliamentary (in 1984 amendment). The constitution lasted until the downfall of Ferdinand Marcos Ferdinand Emmanuel Edralin Marcos was President of the Philippines from 1965 to 1986. He was a lawyer, member of the Philippine House of Representatives (1949-1959) and a member of the Philippine Senate (1959-1965). He was Senate President in 1963. He claimed that during World War II he had been the leader of Ang Maharlika, a guerrilla force in in 1986 and Corazon Aquino Maria Corazon "Cory" Cojuangco Aquino was a President of the Philippines and a world-renowned advocate of democracy, peace, women's empowerment, and religious piety. She served as the 11th president of the Philippines from 1986 to 1992. She was the first female president of the Philippines and was Asia's first female president. Mrs appointed members to draft the 1987 Constitution through a Constitutional Commission.
Constitutional conventions have also been used by constituent states of federations — such as the individual states A U.S. state is any one of 50 subnational entities of the United States of America that share sovereignty with the federal government . Because of this shared sovereignty, an American is a citizen both of the federal entity and of his or her state of domicile. However, state citizenship is very flexible, and no government approval is required to of the United States The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its 48 contiguous states and Washington, D.C., the capital district, lie between the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, bordered by Canada to the north and Mexico to the south — to create, replace, or revise their own constitutions In the United States, each state has its own constitution. Though the several states have never held a national constitutional convention for the purpose of proposing amendments, the 21st Amendment to the US Constitution was ratified not by the state legislatures, but by state level conventions after it was passed by Congress, as described as an alternate method of ratification in Article V of the US Constitution.
See also
- Constituent assembly A constituent assembly is a body composed for the purpose of drafting or adopting a constitution. Unlike forms of constitution-making in which a constitution is unilaterally imposed by a sovereign lawmaker, the constituent assembly creates a constitution through “internally imposed” actions, in that members of the constituent assembly are
- Convention parliament The term Convention Parliament has been applied to three different English Parliaments, of 1399, 1660 and 1689
- Constitutional commission
- Independence Convention The Independence Convention is a new umbrella grouping for supporters of Scottish independence, also known as Interim Forum for an Independence Convention . The Chairman is Murray Ritchie
- Article V convention
Categories: Constitutional law | Political history | Constitutional conventions
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