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87TH CONGRESS

2d Session

Undergraduate
Library

JK
168
.A48

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SENATE

No. 163

PROPOSED AMENDMENTS

1963TO THE CONSTITUTION OF THE
Curr UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

INTRODUCED IN CONGRESS

FROM THE

69TH CONGRESS, 2D SESSION

THROUGH THE

87TH CONGRESS, 2D SESSION

DECEMBER 6, 1926, TO JANUARY 3, 1963

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For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office
Washington 25, D.C. - Price 65 cents

UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGĒN LIBRARIES

S. Res. 341

In the Senate of the United States,

May 29, 1962. Resolved, That there be printed as a Senate document a list of proposed amendments to the Constitution of the United States submitted during the Sixty-ninth Congress, second session, through the Eighty-seventh Congress, as compiled by the Senate Library, under the direction of the Secretary of the Senate, and that one thousand five hundred additional copies be printed for the use of the Committee on the Judiciary.

Attest:

FELTON M. JOHNSTON,

Secretary.

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Since 1789 much has been written on the Constitution of the United States, and one of the more valuable contributions is the study of "The proposed amendments to the Constitution of the United States during the first century of its history," by Prof. Herman V. Ames, which was printed as a part of the American Historical Association Annual Report for 1896 (H. Doc. 353, pt. 2, 54th Cong., 2d sess., 442 pages).

In 1926 Charles C. Tansill of the Legislative Reference Service, Library of Congress, prepared a list of proposed amendments submitted during the period from December 4, 1889, to July 2, 1926 (S. Doc. 93, 69th Cong., 1st sess., 148 pages). This supplements the earlier study by Ames, although the format is different and somewhat less detailed.

Two years later Michael A. Musmanno prepared a monograph treating particularly the amendments introduced since 1889, but including references to earlier proposals insofar as they related to the several subjects discussed in the text (H. Doc. 551, 70th Cong., 1st sess., 253 pages). To some extent this duplicates Tansill's list, but his manner of treating the proposals follows more closely the Ames pattern. Both have chapters dealing with proposed amendments affecting the form of government: legislative, executive, and judicial; proposed amendments affecting the powers of the government; and proposals relating to the procedure for amending the Constitution.

This document, prepared by the Senate Library, and following more closely Tansill's style, presents an up-to-date, comprehensive list of proposed amendments to the Constitution of the United States submitted during the 69th Congress, 2d session, through the 87th Congress, 2d session (December 6, 1926, to January 3, 1963). It supersedes several earlier compilations by the Library (the latest being S. Doc. 65, 85th Cong., 1st sess.) and supplements the lists referred to above. This compilation contains 2,340 specific proposals to amend the Constitution. They are indexed both by author and by subject. The latter will give a clue to the variety of subjects and show the number of amendments proposed on any given subject. For instance, numerous proposals have been submitted to tax income from governmental securities and to change the manner of nominating and electing the President and Vice President. Two proposals, until adopted, appeared frequently in the list: one, to fix the commencement of the terms of the President and Vice President and Members of Congress and the time of the assembling of Congress (20th amendment, known by popular name as the "lame duck" amendment), and the other, to repeal the 18th amendment (prohibition of intoxicating liquors), which was accomplished by the 21st amendment. The recently ratified 23rd amendment gave the District of Columbia three votes in the elec

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