Step 4-In your own words, answer the following questions about the amendment process.

Question 1. Why did the Founding Fathers create an amendment process for the Constitution?

Question 2. Why did they make the amendment process difficult to achieve?

1. The US Constitution of 1787 is a great achievement of the American nation. The primary task of this document was the legal 'formation' of the American state, as well as the system of its highest authorities. In this regard, a number of gaps in law arose due to the lack of provisions in the constitution, guaranteeing the civil, religious, and political rights of the inhabitants of the new democratic state. Disputes over the introduction of such statutory rights began immediately after the adoption of the constitution. So, for example, in his letter to James Madison (the main author of the constitution) Jefferson drew attention to this significant flaw in the main law of the United States. Some states of the North American state in 1787 even refused to ratify the constitution until all the rights and freedoms of US citizens were included in it.

In addition, many members of the Philadelphia Convention did not pay due attention to the rights and freedoms in drafting the constitution, believing that in the state they are building, the written fixing of freedoms is an excess, since a democratic regime implies the existence of a full range of rights of American citizens.

2. Realizing that for the development of a full-fledged democratic state, it is necessary to legally formalize the rights of citizens, the US began to develop amendments to the constitution. In June 1789, Madison proposed to Congress the first ten constitutional amendments. The main goal that Madison pursued was to give the American nation confidence that they live in a democratic state that cares about them. After amending the congress in 1789, a lengthy and painstaking process began to discuss the final form of the amendments.

The procedure for adopting amendments to the Constitution is rather cumbersome. Therefore, the American state does not often resort to formal changes to the Basic Law - when a combination of political circumstances forces it to do so. In quiet periods, this complex procedure is not addressed. Legally, the Constitution thus remains fundamentally unchanged.