Abstract
The last of the limited-subject interstate gatherings is today the most famous. The Annapolis Convention of 1786 was to focus on “the trade and Commerce of the United States.” Its limited scope induced Madison, who served as a delegate, explicitly to distinguish it from a plenipotentiary convention. For the most part, all of these conventions—today we might call them “task forces”—remained within the scope of their calls. If there was an exception, it was the abortive assembly at Annapolis, and that exception was solely to express the “wish” and “opinion” that another convention be held to consider defects in the political system. As a result of all this experience, federal convention customs, practices, and protocols were fairly well standardized when Article V was written. As explained below, those customs, practices, and protocols formed the basis for how the Constitution’s convention for proposing amendments was expected to operate.
Recommended Citation
Natelson, Robert G.
(2012)
"James Madison and the Constitution's "Convention for Proposing Amendments","
Akron Law Review: Vol. 45:
Iss.
2, Article 3.
Available at:
https://ideaexchange.uakron.edu/akronlawreview/vol45/iss2/3