Sample Testimony from Montana #2

Written Testimony graciously provided by the COS Montana Team

Attachment: 4706/COS_Testimony_2023-2_Convention_of_States_History.pdf

Testimony-2 History of Convention of States

Mr. Chairman, thank you for this opportunity to testify.

The year 1787 was a momentous year for the USA . I would like to briefly review the long
history of Conventions of States. This includes both regional conventions and national
conventions where all states and colonies were involved.

During the century before drafting Article V of the US Constitution, there were at least 32 multi-
colony and multi-state conventions. After independence there were another 11 between 1776
and 1786. Since Conventions were such a common occurrence, it is little surprise that our
Framers saw fit to provide for them in our Constitution.

By 1787, since colonies and states had been meeting with each other regularly for more than a
century, basic protocols for these kinds of meetings were well recognized. These protocols
fixed the acceptable ways of calling such conventions, selecting and instructing delegates,
adopting convention rules, and conducting convention proceedings. The participants involved
in the process each had recognized prerogatives and duties and were subject to recognized
limits. Among the most important protocols is that each state or colony was given 1 vote. I
repeat: one state, one vote.

Conventions of States were also called after the 1787 Philadelphia Constitutional Convention.
In the year 1861 the country had two competing interstate conventions, both triggered by
secession of the southern states. The southern COS was held in Montgomery Alabama. The
states that weren’t seceding met in Washington DC in a last-ditch effort to propose a
constitutional amendment to prevent secession.  The Washington DC “Peace” convention was
the largest COS ever held, with 21 participants. The Washington DC Peace Convention
deliberated for three weeks, and despite bitter dissension, did provide a conclusion to
congress where it was evaluated in the US Senate and voted down. Since this COS was called
outside of Article V their conclusion was just an opinion. Following this failure, 620,000
Americans died in the Civil War.

As contentious and divisive as the times are that we currently live in, the 1861 convention was
exponentially greater!  Yet the 1861 Peace Convention did not melt down, or run away!

I will quickly list some other Conventions of States that came after the Civil War period.

An 1889 regional convention recommended uniform antitrust laws. One of its
recommendations induced Congress to pass the Sherman Antitrust Act the following year.

In 1920 a series of regional Conventions of States resulted in the Colorado River Compact  in
1922.

From 1946 to 1949 regional COSs met to divide up the waters of the North Platte River and
Rio Grande Rivers.

In closing, the history of COS’s in America is as old as our colonial roots.  There is no historical
record of any of our Conventions devolving into so-called runaway conventions, or morphing
into something off topic from the topic of the call. It is more than reasonable to say that an
Article V Convention of States for proposing amendments as put forth by SJ2 and previously
passed by 19 other states will follow this great American tradition.

Thank you for the opportunity to testify today.

Page Metadata
Login Required to view?	No
Created:	2025-05-30 20:53 GMT
Updated:	2025-05-30 20:53 GMT
Published:	2025-05-30 20:53 GMT
Converted:	2025-11-11 12:35 GMT
Change Author:	Sarah Santana
Credit Author: