Time Repair Agency Report on the Articles as Amended
Sharon Schneider
In several timeline, the United States Constitutional Convention of 1787 fell apart. In these timelines, the law of the land of the United States is still technically the Articles of Confederation, but after that system proved to be unworkable in the long term, a convention in 1791 majorly revised the document. Since that date, the governing document has more often been referred to as “the Articles as Amended”. It is a living document, and there have been many amendments in the years since. The end result is a form of government that is in many ways similar to the Constitution familiar to those from other timelines. This is a clear illustration of Amdahl's Theory of Temporal Parallels (as another example of that theory, in many timelines, Amdahl is known for studying parallel computing.) For illustration, we will specifically compare the Articles as Amended from Timeline Prime and the Constitution of the Stable Timeline as they stood in the year 2000, but we will occasionally describe other timelines.
Declaration of Citizens' Rights
The Convention Fathers thought it was fitting that the first 10 amendments to the articles be a Declaration of Citizens' Rights. By and large, they are familiars to chrono-travellers from any timeline. For example, the second amendment ensures a right to bear arms. The tenth amendment gives a more explicit description of the limits on the powers of Congress and the states [as in Constitution's Article I:Section 9-10]
The Other Convention Amendments
The remainder of the Convention Amendments of 1791 dramatically restructure and strengthen the federal government.
11. Defines the size of the unicameral congress [like the Constitution Article I:1-2], stating that the congress is chosen by the people [I:1-2], and specifies new powers of Congress, including its military powers [I:8]
12. Constitutionally defines the executive roles of the President and Vice President of Congress [II:1], enumerates the powers of the President, including the President's role as Commander in Chief [II:2-3], and the terms of impeachment. Unlike in the Constitution, the President was originally elected by members of Congress, and to this day is officially considered a member of the legislative branch of the government.
13. Defines how new states can be formed, the powers of the states, and the relationships between the states [IV].
14. Details easier procedure for amending the constitution, with special rules for when the Convention Amendments will take effect [V]. In a legally dubious situation, the Convention Fathers used this mechanism to pass the Convention Amendments.
Fixes after the Convention
The difficult decades after the Convention saw the necessity of changing some aspects of the government.
15. 1795 Established the Supreme Court and other federal courts [Article III, and 11th Amendment]. Congress had found that the methods of selecting judges to adjudicate disputes between the states was complicated and burdensome. Up until this point, selecting judges required Congress to produce a long list of state judges, which was whittled down by a combination of random lots and vetoing by the persons involved in the case.
16. 1804 The President and Vice President are to be elected by an Electoral College instead of by Congress. Specifies what to do in case of a tie. President and Vice President are selected by separate votes [12th]. In every timeline that the TRA is aware of, the presidential election of 1800 was heavily disputed between Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr, and that motivated an improvement in how the president is selected. In Timeline Prime, the dispute was not ended until Aaron Burr's death in a duel in 1804.
17. 1846 Removes a state's right to print paper currency, and abolishes the Committee of States. Up until this point, the banks of each state printed their own paper currency, usually denominated in dollars, but some states used more colorful names such as Florida Doubloons and New York Guilders. The state currencies faced unchecked inflation, and counterfeiting was rampant with few people having familiarity with currency from out of state. As a side note, Congress also added a provision to abolish the Committee of the States, a group of representatives that could theoretically be mustered to act in Congress's recess. In the rare occasion in which the Committee was actually used, it was as a political stunt.
Interbellum-era amendments
From this point on, the differences between Timeline Prime's Articles and the Stable Timeline's Constitution have more to do with ripplepoints other than the Constitutional Convention. Crucially, in Timeline Prime, the South won the First War Between the States. During the time of Confederate independence, the amendments were largely focused on matters of war and race.
18. 1866 Disunifies the country, revokes the citizenship of southerners, nullifies the status of the southern states, and bans rebels from taking office [14th:3], and clearly states that Congress may move the capital at will.
19. 1868 Confers citizenship to everyone born in the US, reaffirms that slavery is illegal in the US,ends the practice of counting slaves as 2/3 of a person for representation [13th-14th:2].
20. 1870 Voting will not be restricted on the basis of race [15th]
21. 1904 Reunification amendment. Recognizes CSA states and territories as US states and territories (including the new states of New Mexico and Arizona), repeals most of the 1866 amendment, establishes the validity of CSA laws in the southern region, states that the USA will take on responsibility for CSA debts unrelated to the two wars
Modern Amendments
More recent amendments have a mix of structural changes and expansion of personal freedoms
22. 1913 Income tax [16th]
23. 1913 Creation of Senate as a second house of Congress [I:3, 17th amendment]. In timelines with a southern victory, the Confederacy developed this innovation first to give more representation to smaller and more rural votes. After unification, this was added to the Articles as Amended as a gesture of peace.
24. 1920 Grants suffrage to women [19th]
25. 1961 Grants presidential vote to federal districts [23rd]. In some timelines, this only applies to the District of Columbia, but in Timeline Prime, New Orleans, and Saint Louisburg are also administered as special districts because they were purchased individually.
26. 1966 Lowers the voting age to 18 in response to concerns about the war in Vietnam [26th]. Of course, this does not occur in timelines that include a devastating nuclear war in 1962.
27. 1967 Changes the presidential succession laws, enabling President to name a new Vice President [25th]
28. 1988 Personal Freedom Amendment, which asserted each individual's right to control his or her own body and that which does and does not go into it. This nullifies drug prohibition and solidifies a woman's right to choose. Taking place two years after the legalization of marijuana, this was a major victory of allies of John Lennon, but there are strong anti-drug and pro-life factions that aim to repeal this.
29. 1999 Guns are banned and the Second Amendment is repealed. Senator Lennon considered this his proudest achievement.