and Fair Elections Amendment should be added to the Constitution
of the United States to guarantee the preservation of the
inalienable right to self-determination and self-governance for
future generations of Americans; and
WHEREAS, Article V of the Constitution of the United States
grants the states co-equal power to the Congress of the United
States to propose Federal Constitutional amendments, and was
added at the urging of our founding fathers so that the several
states could protect themselves and their citizens from
encroachments by the Federal government or in the event that the
Federal government would someday become unresponsive to the will
of the American people; and
WHEREAS, Some of our most respected presidents have endorsed
the Convention of the States as an essential safeguard to our
Constitutional Republic, including President Abraham Lincoln
when he spoke of amending the Constitution of the United States,
stating that "The convention mode seems preferable, in that it
allows amendments to originate with the people themselves" and
President Dwight Eisenhower, who stated, "Through their state
legislatures and without regard to the federal government, the
people can demand a convention to propose amendments that can
and will reverse any trends they see as fatal to true
representative government"; and
WHEREAS, Article V of the Constitution of the United States
requires the Congress of the United States to call a convention,
upon the application of two-thirds of the legislatures of the
several states, for the purpose of proposing amendments to the
Federal Constitution, an assurance made abundantly clear in
Federalist No. 85 by Alexander Hamilton, who noted: "The words
of this article are peremptory. The Congress 'shall call a
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