Jill Lepore

Right.

Who told you you could write a constitution?

And you have the war on.

It's a big problem when you don't have a constitution.

The government has no authority.

So they had to hold a constitutional convention in Massachusetts in 1779.

The first one was earlier.

And the people, among the reasons the towns rejected the constitution was because the people couldn't amend it either.

They didn't write it.

They couldn't amend it.

So the new Massachusetts Constitution had an amendment provision.

So by the time you get to Philadelphia in 1787, which remember...

The reason they're even meeting is because the Articles of Confederation, which is the only thing that's holding the United States together, the only way to amend the Articles of Confederation was by the unanimous consent of all the states.

And they could never amend them because Rhode Island would always hold out.

Rhode Island was called Rogue Island because everyone hated Rhode Island.

It was like the tiniest little speck of a state and they're like, we're so big with our britches, we say no.

And you don't have to do what we say.

So the reason that they're

you know, they have to have a convention to write a new constitution is because the other thing is unamendable.

So this is where a long explanation for why there exists Article 5.