A constitution you don’t just read — you run

What this is

The Article V Blueprint is a nonpartisan, citizen-led project to renew the United States Constitution — not through Washington, but through the one power the Founders left in the people’s hands. Under Article V, when two-thirds of the states apply, Congress must call a convention to propose amendments; nothing becomes law unless three-fourths of the states ratify it.

We’ve done something no one else has: written a complete, plain-language draft — Articles, Rights, and the statutes to enforce them — as a starting point for debate, not a finished answer. But it doesn’t just sit there to be read. It moves: a small slate of changes comes up for a vote, the people ratify or reject it, and the draft is updated. Then it happens again. That’s the living convention.

The living convention

Here’s the loop that makes this a convention, not a monument. It’s meant to be small and frequent — a few things at a time, decided by whoever shows up, over and over. Follow me through one turn of it.

Go to the Floor → Propose the Next Floor

The two tiers — and where they came from

The draft is built in two layers, on purpose. One sets the frame and the rights; the other spells out the operational law that makes those rights real. You can argue either one on the floor.

Where the draft came from

It wasn’t handed down. We took the whole of it — the original Constitution, its amendments, the federal laws passed since, Supreme Court and even state supreme court decisions, and the interstate rules that aren’t on every state’s books but are honored as law anyway — and pulled it into one document. Then we separated out the fights of the past 80 years and shaped them into this two-tier proposal: one tier that affirms individual human dignity, and one that keeps accumulated wealth from also accumulating power.

That’s a starting point to argue over, not a finished answer. Every provision points to exactly where it lives in the full text, so you can check it against the source yourself — and from there, it’s the floor that decides what stays, what changes, and what’s added. The whole thing is also collected in the Debate Companion and the downloadable Operative Edition (PDF).

Ways to take part

The floor is the heart of it, but there are several doors in — all open to everyone:

Vote on the current floor

Go to The People’s Floor and cast your ratification vote on whatever’s on the table this cycle.

Set the next floor

On Propose the Next Floor, nominate the provisions you think the country should debate and ratify next.

Read & react

Read the Constitution and the statutes any time and tell us how each one lands — the People’s Scoreboard shows it live.

Debate it

On the Debate stage, read a Blueprint and say where you land: keep it, change it, or drop it. Every comment is welcome — we moderate for conduct, not viewpoint.

Write your own Blueprint

Make the case for a provision in your own words on the Write page. The best reader essays join the debate as numbered Federalist Blueprints.

Propose what’s missing

Don’t see your fight anywhere? On Something Missing? you can propose a whole new Right, Article, or Statute for consideration.

Take it to your statehouse

Only your state legislature can start an Article V application. Contact your representative — we’ll even look up your state legislators and help you write the letter.

How we moderate

Everything you submit is read by a person before it appears. Nothing a visitor writes is public until a moderator approves it. We aim to review submissions within about 48 hours — if yours is taking longer, we’re just catching up, not ignoring you.

We moderate for conduct, not viewpoint. That is the most important rule we keep. Every legitimate comment is posted — including ones this project disagrees with. We do not remove a comment for being conservative, or liberal, or for disagreeing with the draft. We remove it only if it breaks the rules below.

Community rules & acceptable use

By submitting anything to this site — a comment, an essay, a proposal, a vote, or a letter — you agree to these rules. They apply to everyone, equally.

• Be a real person acting in good faith. No bots, no automated submissions, no coordinated flooding or vote manipulation.
• Attack arguments, not people. No harassment, threats, intimidation, or encouragement of violence against anyone.
• No slurs or hate directed at people for their race, religion, sex, orientation, disability, or national origin.
• No doxxing. Don’t post private information about anyone, including yourself in a way that could put you at risk.
• Keep it legal. No content that is illegal to post, including anything that sexualizes minors, which we report to the authorities as the law requires.
• Own your words, and your rights to them. Don’t paste large copyrighted works you don’t have the right to share. Submit your own writing.
• You grant permission to display what you submit. If it’s approved, you allow the project to publish and keep it on the site as part of the public record of the debate.

We may remove content, decline a submission, or block a participant who breaks these rules, at our discretion. Being declined once isn’t a judgment of you — resubmit within the rules.

Report a problem

See something that breaks the rules — harassment, a threat, illegal content, someone’s private information, or a copyright problem? Tell us and we’ll act quickly.

Email: [email protected]
Include the page or the exact text you’re flagging and what’s wrong with it. For anything involving immediate danger to a person, contact local law enforcement first.

Questions that aren’t about bad content? See the Privacy Policy or reach the same address.