For more than two centuries, amendments have allowed our Constitution to grow with the country. The 13th Amendment, for instance put an end to slavery , while the 19th gave women the vote . It was intended to be amended.

But you have to go back more than 50 years to find a meaningful change to the Constitution. Asked how long we can work as a country without updating the Constitution, Jeffrey Rosen, president and CEO of the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia, replied, "The real fear that the founders had was that we would stop listening to each other. They thought self-government was hard, and that crucially requires deliberation and debate."

Before anyone could even consider a national constitution, of course, there was the Declaration of Independence, ratified in 1776

See Full Page