美国联邦立宪时期关于修宪问题的讨论

Debates over Constitutional Amendments in the Federal Convention of 1787

1787年宪法的修宪条款体现了美国联邦立宪时期的两个关键的理念和制度创新——"人民主权"和"联邦制"。以詹姆斯·麦迪逊为代表的一批政治精英们通过阐释修宪的意义、提高修宪的门槛以及为批准宪法设置条件等一系列举措,不仅表达了在"后革命时代"抑制"人民主权"、维护政治秩序和稳定的普遍诉求,而且成功地对邦联制度进行了彻底变革,创建了"半联邦半国民"的新型复合制政体。

The amendment provisions of the Constitution of 1787 reflected the ideological and institutional innovations in the Federal Convention.By reinterpreting the meaning of constitutional amendments,raising the threshold of amending,and setting the conditions for ratifying,the delegates of the Federal Convention,with James Madison as their representative,not only expressed the universal appeal of constraining popular sovereignty and maintaining political stability in the post-revolutionary era,but also successfully replaced the old confederation system with a new compound system.