Seventeenth Amendment to the United States Constitution
At this point, many states changed their strategy. Article Five of the United States Constitution offers two methods for amending the Constitution. In addition to the common method of a two-thirds vote by both houses of Congress, was another method. It stated that if two-thirds of the state legislatures apply for one, Congress must call a constitutional convention. The method had not been used before. When it appeared two-thirds of the states wanted the change, Congress acted.