The 17th Amendment is the best example we have of a convention campaign effectively working to add an Amendment in the U.S. Constitution.

Until the early 1900s, U.S. Senators were appointed by the State Legislatures. This was widely seen as a form of corruption due to the disproportionate influence wealthy individuals & special interests had over the process.

The people responded to this overt corruption by using every tool of democracy available to them, including; petitions, local legislation, ballot referendums, educational campaigns, resolutions calling on Congress to propose a Constitutional Amendment, and finally applications for an Article V convention to propose an Amendment (referred to by the Congressional Research Service as the “prodding effect”).

When the Article V convention movement was just one state shy of the ⅔ needed to force a convention on this topic, Congress reacted by proposing an amendment for the direct election of U.S. Senators out to the states for ratification, resulting in the 17th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

Learn more about the Article V convention process Here