Myth
An Article V convention is a Constitutional Convention. Everything would be up for grabs just like at the first one. We could lose our Bill of Rights. We could even get a whole new Constitution!
Fact
An Article V convention has to have a defined agenda. They are not wide-open, anything goes events.
Left and Right agree on this.
The left and right may not agree on much these days, but one thing all legislators agree on is that a convention has to have a defined agenda.
But it's a Constitutional Convention !
The phrase Constitutional Convention and the implication that everything is up for grabs was originally part of a disinformation campaign launched by liberals in the late 50’s/early 60’s.
A brief history of the phrase “constitutional convention”
1901 - a congressional compiler gives the erroneous title “consitutional convention” to a state legislative resolution
1903 and later - some states actually use that term in their resolutions
1911 - Sen Weldon Heyburn R-Id, who passionately opposed the direct election of senators, first floated out the idea that...
“when the constitutional convention meets, it is the people, and it is the same people who made the original constitution, and no limit on the original constitution controls the people when they meet again to consider the Constitution”
Now this view is not legally sound. First of all, the language of Article V is clear. There is only one thing the convention can do: It can propose amendments. It’s a glorified drafting committee.
Can't Replace This Constitution with Another
Article V restricts amendments to this Constitution...
amendments ... shall be valid ... as part of this Constitution...
This view also flies in the face of comments made by the founders themselves. Consider these remarks from Roger Sherman Aug 13, 1789:
“All that is granted us by the 5th article is that, whenever we shall think it necessary, we may propose amendments to the Constitution; not that we may propose to repeal the old and substitute a new one.”
Source: Roger Sherman Aug 13, 1789
https://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage?collId=llac&fileName=001/llac001.db&recNum=372
