Has the United States Government ever held a referendum on any issue, including amending the constitition?

Question

where the vote is open to the population, rather than to other politicians

Answer 1

What do you mean? There have been several amendments to the constitution over the years that needed two thirds of the states to ratify them. If that's not a referendum, then I don't think we need them.

Answer 2

No.

The US is a "democratic republic", a form of government that does not employ referenda precisely because government by referendum does not offer "equal protection", a concept very important to the Founding Fathers.  Deciding anything by referendum basically equates to "mob rule", and we all know that mobs tend not to be very "thoughtful" in their decision-making processes!

(P.S. Individual States, on the other hand, have frequently made use of referenda for very specific issues, in the form of "ballot initiatives"...)

Answer 3

You show the ability to research the meaning of words. How about a little general research into your own question??

A simple tour in the annals of U.S. History will teach you that as a nation, we are not a true Democracy. We are a Republic. Our founding fathers had originally wrote the constitution clearly stating that the people who could vote on issues, were the people who had something to claim. This was meant as land owners, and business owners primarily, because they were the ones who were effected mostly by laws governing tax and things like that. The most productive members of society had the most to risk and were given more rights at the power struggles related to voting and so on.

At one point, it was decided and agreed upon by all persons who had the right to influence decisions, that the states would elect the members of the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives. Those elected officials would be sent to Washington D.C. on behalf of the constituants of the State represented by them. They would hold the voices and votes for most matters, and if the constitution was to be changed, it had to be ratified by the States.

With the size of the nation today, it takes a minimum of 38 States to ratify the constitution, and when trying to ratify, that is the only time that you get a dirrect effect on how votes count and are carried.

A little known fact is that the 16th amendment was never ratified, and is actually unconstitutional. It is the law that was created to charge you income tax, by the government, and they get their money before you get yours. The Democratic Congress of that day stole rights from us, and we masses of asses just let them do it.

In other words the I.R.S. is illegal, and it was a power grab by the politicians of the day. They get worse as time goes by, and now that we have the Internet, we can catch them more easily, and as individuals, it is our right as well as our civic duty, to contact the people who represent us in DC when we see them doing things against our nation.

See the attached link, and read it, learn it, and live it. Welcome to America.

Answer 4

There is no mechanism in the constitution for amending the constitution via a referendum.  In theory, because the states would have to vote to ratify any amendment, the voters of the several states would make their wishes known to their representatives in state government.