Jonah Patel
The United States Constitution has 27 amendments, the first 10 of which are known as the Bill of Rights. In addition to these, six other amendments have been proposed to the states but have not been ratified by the required three-fourths of states. These unratified amendments deal with various topics such as representation in Congress, titles of nobility, slavery, child labor, equal rights, and DC voting rights. One notable example is the Corwin Amendment, which was approved by Congress in 1861 but only ratified by two or three states. Another is the proposed amendment relating to the acceptance of titles of nobility from foreign governments, which was not ratified by enough states. The story of these unratified amendments provides an interesting insight into the evolution of the US Constitution and the political landscape at the time.
| Characteristics | Values |
|---|---|
| Number of amendments proposed but not ratified | 6 |
| Number of amendments ratified | 27 |
| Number of amendments in the Bill of Rights | 10 |
| Number of amendments proposed in the Bill of Rights | 12 |
| Number of states needed to ratify an amendment | 3-fourths |
| Number of states that ratified Articles III-XII | 11 |
| Number of states that ratified Articles I and II | 2 |
| Year Articles I and II were ratified | 1992 |
| Year the Corwin Amendment was approved by Congress | 1861 |
| Year the District of Columbia Voting Rights Amendment was approved by Congress | 1978 |
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What You'll Learn
Titles of Nobility Amendment
The Titles of Nobility Amendment is one of the proposed amendments to the U.S. Constitution that was passed by Congress but never ratified by a sufficient number of states. The amendment was introduced in the Senate by Democratic-Republican Senator Philip Reed of Maryland and passed on April 27, 1810, by a vote of 19-5. It was then sent to the House of Representatives for consideration.
The purpose of this amendment was to prevent those holding foreign titles, and thus the allegiance demanded by those titles, from being able to run for government office in the newly created Republic. This was out of fear that foreign powers could use these titles as a way to influence American officials and citizens to pass or impede the passing of laws favourable to their interests. The amendment would have revoked the citizenship of any individual who accepted a "title of nobility or honour" or who accepted any "present, pension, office, or emolument" from any foreign state without congressional permission.
There was some confusion over whether the amendment had been adopted due to erroneous printing in some early 19th-century publications. The amendment was mistakenly included as the "Thirteenth Amendment" in some of these texts, leading to the misconception that it had been ratified. This error was addressed by the U.S. House of Representatives in December 1817, and subsequent publications in 1833 and 1845 correctly identified the amendment as unadopted.
Despite the official conclusion that it was not adopted, the Titles of Nobility Amendment has been seized upon by some right-wing radicals in recent years, who claim that it was ratified and suppressed as part of a conspiracy. They also argue that it would bar lawyers from citizenship due to their use of the term "esquire", which they consider a title of nobility acquired from a foreign power.
Amending the Constitution: The Legislative Branch's Role
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Corwin Amendment
The Corwin Amendment is a proposed amendment to the United States Constitution that has never been adopted. However, due to the absence of a ratification deadline, it could theoretically still be adopted by state legislatures. The amendment was proposed by Ohio Representative Thomas Corwin in 1861, two days before Abraham Lincoln became President. It was approved by Congress but was only ratified in a handful of Northern states and Kentucky.
The Corwin Amendment was designed to protect slavery from federal power. It would have prohibited federal interference with slavery in the states and shielded slavery within the states from the federal constitutional amendment process. The amendment was endorsed by outgoing President James Buchanan, who took the unprecedented step of signing it. Lincoln also supported the amendment, mentioning it in his first inaugural address in 1861.
The Corwin Amendment was the second proposed "Thirteenth Amendment" submitted to the states by Congress. It was officially designated House (Joint) Resolution No. 80 and passed the House of Representatives with a vote of 133 to 65, just above the required two-thirds threshold. The Senate also approved the amendment with the exact two-thirds majority needed (24-12).
Despite the amendment's passage in Congress, eleven Southern states seceded from the Union before it could be ratified. Only Ohio and Maryland ratified the Corwin Amendment. The actual Thirteenth Amendment, which prohibited slavery, was ratified in 1865 at the end of the Civil War.
Amending the Constitution: A Necessary Evolution
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Child Labor Amendment
The Child Labor Amendment (CLA) is a proposed and still-pending amendment to the United States Constitution that would specifically authorise Congress to regulate "labour of persons under eighteen years of age". The amendment was proposed in 1924, following Supreme Court rulings in 1918 and 1922 that federal laws regulating and taxing goods produced by employees under the ages of 14 and 16 were unconstitutional.
The amendment was drafted by the National Child Labor Committee (NCLC) and quickly passed Congress in 1924. The House of Representatives passed the joint resolution on April 26, 1924, by a vote of 297–69, and the Senate passed it on June 2, 1924, by a vote of 61–23. The proposed constitutional amendment was then submitted to the state legislatures for ratification.
The CLA sought to grant Congress the "power to limit, regulate, and prohibit the labour of persons under eighteen years of age". The majority of state legislatures ratified the amendment by the mid-1930s, but it has not been ratified by the requisite three-fourths of the states according to Article V of the Constitution, and none has ratified it since 1937. In total, 28 states ratified the amendment, with the most recent state passing it in 1937.
There were two waves of ratification momentum for the CLA. The first, in the 1920s, failed due to the influence of manufacturer interests, legal groups, and the Red Scare. It was then revived in the 1930s due to the economic circumstances of the Great Depression. However, support for the CLA faltered following the success of the National Industrial Recovery Act (NIRA) at federally regulating child labour. Interest in the amendment also waned following the passage of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, which implemented federal regulation of child labour with the Supreme Court's approval in 1941.
Despite not being ratified, the CLA has been informally adopted. In 2024, the New Hampshire House of Representatives adopted a unicameral House Resolution reaffirming support for the 1933 ratification of the CLA. That resolution was formally received by the United States Senate and referred to the Senate's Committee on the Judiciary. In addition, the Hawaii Senate passed a concurrent resolution to ratify the CLA in 2021 and 2022, but it stalled in the Hawaii House of Representatives.
Amendment History: 18th Amendment's Addition to the Constitution
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Equal Rights Amendment
The Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) is a proposed amendment to the United States Constitution that would explicitly prohibit gender discrimination. It seeks to guarantee equal legal rights for all American citizens, regardless of sex, and end legal distinctions between men and women in matters such as divorce, property, employment, and other areas.
The ERA was first proposed in 1921 by the National Woman's Party, led by Alice Paul, who believed that the Nineteenth Amendment would not be sufficient to ensure equality regardless of sex. The initial text of the proposed amendment stated that no political, civil, or legal disabilities or inequalities based on sex or marriage should exist unless they applied equally to both men and women. In 1923, Paul revised the amendment, renaming it the Lucretia Mott Amendment after a female abolitionist who advocated for women's rights. This version was introduced in Congress in December 1923 and was subsequently reintroduced in each subsequent Congress, but it did not gain significant traction.
In 1943, Alice Paul further revised the amendment to align with the wording of the Fifteenth and Nineteenth Amendments. This text became Section 1 of the version passed by Congress in 1972, with a deadline for ratification set for March 1979. The ERA gained increasing support during the women's movement of the 1960s, and 35 state legislatures approved it for ratification. However, it fell short of the required 38 states for ratification by the deadline. The deadline was later extended to 1982, but the ERA still did not meet the requirement to become law.
Despite not being ratified, there are ongoing efforts to advocate for the ERA's ratification. In 2025, Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley introduced a joint resolution calling for establishing the ratification of the ERA, disregarding the previous time limit. Supporters of the ERA argue that it would ensure legal gender equality and remove legal distinctions between the sexes. Opponents, however, argue that it could remove protections for women and make them eligible for the military draft.
The Direct Election of Senators Amendment
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The first proposed amendment
> After the first enumeration required by the first article of the Constitution, there shall be one Representative for every thirty thousand, until the number shall amount to one hundred, after which the proportion shall be so regulated by Congress, that there shall be not less than one hundred Representatives, nor less than one Representative for every forty thousand persons, until the number of Representatives shall amount to two hundred; after which the proportion shall be so regulated by Congress, that there shall not be less than two hundred Representatives, nor more than one Representative for every fifty thousand persons.
The amendment was proposed by President George Washington, at the request of the First Congress, on October 2, 1789, along with 11 other amendments. By December 15, 1791, enough states had ratified amendments 3 through 12, which eventually became known as the Bill of Rights. The first two proposed amendments were not ratified by enough states, although the second proposed amendment eventually became the 27th Amendment in 1992.
Amendments: Changing the Constitution's Language
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Frequently asked questions
Six amendments have been proposed but never ratified.
The first proposed amendment that was never ratified outlined how many representatives would be in the U.S. House of Representatives.
The first ten amendments, known as the Bill of Rights, were ratified in 1791.
The District of Columbia Voting Rights Amendment was the last proposed amendment that was never ratified. It was passed by Congress in 1978 and expired unratified in 1985.
Some notable amendments that were proposed but never ratified include the Equal Rights Amendment, the Titles of Nobility Amendment, the Child Labor Amendment, and the Flag Desecration Amendment.
