Isabella Carter
The United States Constitution has been amended 27 times, with the most recent amendment taking effect on May 5, 1992. Known as the Twenty-seventh Amendment, or the Congressional Compensation Act of 1789, it addresses Congressional compensation and the salaries of members of Congress. Proposed by Representative James Madison of Virginia, the amendment states that any law increasing or decreasing the salary of members of Congress can only come into effect after the next election of the House of Representatives. The Twenty-seventh Amendment has an unusual history, as it was one of the first amendments proposed in 1789 but was not ratified by enough states until over two hundred years later.
| Characteristics | Values |
|---|---|
| Number of Amendments Proposed | 11,000+ |
| Number of Amendments Ratified | 27 |
| Date of Last Amendment | May 5, 1992 |
| Name of Last Amendment | Twenty-seventh Amendment (Amendment XXVII) |
| Other Names | Congressional Compensation Act of 1789 |
| Purpose | To reduce corruption in the legislative branch |
| Mechanism for Ratification | Ratified by 3/4ths of states |
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What You'll Learn
The Twenty-seventh Amendment
Initially, the amendment was ratified by only six states, with Kentucky ratifying during its initial month of statehood. The First Congress, which passed the amendment in 1789, did not set a time limit for its ratification by the states. In 1983, Watson discovered that Ohio had approved the amendment in 1873, and in 1984 he learned that Wyoming had done the same in 1978, both as a means of protesting congressional pay raises. In 1992, it was believed that Michigan's ratification on May 7 had brought the total to 38 states, but the discovery of Kentucky's early ratification meant that Alabama's ratification on May 5, 1992, finalized the amendment's addition to the Constitution.
On May 18, 1992, the Archivist of the United States, Don W. Wilson, certified that the amendment had been duly ratified and published it in the Federal Register. This certification was controversial, as some scholars objected to the legality of the ratification process, arguing that Article V of the Constitution requires simultaneous approval by Congress and three-quarters of the states. Despite this, on May 20, 1992, Congress passed a concurrent resolution agreeing that the amendment was validly ratified, and it became part of the Constitution. As of today, 46 states have ratified the Twenty-seventh Amendment, while four have not: Massachusetts, Mississippi, New York, and Pennsylvania.
Amendments: States' Ratification Power and the Constitution
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The Congressional Compensation Act of 1789
The Twenty-seventh Amendment, commonly known as the Congressional Compensation Act of 1789, was one of the first 12 amendments proposed by the first Congress in 1789. Ten of these would be ratified and become the Bill of Rights. The Congressional Compensation Act, however, was not ratified by enough states to come into force with the others.
The amendment states that any law that increases or decreases the salary of members of Congress may only take effect after the next election of the House of Representatives. The idea behind this amendment is to reduce corruption in the legislative branch by allowing the public to remove members of Congress from office before their salaries increase.
The amendment was initially ratified by six states (Delaware, Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, Vermont, and Virginia) and Kentucky, but it was not ratified by another state for eighty years. In 1873, Ohio ratified the amendment in protest of an unpopular Congressional pay raise. Wyoming also ratified the amendment in 1978, but the proposed amendment was largely forgotten until 1982.
In 1982, Gregory Watson, a 19-year-old undergraduate student at the University of Texas at Austin, wrote a paper for a government class in which he claimed that the amendment was still pending and valid. Watson's paper became the foundation for a movement to curtail political corruption by ratifying the amendment, and efforts to ratify the amendment picked up steam. The amendment was finally ratified on May 7, 1992, and it is the most recently adopted amendment to the Constitution.
How Judicial Interpretation Impacts the Constitution
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The Bill of Rights
The US Constitution has been amended several thousand times, with more than 11,000 amendments proposed and only 27 ratified. The Bill of Rights comprises the first ten amendments and was ratified in 1791.
The first Congress of the United States proposed 12 amendments to the Constitution on September 25, 1789. Ten of the proposed 12 amendments were ratified by three-fourths of the state legislatures on December 15, 1791. The ratified Articles (Articles 3–12) constitute the first 10 amendments of the Constitution, or the US Bill of Rights.
The amendments of the Bill of Rights add to the Constitution specific guarantees of personal freedoms, such as freedom of speech, the right to publish, practice religion, possess firearms, and assemble. They also include explicit declarations that all powers not specifically granted to the federal government by the Constitution are reserved to the states or the people.
The concepts codified in these amendments are built upon those in earlier documents, especially the Virginia Declaration of Rights (1776), the Northwest Ordinance (1787), the English Bill of Rights (1689), and the Magna Carta (1215).
The Evolution of Constitutional Amendments: A Historical Perspective
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Ratification by three-fourths of the states
The Constitution of the United States has been amended 27 times, with more than 11,000 proposed amendments. The last time the Constitution was amended was on May 18, 1992, when the Archivist performed the duties of the certifying official for the first time to recognise the ratification of the 27th Amendment.
The authority to amend the Constitution of the United States is derived from Article V of the Constitution. After an amendment is proposed by Congress, the Archivist of the United States, who heads the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), is responsible for administering the ratification process. The Archivist has delegated many of the duties associated with this function to the Director of the Federal Register.
For an amendment to become part of the Constitution, it must be ratified by three-fourths of the states (38 of 50 states). This can be done through one of two methods, as determined by Congress:
- Ratification by the legislatures of three-fourths of the states: This method requires three-fourths of the state legislatures to ratify the amendment. This is the more common method of ratification.
- Ratification by state ratifying conventions in three-fourths of the states: This method requires three-fourths of state ratifying conventions to approve the proposed amendment. Congress has specified this second mode of amendment only once, for the Twenty-first Amendment, which repealed the Eighteenth Amendment establishing Prohibition.
Once the OFR verifies that it has received the required number of authenticated ratification documents, it drafts a formal proclamation for the Archivist to certify that the amendment is valid and has become part of the Constitution. This certification is published in the Federal Register and U.S. Statutes at Large and serves as official notice to Congress and the nation that the amendment process has been completed.
Amending the Constitution: Founding Fathers' Vision
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The Eighteenth Article repeal
The Eighteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, which imposed prohibition, was repealed by the Twenty-first Amendment on May 5, 1992. This was the most recent amendment until the Twenty-seventh Amendment, which was proposed and submitted to the states for ratification on September 25, 1789, along with 11 other proposed amendments. However, it was not ratified by enough states and was largely forgotten until 1982, when a 19-year-old student named Gregory Watson wrote a paper claiming that it had actually been ratified by enough states and launched a nationwide campaign to complete its ratification.
The Eighteenth Amendment, also known as the National Prohibition Amendment, was adopted on January 16, 1919, and prohibited the manufacture, sale, and transportation of intoxicating liquors for beverage purposes. It also granted both Congress and the states concurrent power to enforce this article through appropriate legislation. The amendment was ratified by three-quarters of the states within one year, as required by Article Five of the United States Constitution, which outlines the two-step process for amending the nation's plan of government.
The Twenty-first Amendment, also known as the Repeal of Prohibition, was proposed by Congress on February 20, 1933, and ratified by the requisite number of states on December 5, 1933, officially repealing the Eighteenth Amendment. This amendment also addressed several related issues, including discrimination between domestic and imported products, the regulation of transportation and shipments, and the taxation and regulation of foreign imports and exports.
The process of repealing the Eighteenth Amendment began with the proposal of the Twenty-first Amendment by Congress, which was then sent to the states for ratification. The Archivist of the United States is responsible for administering the ratification process and issuing a certificate proclaiming that an amendment has become an operative part of the Constitution. Once ratified, the amendment superseded the Eighteenth Amendment, rendering it null and void.
The Amendments: Constitutional Convention's Proposed Changes
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Frequently asked questions
The last time the US Constitution was amended was on May 5, 1992, when the Twenty-seventh Amendment was adopted.
The Twenty-seventh Amendment states that any law that increases or decreases the salary of members of Congress may take effect only after the next election of the House of Representatives.
The Twenty-seventh Amendment was initially proposed in 1789, along with 11 other amendments, by Representative James Madison of Virginia.
The US Constitution was first amended on December 15, 1791, when the first 10 amendments, known as the Bill of Rights, were ratified.
More than 11,000 amendments to the US Constitution have been proposed, but only 27 have been ratified.
