Eleanor Finch
The process of amending a constitution varies across different countries. In the United States, an amendment must be ratified by three-fourths of the states (38 since 1959) to become part of the Constitution. The United States Constitution has been amended 27 times, with the first ten amendments, known as the Bill of Rights, being passed and ratified simultaneously in 1789. In the United Kingdom, there is no written constitution, and parliamentary sovereignty allows the legislature to make changes to constitutional matters by a simple majority. In Turkey, the Grand National Assembly must propose amendments to the Constitution, which are then debated twice in the Plenary and require a three-fifths majority for adoption.
| Characteristics | Values |
|---|---|
| Number of Amendments proposed by the United States Congress | 33 |
| Number of Amendments ratified | 27 |
| Number of Amendments pending | 4 |
| Number of Amendments failed | 2 |
| First 10 Amendments | Ratified December 15, 1791, and known as the Bill of Rights |
| 13th, 14th and 15th Amendments | Reconstruction Amendments |
| 18th Amendment | Established the prohibition of alcohol |
| 21st Amendment | Only Amendment that explicitly repeals an earlier one (18th Amendment) |
| 23rd Amendment | Gave residents of D.C. a vote in presidential elections |
| 24th Amendment | Removed obstacles to voting by abolishing fees at the voting booth |
| 27th Amendment | Requires that any changes in pay for members of Congress cannot be implemented until after an election |
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What You'll Learn
The 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, assemble, and other natural and legal rights. They also include explicit limitations on the government's power, declaring 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, the Northwest Ordinance, the English Bill of Rights, and the Magna Carta.
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The Reconstruction Amendments
The 13th Amendment, which was proposed in 1864 and ratified in 1865, abolished slavery and involuntary servitude, except as punishment for a crime. This amendment represented a significant milestone in the struggle for equal rights for Black Americans, as it irrevocably abolished slavery throughout the United States.
The 14th Amendment, proposed in 1866 and ratified in 1868, addresses citizenship rights and equal protection under the law for all persons. It defines all people born in the United States as citizens and requires due process of law. This amendment transformed the Constitution from a document primarily focused on federal-state relations and property rights to one that guarantees substantive freedom and protection against government misconduct for vulnerable minorities.
The 15th Amendment, which became part of the Constitution in 1870, prohibits federal and state governments from denying a citizen the right to vote based on race, colour, or previous condition of servitude. This amendment was proposed in 1869, after the narrow election of Ulysses S. Grant to the presidency in 1868 convinced Republicans of the importance of protecting the franchise of Black men.
While the Reconstruction Amendments were a significant step towards establishing equality for Black Americans, their promise was eroded by state laws and federal court decisions in the late 19th century. It was not until the mid-20th century, with Supreme Court decisions like Brown v. Board of Education in 1954 and civil rights legislation such as the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965, that the full benefits of these amendments were realised.
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Criminal prosecutions
The United States Constitution has 27 amendments, the first 10 of which are collectively known as the Bill of Rights. The Bill of Rights was ratified on December 15, 1791, and includes the Sixth Amendment, which outlines the rights of the accused in criminal prosecutions.
The Sixth Amendment guarantees the accused a speedy and public trial by an impartial jury in the state and district where the crime was committed. The defendant has the right to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation, to confront witnesses against them, to obtain witnesses in their favour, and to have legal counsel for their defence. The right to counsel is considered one of the most important tenets of the Sixth Amendment, ensuring that defendants have access to legal representation regardless of their ability to pay.
The Sixth Amendment also prohibits excessive bail, excessive fines, and cruel and unusual punishments. These protections apply to all citizens accused of crimes, ensuring fair and just treatment in the criminal justice system.
In addition to the Sixth Amendment, other amendments that impact criminal prosecutions include the Fourth, Fifth, Eighth, and Fourteenth Amendments. The Fourth Amendment protects citizens from unreasonable searches and seizures without a warrant, safeguarding their privacy and possessions. The Fifth Amendment, or the right against self-incrimination, ensures due process by requiring notice, the right to be heard, and prohibiting double jeopardy. These amendments, along with the Sixth Amendment, work together to protect the rights of individuals accused of crimes and ensure a fair and impartial legal process.
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Voting rights
The original Constitution did not specifically protect the right to vote, leaving the issue largely to the states. For much of American history, this right has been granted to some but denied to others. However, through a series of amendments to the Constitution, the right to vote has expanded over time.
The first ten amendments to the Constitution, ratified in 1791, are collectively known as the Bill of Rights. The 15th Amendment, part of the Reconstruction Amendments, gave African American men the right to vote in 1870. However, many were unable to exercise this right due to barriers such as literacy tests imposed by certain states. The 19th Amendment, ratified in 1920, extended voting rights to women. The 24th Amendment, ratified in 1964, eliminated poll taxes, which had been used to disenfranchise African Americans. The Voting Rights Act of 1965 prohibited voter discrimination based on race, colour, or membership in a language minority group. It also required certain places to provide election materials in languages other than English and placed limits on states with a history of voter discrimination. The 26th Amendment, ratified in 1971, lowered the voting age for all elections to 18.
In addition to these landmark amendments, federal laws such as the Civil Rights Acts and the Voting Accessibility for the Elderly and Handicapped Act of 1984 have further protected and expanded voting rights. The District of Columbia Voting Rights Amendment, proposed in 1978, was the last proposal to gain the necessary two-thirds support in both the House and the Senate for submission to the states, although it was not ratified.
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Congressional compensation
The United States Constitution has had 27 amendments, the first 10 of which were ratified simultaneously in 1791 and are collectively known as the Bill of Rights. Since then, 33 amendments have been proposed by the United States Congress and sent to the states for ratification. Of these, 27 have been ratified by the requisite number of states (38, or three-fourths, since 1959) and are now part of the Constitution.
One such amendment is the 27th Amendment, which concerns Congressional compensation. This amendment states that:
> No law, varying the compensation for the services of the Senators and Representatives, shall take effect, until an election of Representatives shall have intervened.
In other words, the 27th Amendment prevents laws that modify the compensation of Members of Congress from taking effect until after an intervening congressional election. This amendment was designed to prevent corruption in the Legislative Branch, ensuring that none of the Congress members would be paid more in their salaries before being voted out of office.
The 27th Amendment's history spans over two centuries, from the Colonial Era to the 1990s. The governments of Great Britain's American colonies, and later the state governments, followed the ancient British practice of compensating legislators. Consistent with this practice, the Framers of the Constitution determined that Members of Congress would receive compensation for their services, with the amount set by congressional legislation. However, at the 1787 Federal Convention, the Framers debated who should determine the compensation—the Constitution, the Members themselves, or the state legislatures.
The original Constitution, which took effect in 1789, did not prevent federal laws that increased or decreased Members' compensation from becoming operative before the next congressional election. Some delegates to the state conventions that met to consider the Constitution's ratification viewed this as a flaw in the Constitution's design, concerned that Members of Congress would abuse their power to set their pay. Early in the First Congress, James Madison, then a Virginia congressman, introduced a series of resolutions proposing to amend the Constitution, many of which drew from the recommendations of the state ratifying conventions.
The 27th Amendment was ratified on May 7, 1992, over two hundred years after it was first proposed. This unique timespan between its creation and ratification, as well as the lobbying campaign that brought it back into the public consciousness, contributed to its significance.
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Frequently asked questions
There have been 27 amendments to the U.S. Constitution.
For an amendment to become part of the Constitution, it must be ratified by three-fourths of the states (38 states since 1959).
An amendment can remain valid indefinitely unless it is repealed by another amendment. For example, the Twenty-first Amendment repealed the Eighteenth Amendment.
The first 10 amendments, collectively known as the Bill of Rights, were ratified in 1791. The 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments are known as the Reconstruction Amendments. Other examples include the Seventeenth Amendment, which changed how U.S. Senators are elected, and the Twenty-Third Amendment, which gave residents of Washington, D.C., the right to vote in presidential elections.
Amendments to the Constitution are typically proposed by members of the House and Senate, with approximately 200 amendments proposed during each two-year term of Congress.
