Malcolm Rivera
The United States Constitution has 27 amendments, with the first 10 being known as the Bill of Rights. However, over 11,000 amendments have been proposed, with 33 being submitted to the states. The unratified amendments deal with various topics, including representation in Congress, titles of nobility, slavery, child labor, equal rights, and DC voting rights. The first proposed amendment, which outlined the number of representatives in the House of Representatives, came within one state of being ratified but ultimately failed. The second proposed amendment, the Equal Rights Amendment, also failed to be ratified by the required number of states. Other amendments that were not ratified include those related to limiting the number of terms a president can serve and child labor laws.
| Characteristics | Values |
|---|---|
| Number of Amendments proposed to the US Constitution | Over 11,000 |
| Number of Amendments ratified | 27 |
| Number of Amendments proposed but not ratified | 33 |
| Number of States required to ratify an Amendment | 3/4ths of the States |
| Number of States that ratified Amendments 3-12 | 11 |
| Number of States that ratified Amendments 1-10 | 10 |
| First proposed Amendment | Outline of the number of representatives in the US House of Representatives |
| Second proposed Amendment | Equal Rights Amendment |
| Third proposed Amendment | N/A |
| First 10 Amendments | Known as the Bill of Rights |
| Proposed Amendments that were not ratified | Titles of nobility, slavery, child labor, equal rights, and DC voting rights |
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What You'll Learn
The original first 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 proposed amendment came within just one state of being ratified. However, by December 15, 1791, when Virginia ratified amendments 2 through 12, it was still short, and action on it ceased. Since Congress did not put a ratification deadline on the proposed amendment, it could theoretically still be ratified. However, this seems unlikely as it would now require an additional 27 states to be adopted.
The first 12 amendments, proposed in 1789, were open-ended and did not have set time limits for ratification. The Twelfth Amendment, which dealt with representation in Congress, was the only one of the original 12 amendments not to be adopted. The Twenty-Seventh Amendment, ratified in 1992, requires that no congressional pay raise goes into effect until after the next election, allowing voters to register their approval or disapproval.
Other proposed amendments that were not ratified by the states include those relating to titles of nobility, slavery, child labour, equal rights, and DC voting rights.
Constitutional Amendments: States' Rights and the US Constitution
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The original second amendment
The Second Amendment to the United States Constitution, protecting the right to keep and bear arms, was ratified on December 15, 1791. However, there are several versions of the text, with differences in capitalization and punctuation. The final, handwritten original of the Bill of Rights, as passed by Congress, is preserved in the National Archives. This version, ratified by Delaware, reads:
> "A well-regulated Militia being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms shall not be infringed."
The Second Amendment has been a source of debate, particularly regarding the importance of what the courts refer to as the prefatory clause. The amendment has also been the subject of Supreme Court rulings, such as District of Columbia v. Heller in 2008, which asserted that it protected the right of all individual citizens to keep and bear arms for self-defence, rather than solely for a state-run militia.
The road to the ratification of the Second Amendment was not without its challenges. It formed the largest divide between Federalists and Anti-Federalists, with the latter concerned about the shift of military authority from states to the federal government. Anti-Federalists feared that the new federal government would choose to disarm state militias, while Federalists countered that listing only certain rights might jeopardize unlisted ones. The Federalists eventually promised to support amending the Constitution with a Bill of Rights, which included the Second Amendment, persuading enough Anti-Federalists to vote for the Constitution.
It is worth noting that the Second Amendment was originally applied only to the federal government. The idea that the Fourteenth Amendment extended those rights to individuals against state governments was rejected by the Supreme Court in 1876's United States v. Cruikshank. Over time, the Second Amendment's purpose shifted from being a safeguard against foreign invasion and federal overreach to focusing on general safety and the protection of life, liberty, and property.
The First Amendment: Church and State Separation
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Titles of nobility
The Titles of Nobility Amendment is one of the few proposed amendments to the US Constitution that was passed by Congress but not ratified by a sufficient number of states. 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.
The purpose of the 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 bestowing those titles would use them as markers to call in favours to either pass or impede the passing of unfavourable laws. The amendment was also a response to the increasing foreign pressure and suspicion of citizens' loyalties during the first decade of the nineteenth century.
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 its consideration. However, on February 27, 1818, President James Monroe communicated to Congress that the required number of ratifications had not been reached. Despite this, the amendment was mistakenly included as the "Thirteenth Amendment" in some early 19th-century printings of the Constitution, leading to the misconception that it had been ratified.
In recent years, some right-wing radicals have seized upon this amendment, claiming that it was ratified and suppressed in a conspiracy and that it would bar lawyers from citizenship due to their use of the term "esquire". However, this claim has been addressed in several articles, which have dismissed it as false and the product of xenophobia and petty politics.
Amendments Repealed: A Look at Constitutional Changes
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Child labour
The Child Labor Amendment (CLA) is a proposed amendment to the United States Constitution that would authorise Congress to regulate the labour of persons under eighteen years of age. The amendment was proposed on June 2, 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 Child Labor Amendment sought to grant Congress the power to "limit, regulate, and prohibit the labour of persons under eighteen years of age". This was in response to the widespread problem of child labour, particularly in the South, where poor white and Black children worked in Southern textile mills and factories. The movement to abolish child labour gained support from teachers' federations, women's clubs, religious organisations, labour unions, and African American reformers.
By 1937, 28 states had ratified the amendment, falling short of the required three-fourths threshold of 38 states. The amendment has not been ratified since, and interest in it 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. However, this legislation did not abolish child labour, and seventy per cent of child workers were unprotected by it due to an exemption for agricultural work.
Despite the existence of federal legislation, there is still a need for a constitutional amendment to protect children in all parts of the country. State-level rollbacks to child labour protections and the rise in the employment of migrant children across the United States show that the issue of child labour remains relevant today. The Child Labor Amendment could be reintroduced, and states that rejected it in the early 20th century may vote differently today.
The Landmark Case: Constitutional Amendment Focus
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Equal rights
The Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) is a proposed amendment to the United States Constitution designed to guarantee equal legal rights for all American citizens regardless of gender. The ERA was first proposed in 1923 and has been reintroduced in every session of the United States Congress since 1982. Despite significant support, the ERA has never been ratified and is not part of the Constitution.
The text of the ERA is relatively short and straightforward. It reads: "Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of sex." Essentially, this means that the government cannot create or enforce laws that treat people differently based on their gender. This would ensure that men and women have equal protection under the law and would prohibit gender-based discrimination in areas such as employment, education, and housing.
The history of the ERA is a long and complex one. The amendment was first introduced by suffragist Alice Paul, who believed that the Constitution needed to explicitly guarantee equal rights for women. Despite initial support, the ERA faced strong opposition from conservative groups and was not passed by Congress until 1972. Even then, it was only approved by a simple majority in both houses, falling short of the two-thirds majority required for most Constitutional amendments.
The ERA then moved on to the state ratification process, where it needed to be ratified by three-quarters of the states (38 out of 50) to become part of the Constitution. Initially, the amendment gained widespread support, and by 1977, it had been ratified by 35 states. However, this momentum slowed, and the ERA faced increasing opposition from conservative groups and individuals who argued that it would lead to same-sex marriage, abortion rights, and women being drafted into the military. Despite efforts to extend the deadline for ratification, the original timeframe expired in 1982 without the required number of states ratifying the amendment.
Despite never becoming part of the Constitution, the ERA has had a significant impact on American society and culture. It has helped raise awareness about gender equality and inspired similar amendments at the state level. Many states have passed their own versions of the ERA, guaranteeing equal rights under state law. Additionally, the ERA continues to be a topic of political debate and activism, with supporters arguing that it is still necessary to enshrine equal rights for women in the Constitution.
In recent years, there have been renewed efforts to ratify the ERA. In 2017, the ERA was reintroduced in Congress, and in 2020, the House of Representatives passed a resolution removing the ratification deadline. As of 2023, 38 states have ratified the amendment according to the original language of the resolution, while several others have ratified it with changes or have since rescinded their ratifications. The legal status of these ratifications and the potential impact on the validity of the ERA is still uncertain and remains a subject of ongoing debate and legal interpretation.
Amendments and Effects: Understanding the Constitution
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Frequently asked questions
Over 11,000 amendments to the US Constitution have been proposed, but only 27 have been ratified.
The first proposed amendment that was never ratified dealt with representation in Congress. It outlined that there should be one representative for every 30,000 people, with the proportion adjusted by Congress as the population increased.
Other topics covered by unratified amendments include titles of nobility, slavery, child labor, equal rights, and DC voting rights.
An amendment must be ratified by three-fourths of the states to become law.
Yes, the original second amendment, which dealt with the right to keep and bear arms, was ratified by eight of the fourteen states. It was one state short of passage, with New Hampshire, New Jersey, and New York voting against it. Additionally, the original Bill of Rights lacked official adoption or rejection by three states (Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Georgia) until 1939, when they ratified it on the 150th anniversary.
