List of amendments to the Constitution of the United States
This article is about the ratified and unratified amendments to the United States Constitution which have received the approval of the U.S. Congress. For proposals to amend the U.S. Constitution introduced in but not approved by Congress, see List of proposed amendments to the United States Constitution.
Thirty-three amendments to the Constitution of the United States have been proposed by the United States Congress and sent to the states for ratification since the Constitution was put into operation on March 4, 1789. Twenty-seven of those, having been ratified by the requisite number of states, are part of the Constitution. The first ten amendments were adopted and ratified simultaneously and are known collectively as the Bill of Rights. The 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments are collectively known as the Reconstruction Amendments. Six amendments adopted by Congress and sent to the states have not been ratified by the required number of states. Four of those amendments are still pending, one is closed and has failed by its own terms, and one is closed and has failed by the terms of the resolution proposing it. All 27 ratified and six unratified amendments are listed and detailed in the tables below.
Proposal and ratification process
Article Five of the United States Constitution details the two-step process for amending the nation's plan of government. Amendments must be properly proposed and ratified before becoming operative. This process was designed to strike a balance between the excesses of constant change and inflexibility.[1]
An amendment may be proposed and sent to the states for ratification by either:
A national convention, called by Congress for this purpose, on the application of the legislatures of two-thirds of the states (34 since 1959).[2][3] This option has never been used.
To become part of the Constitution, an amendment must be ratified by three-fourths of the states (38 since 1959) by either (as determined by Congress):
The legislatures of three-fourths of the states; or
State ratifying conventions in three-fourths of the states.[3] The only amendment to be ratified through this method thus far is the Twenty-first Amendment in 1933. That amendment is also the only one that explicitly repeals an earlier one, the Eighteenth Amendment (ratified in 1919), establishing the prohibition of alcohol.[4]
Congress has also enacted statutes governing the constitutional amendment process. When a constitutional amendment is sent to the states for ratification, the Archivist of the United States is charged with responsibility for administering the ratification process under the provisions of 1 U.S.C.§ 106b.[5] Then, upon being properly ratified, the archivist issues a certificate proclaiming that an amendment has become an operative part of the Constitution.[3]
Since the early 20th century, Congress has, on several occasions, stipulated that an amendment must be ratified by the required number of states within seven years from the date of its submission to the states in order to become part of the Constitution. Congress's authority to set a ratification deadline was affirmed in 1939 by the Supreme Court of the United States in Coleman v. Miller (307U.S.433).[6]
Approximately 11,848 proposals to amend the Constitution have been introduced in Congress since 1789 (as of January 3, 2019[update]).[7] Collectively, members of the House and Senate typically propose around 200 amendments during each two-year term of Congress.[8] Proposals have covered numerous topics, but none made in recent decades have become part of the Constitution. Historically, most died in the congressional committees to which they were assigned. Since 1999, only about 20 proposed amendments have received a vote by either the full House or Senate. The last time a proposal gained the necessary two-thirds support in both the House and the Senate for submission to the states was the District of Columbia Voting Rights Amendment in 1978. Only 16 states had ratified it when the seven-year time limit expired.[9]
States that the federal government possesses only those powers delegated, or enumerated, to it through the Constitution, and that all other powers are reserved to the states, or to the people.
Immunizes states from suits brought by out-of-state citizens and foreigners not living within the state borders; lays the foundation for state sovereign immunity.
Changes the dates on which the terms of the president and vice president, and of members of Congress, begin and end, to January 20 and January 3 respectively. States that if the president-elect dies before taking office, the vice president–elect is to be inaugurated as president.
Repeals the 18th Amendment and makes it a federal offense to transport or import intoxicating liquors into U.S. states and territories where prohibited by law.
Addresses succession to the presidency and establishes procedures both for filling a vacancy in the office of the vice president and responding to presidential disabilities.
Would strip citizenship from any United States citizen who accepts a title of nobility, or who accepts any present, pension, office or emolument from a foreign power without the consent of Congress.
Pending since May 1, 1810. Latest ratification took place on December 9, 1812.
Would make the states' "domestic institutions" (i.e. slavery) impervious to the constitutional amendment procedures established in Article V and immune to abolition or interference from Congress.
Pending since March 2, 1861. Latest ratification took place on June 2, 1863.
Would treat the District of Columbia as if it were a state regarding representation in Congress (including repealing the 23rd Amendment), representation in the Electoral College and participation in the process by which the Constitution is amended.
Proposed August 22, 1978. Ratification period ended August 22, 1985; amendment failed.
^Between 1972 and 1977, 35 states ratified the ERA. Three additional states ratified it between 2017 and 2020, purportedly bringing the number of ratifications to 38, or three-fourths of the states. In January 2020, after the Justice Department issued an opinion concluding that the deadline for the passage of the amendment expired at the time of the original 1979 deadline, the attorneys general of those three states filed suit in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C. challenging that opinion. They asked to compel the archivist of the United States to certify the ERA as the Twenty-eighth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.[27] They lost in the district court[28][29] and on appeal and chose not to ask the Supreme Court for review.[30][31]
Summary of ratification data for each unratified amendment
Y indicates that state ratified amendment
N indicates that state rejected amendment
Y(‡) indicates that state ratified amendment after first rejecting it
Y(×) indicates that state ratified amendment, but later rescinded that ratification
⋈ indicates that state did not complete action on amendment during stated ratification period.
⋈Y indicates that state ratified amendment after stated ratification period.
"00" An empty cell indicates that state has not completed action on pending amendment.
^England, Trent; Spalding, Matthew. "Essays on Article V: Amendments". The Heritage Guide to The Constitution. The Heritage Foundation. Retrieved October 29, 2018.
^
Garcia, Michael J.; Lewis, Catlain Devereaux; Nolan, Andrew; Toten, Meghan; Tyson, Ashley, eds. (2017). "Constitution of the United States of America: Analysis and Interpretation"(PDF). 112th Congress, 2nd Session. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office. pp. 25–45. Senate Document No. 112–9. Retrieved October 29, 2018.
^State of Idaho v. Freeman, 529 F. Supp. 1107 (D. Idaho 25 January 1982; vacated for mootness 4 October 1982) ("The Court further declares that Congress' attempted extension of the time for the ratification of the twenty-seventh amendment was null and void.").
^Virginia v. Ferriero, 525 F. Supp. 3d 36, 61 (D.D.C. 5 March 2021) ("[A] ratification deadline in a proposing resolution's introduction is just as effective as one in the text of a proposed amendment. Plaintiffs' ratifications came after both the original and extended deadlines that Congress attached to the ERA, so the Archivist is not bound to record them as valid.").
^Illinois v. Ferriero, 60 F.4th 704, 719 (D.C. Cir. 28 February 2023) ("In conclusion, the States have not clearly and indisputably shown that the Archivist had a duty to certify and publish the ERA or that Congress lacked the authority to place a time limit in the proposing clause of the ERA. Under the rigid standard required for mandamus actions, this Court must affirm the District Court...").
