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| Constitution of the United States |
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| Amendments to the Constitution |
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Unratified Amendments: |
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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:
- The U.S. Congress, whenever a two-thirds majority in both the Senate and the House of Representatives deem it necessary; or
- 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 (307 U.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]
Ratified amendments
Synopsis of each ratified amendment
| No. | Subject | Ratification[10][11] | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Proposed | Completed | Time span | ||
| 1st[12] | Protects freedom of religion, freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom of assembly and the right to petition the government. | September 25, 1789 | December 15, 1791 | 2 years, 81 days |
| 2nd[13] | Protects the right to keep and bear arms. | September 25, 1789 | December 15, 1791 | 2 years, 81 days |
| 3rd[14] | Restricts the quartering of soldiers in private homes. | September 25, 1789 | December 15, 1791 | 2 years, 81 days |
| 4th[15] | Prohibits unreasonable searches and seizures and sets out requirements for search warrants based on probable cause. | September 25, 1789 | December 15, 1791 | 2 years, 81 days |
| 5th[16] | Sets out rules for indictment by grand jury and eminent domain, protects the right to due process, and prohibits self-incrimination and double jeopardy. | September 25, 1789 | December 15, 1791 | 2 years, 81 days |
| 6th[17] | Protects the right to a speedy public trial by jury, to notification of criminal accusations, to confront the accuser, to obtain witnesses and to retain counsel. | September 25, 1789 | December 15, 1791 | 2 years, 81 days |
| 7th[18] | Provides for the right to a jury trial in civil lawsuits. | September 25, 1789 | December 15, 1791 | 2 years, 81 days |
| 8th[19] | Prohibits excessive fines and excessive bail, as well as cruel and unusual punishment. | September 25, 1789 | December 15, 1791 | 2 years, 81 days |
| 9th[20] | States that rights not enumerated in the Constitution are retained by the people. | September 25, 1789 | December 15, 1791 | 2 years, 81 days |
| 10th[21] | 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. | September 25, 1789 | December 15, 1791 | 2 years, 81 days |
| 11th | Makes states immune from suits from out-of-state citizens and foreigners not living within the state borders; lays the foundation for state sovereign immunity. | March 4, 1794 | February 7, 1795 | 340 days |
| 12th | Revises presidential election procedures by having the president and vice president elected together as opposed to the vice president being the runner up in the presidential election. | December 9, 1803 | June 15, 1804 | 189 days |
| 13th | Abolishes slavery and involuntary servitude, except as punishment for a crime. | January 31, 1865 | December 6, 1865 | 309 days |
| 14th | Defines citizenship, contains the Privileges or Immunities Clause, the Due Process Clause, and the Equal Protection Clause, and deals with post–Civil War issues. | June 13, 1866 | July 9, 1868 | 2 years, 26 days |
| 15th | Prohibits the denial of the right to vote based on race, color or previous condition of servitude. | February 26, 1869 | February 3, 1870 | 342 days |
| 16th | Permits Congress to levy an income tax without apportioning it among the various states or basing it on the United States Census. | July 12, 1909 | February 3, 1913 | 3 years, 206 days |
| 17th | Establishes the direct election of United States senators by popular vote. | May 13, 1912 | April 8, 1913 | 330 days |
| 18th | Prohibited the manufacturing or sale of alcohol within the United States. (Repealed December 5, 1933, via the 21st Amendment) |
December 18, 1917 | January 16, 1919 | 1 year, 29 days |
| 19th | Prohibits the denial of the right to vote based on sex. | June 4, 1919 | August 18, 1920 | 1 year, 75 days |
| 20th | 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. | March 2, 1932 | January 23, 1933 | 327 days |
| 21st[22] | Repeals the 18th Amendment and makes it a federal offense to transport or import intoxicating liquors into U.S. states and territories where such is prohibited by law. | February 20, 1933 | December 5, 1933 | 288 days |
| 22nd[23] | Limits the number of times a person can be elected president. | March 21, 1947 | February 27, 1951 | 3 years, 343 days |
| 23rd[24] | Grants the District of Columbia electors in the Electoral College. | June 16, 1960 | March 29, 1961 | 286 days |
| 24th | Prohibits the revocation of voting rights due to the non-payment of a poll tax or any other tax. | September 14, 1962 | January 23, 1964 | 1 year, 131 days |
| 25th | 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. | July 6, 1965 | February 10, 1967 | 1 year, 219 days |
| 26th | Prohibits the denial of the right of US citizens 18 years of age or older, to vote on account of age. | March 23, 1971 | July 1, 1971 | 100 days |
| 27th | Delays laws affecting Congressional salary from taking effect until after the next election of representatives. | September 25, 1789 | May 7, 1992 | 202 years, 223 days |
Summary of ratification data for each ratified amendment
| LEGEND | 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, later rescinded that ratification, but subsequently re-ratified it | |||||||||||||||||
| — | indicates that state did not complete action on amendment | |||||||||||||||||
| … | indicates that amendment was ratified before state joined the Union | |||||||||||||||||
| State (in order of statehood) |
Amendment | |||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1–10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | |
| Delaware | Y | Y | N | Y(‡) | Y(‡) | Y(‡) | Y | Y(‡) | Y | Y(‡) | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y |
| Pennsylvania | Y | — | Y | Y | Y | Y | — | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | — |
| New Jersey | Y | — | Y | Y(‡) | Y(×) | Y(‡) | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y |
| Georgia | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y(‡) | Y | Y | — | Y | Y(‡) | Y | — | Y | — | — | — | Y | Y |
| Connecticut | Y | Y | N | Y | Y | Y | N | Y | N | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y |
| Massachusetts | Y | Y | Y(‡) | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | N | Y | Y | Y | Y | — |
| Maryland | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y(‡) | Y(‡) | Y | Y | Y | Y(‡) | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y |
| South Carolina | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y(‡) | Y | Y | — | Y | Y(‡) | Y | N | Y | — | — | Y | Y | Y |
| New Hampshire | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y(‡) | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y |
| Virginia | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y(‡) | Y | N | — | Y | Y(‡) | Y | Y | Y | — | Y | Y | Y | Y |
| New York | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y(×) | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | — |
| North Carolina | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y(‡) | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Zdroj:https://en.wikipedia.org?pojem=List_of_amendments_to_the_Constitution_of_the_United_States||||||||