Thirty-three amendments to the United States Constitution have been proposed by the

United States Congress The United States Congress is the legislature of the federal government of the United States. It is bicameral, composed of a lower body, the House of Representatives, and an upper body, the Senate. It meets in the U.S. Capitol in Washing ...

and sent to the states for

ratification Ratification is a principal's approval of an act of its agent that lacked the authority to bind the principal legally. Ratification defines the international act in which a state indicates its consent to be bound to a treaty if the parties inte ...

since the

Constitution A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed. When these princ ...

was put into operation on March 4, 1789. Twenty-seven of these, 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

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. 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 these 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. Article Five of the United States Constitution details the two-step process for amending the nation's frame 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. An amendment may be proposed and sent to the states for ratification by either: * The U.S. Congress, whenever a

two-thirds majority 2/3 may refer to: * A fraction with decimal value 0.6666... * A way to write the expression "2 ÷ 3" ("two divided by three") * 2nd Battalion, 3rd Marines of the United States Marine Corps * February 3 * March 2 Events Pre-1600 * 537 – ...

in both the Senate and the

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deem it necessary; or * A

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, called by Congress for this purpose, on the application of the

legislatures A legislature is an assembly with the authority to make laws for a political entity such as a country or city. They are often contrasted with the executive and judicial powers of government. Laws enacted by legislatures are usually known a ...

of two-thirds of the states (34 since 1959). The convention 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 State ratifying conventions are one of the two methods established by Article V of the United States Constitution for '' ratifying'' proposed constitutional amendments. The only amendment that has been ratified through this method thus far is th ...

in three-fourths of the states. The only amendment to be ratified through the state convention 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. 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 . Then, upon being properly ratified, the archivist issues a certificate proclaiming that an amendment has become an operative part of the Constitution. 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

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in ''

Coleman v. Miller ''Coleman v. Miller'', 307 U.S. 433 (1939), is a landmark decision of the United States Supreme Court which clarified that if the Congress of the United States—when proposing for ratification an amendment to the United States Constitution, ...

'' (). Approximately 11,770 proposals to amend the Constitution have been introduced in Congress since 1789 (as of January 3, 2019). Collectively, members of the House and Senate typically propose around 200 amendments during each two-year term of Congress. Proposals have covered numerous topics, but none made in recent decades have become part of the Constitution. Historically, most died in the

congressional committees A congressional committee is a legislative sub-organization in the United States Congress that handles a specific duty (rather than the general duties of Congress). Committee membership enables members to develop specialized knowledge of the ...

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 The District of Columbia Voting Rights Amendment was a proposed amendment to the United States Constitution that would have given the District of Columbia full representation in the United States Congress, full representation in the Electoral ...

in 1978. Only 16 states had ratified it when the seven-year time limit expired.

Ratified amendments

Synopsis of each ratified amendment

For the full text of amendments to the United States Constitution, ''see Additional amendments to the United States Constitution'' on

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Summary of ratification data for each ratified amendment

Unratified amendments

Synopsis of each unratified amendment

Summation of ratification data for each unratified amendment

References

External links

U.S. Constitution
FindLaw.com

USConstitution.net {{US Constitution * Amendments to the Constitution