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Amending the constitution

Between 1789 and 1993

9,746 amendments were offered to Congress

Congress approved 29

States ratified 27

  Four methods of amendment are mentioned in Article V

Passage                                                                                    Ratification

(1)Passage by the House                                             (a)Majority votes of legislatures

and Senate by 2/3s                                                      in ¾ of state legislatures

(2)Passage in a national convention                                (b)Ratification by conventions

called by 2/3s of the states             called for the purpose by 3/4 s of the states

All but the 21^st amendment was passed using the 1a method (House+Senate, majority votes in state legislatures)

The 21^st was passed using the 1b method

We have never used the the second means of passage because of fears of a “runaway” convention

Most amendments never make it out of Congress because it takes only 34 Senators or 136 members of the House to kill it

Most recent in 1992– the 27^th amendment – pay raises won’t take effect until after an election – was originally passed by Congress in 1789

Most controversial – Equal Rights Amendment

n      passed by Congress in 1972 – passed by 28 states that year

n      by 1974 five more states has ratified

o       but three states that ratified in 1973 voted to rescind their ratification

Congress granted an extension (first time since they began to put time restrictions of ratifications in 1917) but remaining holdout states refused to budge