List of proposed amendments to the United States Constitution

Hundreds of proposed amendments to the United States Constitution are introduced during each session of the United States Congress. From 1789 through January 3, 2019, approximately 11,770 measures have been proposed to amend the United States Constitution.[1] Collectively, members of the House and Senate typically propose around 200 amendments during each two-year term of Congress.[2] Most, however, never get out of the Congressional committees in which they were proposed. Only a fraction of those that do receive enough support to win Congressional approval to actually go through the constitutional ratification process. Some proposed amendments are introduced over and over again in different sessions of Congress. It is also common for a number of identical resolutions to be offered on issues that have widespread public and congressional support.

Since 1789, Congress has sent 33 constitutional amendments to the states for ratification. Of these, 27 have been ratified. The framers of the Constitution, recognizing the difference between regular legislation and constitutional matters, intended that it be difficult to change the Constitution; but not so difficult as to render it an inflexible instrument of government, as the amendment mechanism in the Articles of Confederation, which required a unanimous vote of thirteen states for ratification, had proven to be. Therefore, a less stringent process for amending the Constitution was established in Article V.

Amending process

Amending the United States Constitution is a two-step process. Proposals to amend it must be properly adopted and ratified before becoming operative. A proposed amendment may be adopted and sent to the states for ratification by either:

or
  • A national convention, called by Congress for this purpose, on the application of the legislatures of two thirds (presently 34) of the states.[3][4]

The latter procedure has never been used. To become part of the Constitution, an adopted amendment must be ratified by either:

  • The legislatures of three-fourths (presently 38) of the states, within the stipulated time period, if any;
or
  • State ratifying conventions in three-fourths (presently 38) of the states, within the stipulated time period, if any.[4]

The decision of which ratification method will be used for any given amendment is Congress' alone to make, as is the decision to set a ratification deadline.[3] Only for the 21st amendment was the latter procedure invoked and followed. Upon being properly ratified, an amendment becomes an operative addition to the Constitution.[4]

19th century

Constitutional amendment proposals considered in but not approved by Congress during the 19th century included:

  • Dueling Ban Amendment, proposed in 1838, after Representative William Graves killed another congressman, Jonathan Cilley, in a duel, would have prohibited any person involved in a duel from holding federal office.[5]
  • An amendment to eliminate the presidency so as to have two elected officials in its place, was proposed by Virginia Representative Albert Jenkins in 1860. Jenkins saw the amendment as a way for both the Northern and the Southern states to be represented equally in the government at a given time.[6]
  • Christian Amendment, first proposed in February 1863, would have added acknowledgment of the Christian God in the Preamble to the Constitution.[7] Similar amendments were proposed in 1874, 1896 and 1910 with none passing. The last attempt in 1954 did not come to a vote.
  • Blaine Amendment, proposed in 1875, would have banned public funds from going to religious purposes, in order to prevent Catholics from taking advantage of such funds.[8] Though it failed to pass, many states adopted such provisions.[9]
  • An amendment allowing property-owning unmarried women to vote was proposed by Representative William Mason. It was reportedly proposed because husbands could vote for the married women but the others "love their country, having no husband to love better than themselves", and the women were referred to as "spinsters and widows".[6]
  • Congressman Lucas Miller proposed renaming the United States of America to the United States of Earth in 1893, as well as abolishing the Army and Navy.[10]

20th century

Constitutional amendment proposals considered in but not approved by Congress during the 20th century included:

21st century

Constitutional amendment proposals considered in but not approved by Congress thus far in the 21st century have included:

See also

References

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  2. "C-SPAN's Capitol Questions". Archived from the original on May 9, 2008. Retrieved May 29, 2008.
  3. "Constitution Day: Proposed Amendments". Morrow, Georgia: Clayton State University. Retrieved February 22, 2019.
  4. "Constitutional Amendment Process". Washington, D.C.: U.S. National Archives and Records Administration. August 15, 2016. Retrieved February 22, 2019.
  5. Blackerby, Christine (Winter 2015). "Amending America: Exhibit Shows How Changes in the Constitution Affect the Way Our Democracy Works" (PDF). Quarterly of the National Archives and Records Administration. 47 (4): 10.
  6. "10 Weirdest Failed Constitutional Amendments". HowStuffWorks. August 26, 2016. Retrieved April 5, 2019.
  7. Goldstein, Jared (February 26, 2017). "How the Constitution Became Christian". Hastings Law Journal. 68 (259): 270. SSRN 2739069.
  8. Lash, Kurt T. (April 7, 2014). The Fourteenth Amendment and the Privileges and Immunities of American Citizenship. Cambridge University Press. p. 269. ISBN 9781107023260.
  9. Kleber, John (ed.). The Kentucky Encyclopedia. University Press of Kentucky. p. 241. ISBN 9780813128832.
  10. Novak, Matt. "Congress once considered renaming the US "The United States of Earth"". Gizmodo. Retrieved April 5, 2019.
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  12. Schaffner, Joan (2005). "The Federal Marriage Amendment: To Protect the Sanctity of Marriage or Destroy Constitutional Democracy". GW Law Faculty Publications. 54 (1487): 10.
  13. Wallenstein, Peter (March 24, 2015). Tell the Court I Love My Wife: Race, Marriage, and Law – An American History. St. Martin's Press. pp. 133–135.
  14. Iversen, Joan (1997). The Antipolygamy Controversy in U.S. Women's Movements: 1880-1925: A Debate on the American Home. NY: Routledge. pp. 243–4. ISBN 9780815320791.
  15. Ole R., Holsti (2004). Public Opinion and American Foreign Policy. University of Michigan. pp. 17–18. ISBN 978-0-472-03011-8.
  16. Robert C., Cottrell. Roger Nash Baldwin and the American Civil Liberties Union. p. 236.
  17. Chatfield, Charles (May 1969). "Pacifists and Their Publics: The Politics of a Peace Movement". Midwest Journal of Political Science. 13 (2): 298–312. doi:10.2307/2110180. JSTOR 2110180.
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  19. Critchlow, Donald T. (2005). Phyllis Schlafly and Grassroots Conservatism: A Woman's Crusade. Princeton University Press. pp. 85–86. ISBN 9780691070025. bricker amendment.
  20. Tananbaum, Duane (September 19, 1988). The Bricker Amendment Controversy: A Test of Eisenhower's Political Leadership. Cornell University Press. pp. 263 pages. ISBN 9780801420375.
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  23. Reagan, Ronald (January 18, 1989). "President Reagan Says He Will Fight to Repeal 22nd Amendment". NBC Nightly News (Interview). Interviewed by Tom Brokaw. New York: NBC. Retrieved June 14, 2015.
  24. "Clinton: I Would've Won Third Term". ABC News. December 7, 2000. Retrieved March 26, 2018.
  25. Einbinder, Nicole. "Trump suggested his supporters want him to serve more than 2 terms as president, which would violate the 22nd Amendment of the Constitution". Business Insider. Retrieved April 9, 2020.
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  33. Staff Writer (June 28, 2006). "Senate Rejects Flag Desecration Amendment". The Washington Post.
  34. For a more detailed account of this proposal read The Politics of Electoral College Reform by Lawrence D. Longley and Alan G. Braun (1972)
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  36. "House Approves Direct Election of The President". The New York Times. September 19, 1969. p. 1.
  37. "Senate Debating Direct Election". The New York Times. September 9, 1970. p. 10.
  38. Weaver, Warren (September 18, 1970). "Senate Refuses To Halt Debate On Direct Voting". The New York Times. p. 1.
  39. "Abortion Amendment Voted by Senate Panel". The New York Times. Associated Press. March 26, 1983.
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  41. Granberg, Donald (June 1985). "The United States Senate Votes to Uphold Roe versus Wade". Population Research and Policy Review. Springer. 4 (2): 115–131. doi:10.1007/BF00127547. JSTOR 40229744. S2CID 144062929.
  42. James V. Saturno, "A Balanced Budget Amendment Constitutional Amendment: Procedural Issues and Legislative History", Congressional Research Service Report for Congress No. 98-671, August 5, 1998.
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  52. Saving American Democracy Amendment
  53. Saving American Democracy Amendment. 8 Dec 2011. Sanders Senate web site
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