Amendment Process – Divided We Fail

How the Constitution is amended: a deliberately difficult process, designed to make changing the nation’s founding document a genuinely high bar.

Article V sets out two ways to propose an amendment and two ways to ratify one, and every route needs broad agreement across the country — not just a majority in Washington. More than 11,000 amendments have been proposed in Congress; twenty-seven have been ratified.

The Standard Path

Every one of the twenty-seven amendments has followed these four steps.

Proposal Begins

An amendment starts as a joint resolution in Congress, or through a convention requested by the states.

Two-Thirds Approval

The House and Senate must each approve the proposal by a two-thirds vote. The President has no veto over this process.

States Decide

The proposal goes to state legislatures or state conventions, depending on the method Congress selects.

Three-Fourths Ratify

Thirty-eight states must approve before the amendment becomes part of the Constitution.

Two Possible Paths

Every successful amendment has used the congressional route, but Article V also lets the states call a convention. The second path has never been used, so many practical details remain unsettled.

Path 1 — Used for all 27

Congress proposes

No presidential signature is needed, and Congress can set a deadline for ratification.

Two-thirds of each houseThe House and the Senate each pass a joint resolution proposing the amendment.

Congress picks the methodRatification by state legislatures (used 26 times) or by state conventions (used once, for the 21st Amendment).

Three-fourths of the statesWhen the 38th state ratifies, the amendment is part of the Constitution.

Path 2 — Never used

The states call a convention

Article V says Congress “shall call” a convention when two-thirds of the states apply, but not how one would run.

Two-thirds of the states applyApplications from 34 state legislatures ask Congress to call a convention.

A convention proposesWho the delegates are, how votes are counted, and whether the agenda can be limited are open questions.

Three-fourths of the statesAnything the convention proposes still needs 38 states to ratify.

Worth knowing

Deadlines matter. Since the 18th Amendment, Congress has usually set a time limit for ratification. The Equal Rights Amendment, sent to the states in 1972 with a seven-year deadline that Congress later extended to 1982, did not reach 38 states in time. The 27th Amendment had no deadline at all, which is how it could be ratified in 1992, 203 years after it was proposed.

Later Amendments

The amendments after the Bill of Rights changed the country in major ways: ending slavery, defining citizenship, expanding the vote, authorizing an income tax, limiting presidential terms, and clarifying succession.

1865–1870Reconstruction

The 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments abolished slavery, established birthright citizenship and equal protection, and barred racial discrimination in voting.

13th · 14th · 15th → 1920–1971Who Gets to Vote

The 19th, 24th, and 26th Amendments opened voting to women, ended poll taxes in federal elections, and lowered the voting age to 18.

19th · 24th · 26th → 1933–1967The Presidency

The 20th, 22nd, and 25th Amendments moved inauguration to January, limited presidents to two elected terms, and set out what happens when a president dies, resigns, or cannot serve.

20th · 22nd · 25th →

The Constitution is a guide which I never will abandon.

George Washington