The Twenty-Seventh Amendment is the most recent amendment to the Constitution. Its existence today can be traced to a college student who proposed the idea in a term paper and was given a C by his professor for the idea.
In 1982, a college student, Gregory Watson, discovered that an amendment to the Constitution had been ratified by six states by 1792 and could still be added to the Constitution because Congress had never stipulated a time limit for states to consider it for ratification. Watson started a self-financed, grassroots campaign to get the amendment ratified. He wrote letters to state officials, urging them to pass the amendment.
Maine was the first state to respond to Watson’s campaign, ratifying the amendment in 1983. In 1992, Michigan became the 38th state to ratify the amendment, casting the final vote needed to make the proposed amendment an actual part of the United States Constitution.
The amendment that Watson lobbied for states the following: “No law, varying the compensation for the services of the Senators and Representatives, shall take effect, until an election of Representatives shall have intervened.”
In short, the Twenty-Seventh Amendment states that a sitting Congress cannot give itself a raise or cut its pay during its current session. Any pay raise or cut would take effect for the next Congress.
Respond to all parts of the question. In your response, use substantive examples where appropriate.
A. Describe the role of Congress in passing a constitutional amendment.
B. Explain how the states affect the process described in Part A.
C. The Equal Rights Amendment was passed by Congress but never ratified by the states. Many other proposed amendments have shared the same fate. Explain how the high bar in passing amendments, as illustrated in this example, reflects the Framers’ ideas about government.