The U.S. Constitution has 27 amendments. The first ten were ratified together in 1791 as the Bill of Rights, and the most recent, the Twenty-seventh, was ratified in 1992 after sitting unratified for more than 200 years.1U.S. Senate. Constitution of the United States Congress has seen more than 11,000 amendment proposals since 1789; only those 27 have made it all the way through.2National Archives. Amending America
The Bill of Rights: Amendments 1 Through 10
The first ten amendments were ratified on December 15, 1791, as a package meant to secure enough state support for the Constitution itself. Several states had refused to sign on without explicit protections for individual liberties, so the new Congress proposed twelve amendments and the states approved ten.3National Archives. The Bill of Rights: A Transcription
- First — freedom of speech, religion, press, assembly, and petition.
- Second — the right to keep and bear arms.
- Third — no quartering of soldiers in private homes during peacetime.
- Fourth — no unreasonable searches or seizures; warrants require probable cause.
- Fifth — due process, no double jeopardy, no forced self-incrimination.
- Sixth — speedy public trial, with counsel, in criminal cases.
- Seventh — jury trials in most civil cases.
- Eighth — no excessive bail or fines, no cruel and unusual punishment.
- Ninth — rights listed in the Constitution are not the only rights people have.
- Tenth — powers not given to the federal government are reserved to the states or the people.3National Archives. The Bill of Rights: A Transcription
The Reconstruction Amendments: 13, 14, and 15
Three amendments ratified after the Civil War reshaped American citizenship. The Thirteenth Amendment, ratified in 1865, abolished slavery and involuntary servitude.4Congress.gov. U.S. Constitution – Thirteenth Amendment The Fourteenth, ratified in 1868, established that anyone born or naturalized in the country is a citizen and that no state may deny any person equal protection of the laws.5Congress.gov. U.S. Constitution – Fourteenth Amendment The Fifteenth, ratified in 1870, prohibited denying the vote based on race, color, or former status as an enslaved person.6Congress.gov. U.S. Constitution – Fifteenth Amendment
The Fourteenth has done the heaviest constitutional lifting of any single amendment. Its equal protection and due process clauses underpin decisions on everything from school desegregation to marriage equality.
Amendments That Expanded the Right to Vote
Four later amendments broadened who can vote in federal elections. The Nineteenth, ratified in 1920, prohibited denying the vote on account of sex.7Congress.gov. U.S. Constitution – Nineteenth Amendment The Twenty-third gave residents of Washington, D.C., a voice in presidential elections by granting the District electoral votes, capped at the number the least populous state receives.8Legal Information Institute. U.S. Constitution – Twenty-Third Amendment The Twenty-fourth, ratified in 1964, banned poll taxes in federal elections. The Twenty-sixth, ratified in 1971, lowered the voting age to 18.9Congress.gov. U.S. Constitution – Twenty-Sixth Amendment
Amendments That Changed How Government Works
The remaining amendments adjust the machinery of federal government. Some responded to specific crises; others reflected broader shifts in how Americans thought government should operate.
The Eleventh Amendment, ratified in 1795, limits federal courts from hearing lawsuits filed against a state by citizens of another state or foreign nationals.10Congress.gov. U.S. Constitution – Eleventh Amendment The Twelfth, ratified in 1804, required electors to cast separate ballots for president and vice president after the original system produced a tie between Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr in 1800.11Congress.gov. U.S. Constitution – Twelfth Amendment
The Sixteenth Amendment, ratified in 1913, gave Congress the power to tax income directly, after the Supreme Court had struck down an earlier federal income tax.12National Archives. 16th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution: Federal Income Tax The Seventeenth, also ratified in 1913, established direct election of U.S. senators by voters rather than by state legislatures.13Congress.gov. U.S. Constitution – Seventeenth Amendment
The Twentieth Amendment, ratified in 1933, moved the start of presidential terms to January 20 and congressional terms to January 3.14Congress.gov. U.S. Constitution – Twentieth Amendment The Twenty-second, ratified in 1951, capped the presidency at two elected terms after Franklin Roosevelt’s four election wins broke the unwritten norm.15Congress.gov. U.S. Constitution – Twenty-Second Amendment
The Twenty-fifth Amendment, ratified in 1967, spelled out what happens when a president is alive but unable to serve. It confirms that the vice president becomes president if the office is vacated, allows the president to temporarily transfer power during incapacity, and gives the vice president and a majority of the cabinet a mechanism to declare the president unable to serve.16Legal Information Institute. U.S. Constitution – Twenty-Fifth Amendment
The Twenty-seventh Amendment, ratified on May 7, 1992, bars any law changing congressional pay from taking effect until after the next election of representatives. It was originally proposed on September 25, 1789, alongside what became the Bill of Rights, then sat dormant for nearly 203 years before a renewed push completed ratification.17Constitution Annotated. Overview of the Twenty-Seventh Amendment, Congressional Compensation
The One Amendment That Was Repealed
The Eighteenth Amendment, ratified in 1919, banned the manufacture, sale, and transportation of alcohol. It remains the only amendment that restricted personal behavior rather than government power.18Congress.gov. U.S. Constitution – Eighteenth Amendment Prohibition lasted 14 years before the Twenty-first Amendment repealed it in 1933, making it the only amendment ever undone by another. The Twenty-first is also the only one ratified by state conventions rather than state legislatures.19Congress.gov. U.S. Constitution – Twenty-First Amendment
Why the Number Stays So Small
Article V sets a deliberately high bar. An amendment must first be proposed, either by a two-thirds vote in both the House and Senate or by a national convention called by two-thirds of state legislatures. Every ratified amendment so far has used the congressional route; no Article V convention has ever been called.20Constitution Annotated. Overview of Article V, Amending the Constitution
Then the proposal has to be ratified by three-fourths of the states, which today means 38 out of 50.21National Archives. Article V, U.S. Constitution The president has no role in the process. That gap between 11,000 proposals and 27 ratifications is the design working as intended.
Proposals That Are Not Part of the 27
A few proposed amendments come up often enough that it’s worth being clear they don’t add to the count.
The Equal Rights Amendment is the most prominent. Congress proposed it in 1972, stating that equality of rights shall not be denied on account of sex. Thirty-five states ratified before the extended deadline expired in 1982. Nevada ratified in 2017, Illinois in 2018, and Virginia in 2020, bringing the total to 38 on paper. The ERA has not been certified as part of the Constitution, and its status remains unresolved because of disputes over the congressional deadline and over states that tried to rescind their earlier ratifications.
A handful of older proposals technically remain pending because Congress attached no ratification deadline. The Congressional Apportionment Amendment, sent to the states with the Bill of Rights in 1789, would have set a formula for the size of the House. The Titles of Nobility Amendment, proposed in 1810, would have stripped citizenship from anyone accepting a foreign title without congressional consent. The Child Labor Amendment, proposed in 1924, would have given Congress power to regulate labor by people under 18; federal child labor laws have since made it largely moot. None has any realistic prospect of ratification, but none has formally expired either.
The District of Columbia Voting Rights Amendment, proposed in 1978, would have given D.C. full congressional representation. It expired in 1985 well short of 38 states.
So the count stands at 27, with a small tail of proposals that cleared Congress but never crossed the finish line.