The American Constitution is written in 1787, but there was a mechanism built in

a mend and change the document over time.

Since 1787, the Constitution has been amended 27 times, most recently in 1992.

The most recent amendment, however, had a path to ratification which was far different than any of the 26 before it.

Learn more about the 27th Amendment and the very circuitous route it took to ratification on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily. The 27th Amendment is pretty short, so I'll just read it in its entirety.

Quote, no law varying the compensation for the services of senators and representatives

shall take effect until an election of representatives shall have intervened."

End quote.

Basically, Congress can't give itself a pay raise until there's been an election.

As amendments go, it's pretty non-controversial.

It became part of the Constitution on May 18, 1992,

when the archivist of the United States approved

that three quarters of the states had approved the amendment.

Seven states went through the process of formally ratifying the amendment after it became part of the Constitution, most notably Nebraska in 2016.

And just as a refresher, for an amendment to become ratified, it has to be approved

by Congress, by a two-thirds majority in both houses, and then it must be approved by

three-fourths of the state legislatures.

It's a high bar to cross, but that's the point.

For something to become part of the Constitution it needs to have overwhelming support.

If you remember back to my episode on unratified amendments, there are a few

amendments that have been stuck in limbo. They were approved by Congress but

they were never approved by the states. What we call the 27th Amendment was once an unratified amendment.

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