The United States 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 certified in 1992.1United States Senate. Constitution of the United States Congress has considered more than 11,000 proposed amendments since 1787, so roughly one in 400 proposals has actually become part of the Constitution.2National Archives. Amending America
The First Ten: The Bill of Rights
Several states refused to accept the Constitution without explicit protections for individual liberty, so James Madison introduced seventeen proposed amendments in the House. Congress narrowed those to twelve, and ten earned approval from three-fourths of the state legislatures. They were ratified as a group on December 15, 1791.3National Archives. The Bill of Rights – How Did it Happen
Those ten cover the rights most people associate with the Constitution:
- The First protects freedom of speech, the press, religion, assembly, and the right to petition the government.
- The Second protects the right to keep and bear arms.4National Archives. The Bill of Rights – What Does it Say
- The Third bars the government from housing soldiers in private homes without the owner’s consent.5Congress.gov. U.S. Constitution – Third Amendment
- The Fourth requires law enforcement to obtain a warrant based on probable cause before searching or seizing a person’s property, with limited exceptions.6Congress.gov. Amdt4.5.1 Overview of Warrant Requirement
- The Fifth provides several protections for people accused of crimes, including the right to a grand jury indictment for serious offenses, protection against double jeopardy, and the right not to be forced to testify against yourself.7Legal Information Institute. Fifth Amendment
- The Sixth guarantees a speedy, public trial by an impartial jury.
- The Seventh preserves the right to a jury trial in certain civil cases.
- The Eighth prohibits excessive bail and cruel or unusual punishment.4National Archives. The Bill of Rights – What Does it Say
- The Ninth says that listing specific rights in the Constitution doesn’t mean people lack other rights not mentioned.
- The Tenth reserves all powers not given to the federal government to the states or the people.
The Other Seventeen
The remaining amendments arrived one at a time over the next two centuries, responding to wars, social movements, and structural problems the framers didn’t anticipate.
Reconstruction and Citizenship
The Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Amendments came out of the Civil War. The Thirteenth abolished slavery. The Fourteenth established that anyone born or naturalized in the United States is a citizen and guaranteed equal protection under the law. The Fifteenth prohibited denying the right to vote based on race.8Congress.gov. Civil War Amendments – Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Amendments
Expanding the Right to Vote
The Nineteenth Amendment, ratified in 1920, prohibited denying the vote on account of sex.9Congress.gov. U.S. Constitution – Nineteenth Amendment The Twenty-Fourth, ratified in 1964, banned poll taxes in federal elections.10Congress.gov. U.S. Constitution – Twenty-Fourth Amendment The Twenty-Sixth, ratified in 1971, lowered the voting age from 21 to 18.11Congress.gov. U.S. Constitution – Twenty-Sixth Amendment The Twenty-Third gave residents of the District of Columbia electors in presidential elections.
Presidential Structure and Succession
The Twelfth Amendment (1804) fixed a flaw in the original Electoral College by requiring separate ballots for president and vice president.12National Archives. The Constitution – Amendments 11-27 The Twentieth (1933) moved Inauguration Day from March to January. The Twenty-Second (1951) capped the presidency at two terms.13Congress.gov. U.S. Constitution – Twenty-Second Amendment The Twenty-Fifth (1967) established rules for what happens when a president dies, resigns, or becomes unable to serve, and created a process for filling a vice-presidential vacancy.14Congress.gov. U.S. Constitution – Twenty-Fifth Amendment The Seventeenth (1913) switched election of U.S. senators from state legislatures to direct popular vote.
Prohibition and Its Repeal
The Eighteenth Amendment (1919) banned the manufacture, sale, and transportation of alcohol. It lasted 14 years before the Twenty-First Amendment repealed it in 1933. The Twenty-First is the only amendment that undoes a previous one, and the only one ratified through state conventions rather than state legislatures.
Taxation and Lawsuits Against States
The Sixteenth Amendment (1913) authorized Congress to collect an income tax without dividing the tax among states based on population. Before it, the Supreme Court had struck down a federal income tax as unconstitutional. The Eleventh Amendment (1795) restricts lawsuits against states in federal court by citizens of other states or foreign countries.15Legal Information Institute. 11th Amendment
The Twenty-Seventh, and Why It’s Still the Most Recent
The National Archivist certified the Twenty-Seventh Amendment as ratified on May 7, 1992.16Congress.gov. Twenty-Seventh Amendment – Congressional Compensation It prevents any change to congressional pay from taking effect until after the next election of Representatives. Its timeline is unusual: it was originally proposed in 1789 alongside the batch that became the Bill of Rights, fell short at the time, and sat dormant for nearly 203 years before a grassroots campaign pushed it across the finish line. Because Congress attached no ratification deadline in 1789, it remained live the whole time.
Why the Count Doesn’t Change Often
Article V of the Constitution sets a deliberately difficult two-step process. A proposal needs a two-thirds vote in both the House and Senate, or a national convention called by two-thirds of state legislatures. Ratification then requires three-fourths of the states, currently 38 out of 50.17Congress.gov. ArtV.1 Overview of Article V, Amending the Constitution Since 1917, most proposals have carried a seven-year ratification deadline; if not enough states approve within that window, the proposal dies.18Congress.gov. Congressional Deadlines for Ratification of an Amendment Those thresholds explain the gap between more than 11,000 proposals introduced and 27 that made it in.
Proposals That Aren’t Part of the Constitution
Beyond the 27 ratified amendments, six proposals have been sent to the states by Congress and failed to win ratification.19Congress.gov. Intro.6.7 Proposed Amendments Not Ratified by the States A few come up often enough to be worth naming:
- The Titles of Nobility Amendment (1810) would have stripped citizenship from anyone who accepted a foreign title of nobility without congressional consent. It came within two states of ratification.
- The Child Labor Amendment (1924) would have given Congress the power to regulate labor for anyone under 18. It became largely moot after the Supreme Court upheld federal child labor laws under the Commerce Clause.
- The Equal Rights Amendment (1972) would have prohibited the denial of rights on account of sex. Congress set a seven-year deadline, later extended to 1982. Although 38 states eventually ratified it, three did so after the deadline, and five states attempted to rescind earlier ratifications. The National Archivist has not certified it as part of the Constitution, and its legal status remains contested.
- The D.C. Voting Representation Amendment (1978) would have treated the District of Columbia as a state for congressional representation and presidential elections. Its seven-year deadline expired in 1985 with only 16 of the needed 38 states ratifying.
Until another proposal clears both the two-thirds vote in Congress and ratification by 38 states, the answer to how many amendments are in the Constitution stays at 27.