US Constitution - 27th Amendment

Submitted by ub on

No law, varying the compensation for the services of the Senators and Representatives, shall take effect, until an election of Representatives shall have intervened.

The 27th Amendment is the most recent addition to the Constitution and was among the amendments that James Madison proposed in 1789. Ten of those amendments were approved and became known as the Bill of Rights, but this one languished for 203 years, making it the longest ratification process in U.S. history.

So what revived Madison’s original vision? In 1982, Gregory Watson, a 20-year-old college student at the University of Texas, Austin, wrote a paper on Madison’s proposal. He launched a letter-writing campaign and within a decade, in large part thanks to his efforts, what would have been the Second Amendment was passed as the 27th Amendment.

Amendment #27: Establishes that any law that increases or decreases the Congressional pay shall not be put to effect until the next term of office of the representatives begins. It was finally Ratified on 5/7/1992.