If you're seeing this message, it means we're having trouble loading external resources on our website.
If you're behind a web filter, please make sure that the domains *.kastatic.org and *.kasandbox.org are unblocked.
The Amendment Process
How does an Amendment get added to the Constitution? The major steps of each of the two pathways to adding an Amendment are laid out below, but you can find the full details behind the process here.
Path 1:
- Step 1: Two-thirds of both the House of Representatives and the Senate propose and vote on a constitutional amendment. This sends the proposed amendment to the states for ratification.
- Step 2: Three-fourths of the states ratify the proposed amendment, either by their legislatures or through special ratifying 'conventions'.
Path 2:
- Step 1: Two-thirds of state legislatures ask Congress to call “a convention for proposing amendments” as stipulated in Article V of the Constitution.
- Step 2: States send delegates to this convention, where they can propose amendments to the Constitution. There can be many amendments proposed during this time.
- Step 3: Three-fourths of the states ratify a given amendment approved by the convention, either by their legislatures or special ratifying conventions.
Most Frequently Requested Amendments
Constitutional Amendments: Links
Article V of the Constitution
Article V of the Constitution is where the nation is given instructions on how to modify the country's most important legal document.
It is incredibly difficult to meet the requirements needed for ratifying an amendment due to the amount of support required from both lawmakers and the states themselves.
Read the Constitution
The Constitution defines the fundamental law of the U.S. federal government, setting forth the three principal branches of the federal government and outlining their jurisdictions. It has become the landmark legal document of the Western world, and is the oldest written national constitution currently in effect. The Constitution has been amended 27 times, most recently in 1992, although there have been over 11,000 amendments proposed since 1789.
Under Article V of the Constitution, there are two ways to propose and ratify amendments to the Constitution. To propose amendments, two-thirds of both houses of Congress can vote to propose an amendment, or two-thirds of the state legislatures can ask Congress to call a national convention to propose amendments. To ratify amendments, three-fourths of the state legislatures must approve them, or ratifying conventions in three-fourths of the states must approve them.
The Supreme Court has said that ratification must be within "some reasonable time after the proposal." Beginning with the 18th amendment, Congress traditionally set a definite period for ratification. In the case of the 18th, 20th, 21st, and 22nd amendments, the period set was seven years, but there has been no determination as to just how long a "reasonable time" might be.
Recommended textbook solutionsAmerican Government
1st EditionGlen Krutz
412 solutions
Criminal Justice in America
9th EditionChristina Dejong, Christopher E. Smith, George F Cole
105 solutions
American Corrections
11th EditionMichael D. Reisig, Todd R. Clear
160 solutions
Government in America: Elections and Updates Edition
16th EditionGeorge C. Edwards III, Martin P. Wattenberg, Robert L. Lineberry
269 solutions