Twenty-Seventh Amendment to the US Constitution

Limiting Congressional Pay Raises 202 Years Later

Jan 26, 2010
David J. Shestokas

Congressional Pay Raise - Lation Blog

In 1789 Congress submitted to the states for ratification 12 Amendments. Ten were ratified, becoming the Bill of Rights. Another languished for 202 years.

What was to become the Twenty-Seventh Amendment was the second of twelve amendments proposed by the First United States Congress. It was submitted to the states on September 25, 1789. It was ratified first by Maryland on December 19, 1789, just under two months after it was proposed. After Virginia ratified on December 15, 1791 nothing happened for more than 80 years.

1789 Proposal to Limit Congressional Pay Raises

The 1789 proposal sent to the states intended to act as a restraint on Congress in setting its own pay. It was known by various names, including the "Congressional Compensation Amendment of 1789", the "Congressional Pay Amendment", and the "Madison Amendment”. The text of the proposal is very simple:

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

Proposed During Era of Citizen Legislators, Ratified During Era of Professional Politicians

The terms of the proposal meant that no sitting Congress could raise its own pay. If a Congress were to pass a pay raise it would have to be one for the future after there was an election. The amendment was proposed at a time when the concept of citizen legislators was alive and well, long before the current system of career politicians with safe districts many of whom may vote for future raises confident they will benefit.

The Virginia ratification in 1791 was only the sixth. At the time there were thirteen states and ten were required. In 1873 the amendment was ratified by Ohio. Ohio ratified in protest of a law passed by Congress raising congressional pay and making that pay raise retroactive.

University of Texas Student Gregory Watson Revives 200 Year Old Proposal

The proposal laid dormant for over 100 years until Gregory Watson a University of Texas student was working on a paper for a government class and determined that there was an unratified amendment pending. Mr. Watson completed his paper coming to the conclusions that:

The amendment could be ratified since it carried no deadline for ratification
The amendment should be ratified as good policy.

Mr. Watson started a letter writing campaign to various state legislatures urging the ratification of the amendment. His first success came in Maine in April, 1983. Over the next years more states ratified until on May 5, 1992 Alabama became the 38th state to ratify. Two weeks later it was declared ratified by the Archivist of the United States and recognized as the Twenty-Seventh Amendment by the Congress on May 20, 1992.

Gregory Watson’s efforts resulted in a change to the United States Constitution. An interesting side story to history: Mr. Watson received a “C” on the paper that changed the Constitution.