Amending America

Amending America

Dates: Friday, March 11, 2016 – Monday, September 4, 2017
Location: Lawrence F. O’Brien Gallery, National Archives Museum, Washington, DC

Only 27 times—out of more than 11,000 proposals—have Americans reached consensus to amend the Constitution.

It is difficult—but not impossible—to turn an idea into an amendment. So few amendments have been successful because our Constitution sets a high bar to pass amendments. So, what kinds of proposals achieve enough support to become a ratified amendment?

We have amended our Constitution to reshape fundamental rights, key legal powers, or elemental government structure. We have expanded voting through amendments to broaden participation. We have guaranteed our rights to experience more freedom. We have improved the structure of our government to be more secure.

We amend not only to solve current problems. We amend when Americans share an understanding of an essential concern that affects us all. We amend so that We the People can create a more perfect Union. When we add new ideas to our fundamental governing charter—our Constitution—we are Amending America.

View Amending America Programs

Amending America Banner

During the exhibit, a banner connected the Bill of Rights – on permanent display in the Rotunda – to the Lawrence F. O’Brien Gallery, where the Amending America exhibition was on display. Printed on the banner were the more than 11,000 proposed amendments to the Constitution, arranged chronologically.

Featured Amending America Documents

Bill of Rights

Bill of Rights

During the debates on the adoption of the Constitution, its opponents repeatedly charged that the document would open the way to tyranny by the strong central government. They demanded a “bill of rights” that would specify the rights of individual citizens. In September 1789, the First Congress of the United States proposed 12 amendments to the Constitution, addressing the most …

13th Amendment

Amending America Amending America Dates: Friday, March 11, 2016 – Monday, September 4, 2017Location: Lawrence F. O’Brien Gallery, National Archives Museum, Washington, DC Only 27 times—out of more than 11,000 proposals—have Americans reached consensus to amend the Constitution. It is difficult—but not impossible—to turn an idea into an amendment. So few amendments have been successful because our Constitution sets a high …

Voting Rights Act of 1965

On August 6, 1965, President Lyndon Baines Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act into law, a momentous achievement in the struggle for equal rights.

Title IX

Amending America Amending America Dates: Friday, March 11, 2016 – Monday, September 4, 2017Location: Lawrence F. O’Brien Gallery, National Archives Museum, Washington, DC Only 27 times—out of more than 11,000 proposals—have Americans reached consensus to amend the Constitution. It is difficult—but not impossible—to turn an idea into an amendment. So few amendments have been successful because our Constitution sets a high …

Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) of 1972

The Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) passed Congress in 1972 and was quickly ratified by 35 of the 38 states needed for it to become part of the Constitution. As the seven-year time limit for ratification approached in 1979, Congress and President Jimmy Carter controversially extended the deadline three years. However, no additional states ratified.

Civil Rights Act of 1964

The Civil Rights Act, signed into law by President Lyndon Johnson on July 2, 1964, prohibited discrimination in public places, provided for the integration of schools and other public facilities, and made employment discrimination illegal. This document was the most sweeping civil rights legislation since Reconstruction.

More Amending America to explore

Download the free exhibition catalog, written by curators Christine Blackerby and Jennifer Johnson, available now for iPad, iPhone, and Mac.

Explore more records from the extensive holdings of the National Archives relating to Amending America, chosen by the staff of the National Archives Foundation.

Learn how we amend the Constitution in an animated video, made in collaboration with HISTORYⓇ.

Read the full text of the 27 ratified amendments to the Constitution.

Amending America is presented in part by

Seedlings Foundation

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