Today In History; Twenty-Seventh Amendment Ratified

1992: On this day in 1992, Michigan ratified the 27th Amendment to the Constitution. The proposed amendment was 203 years old, having been first proposed as part of the original Bill of Rights. At that time, only six states ratified the amendment while five rejected it. Eighty years later, Ohio dusted it off and ratified it to protest Congressional pay hikes. But again, the other states let it lie for another hundred years, until 1978, when Wyoming, too, made a political statement through ratification. Then, in the early 1980s, a political aide began championing the amendment. In under ten years, it became law with Michigan the final state to ratify. The 27th Amendment prohibits Congress from making changes in Congressional salaries until after the general election.