The Congress, whenever two thirds of both Houses shall deem it necessary, shall propose Amendments to this Constitution, or, on the Application of the Legislatures of two thirds of the several States, shall call a Convention for proposing Amendments, which, in either Case, shall be valid to all Intents and Purposes, as Part of this Constitution, when ratified by the Legislatures of three fourths of the several States, or by Conventions in three fourths thereof, as the one or the other Mode of Ratification may be proposed by the Congress; Provided that no Amendment which may be made prior to the Year One thousand eight hundred and eight shall in any Manner affect the first and fourth Clauses in the Ninth Section of the first Article; and that no State, without its Consent, shall be deprived of its equal Suffrage in the Senate.
Amending the Constitution is a deliberately difficult process, that requires a large number of people to be involved. Takes a 2/3 vote in each house of Congress and ratification by 3/4 of the States.
Just how slow can this process be? Let’s take a look at the last Amendment to be added, number 27. It was first proposed in 1789 and completed ratification in 1992. Those dates are not typos, it really did take more than 200 years for the process to be completed.
That’s an extreme example, Amendment 26 took less than 6 months to become part of the Constitution.
Other Constitution posts.