About | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline
LOG IN
LOG IN

61 Fordham L. Rev. 497 (1992-1993)
The Sleeper Wakes: The History and Legacy of the Twenty-Seventh Amendment

handle is hein.journals/flr61 and id is 507 raw text is: ARTICLES THE SLEEPER WAKES: THE HISTORY AND LEGACY OF THE TWENTY-SEVENTH AMENDMENT RICHARD B. BERNSTEIN* No provision of the United States Constitution has a more drawn-out, tortured history than the Twenty-seventh Amendment, which was ratified more than two centuries after Representative James Madison introduced it in the First Congress. In this Article; Professor Bernstein traces the Amendment's origins to the legisla- tive political culture of the late eighteenth century, as influenced by the contro- versy over ratifying the Constitution. He then examines the perennial controversies over congressional compensation in American historiy elucidating how in the 1980s and 1990s public anger at Congress reached critical mass suffi- cient to propel the 1789 compensation amendment into the Constitution. Finally, this Article demonstrates that the adoption of the Amendment has consequences beyond its effects on congressional compensation-both for the unresolved issues of the Article V amending process and for the practice of amendment politics. * © 1992 by Richard B. Bernstein Adjunct Associate Professor of Law, New York Law School; Assistant Editor, The Papers of John Jay, Columbia University. This Article adapts and expands material presented in Richard B. Bernstein with Jerome Agel, Amending America: If We Love the Constitution So Much, Why Do We Keep Trying to Change It? (forthcoming 1993). I am grateful to William E. Nelson, Christopher N. Eisgruber, John Phillip Reid, Howard Venable, William P. La Piana, Peter C. Hoffer, Walter Walsh, Bill Braverman, Larry Kramer, and the other members of the New York University Law School Collo- quium on Legal History for their incisive and lively comments on an earlier version of this Article. I am also indebted to Professor Thomas C. Mackey of the University of Louisville; Professor Martin Flaherty of Fordham Law School; Professor Ruti Teitel of New York Law School; Professor Stephen L. Schechter of Russell Sage College; Ene Sirvet, editor of The Papers of John Jay, Columbia University; Joanne B. Freeman, De- partment of History, University of Virginia; Linda Faulhaber, Assistant Editor of Consti- tution magazine; Paul Golob of Times Books; Jerome Agel; Dennis G. Combs; Phillip G. Haultcoeur; Steven J. Bernstein; Bob and Barbara Tramonte; Stephanie A. Thompson; April Holder; Joan Challinor Diantha D. Schull; and Ron Blumer. Anyone who does research in the history of the early American republic owes an incal- culable debt of gratitude to the labors of Charlene E. Bickford, Kenneth R. Bowling, and Helen E. Veit, editors of the Documentary History of the First Federal Congress (1972-), and to John P. Kaminski, Gaspare J. Saladino, and Richard Leffler, editors of the Docu- mentary History of the Ratification of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights (1976-). I am especially grateful for their kindness, generosity, and encouragement. I am beholden to New York Law School for providing invaluable logistical and colle- gial support for my historical research and writing, and to the staff of the Fordham Law Review for their professionalism and good humor. Finally, I extend special thanks to Gregory D. Watson, the stepfather of the Twenty- seventh amendment, who in several telephone interviews graciously reviewed my account of the Amendment and the history of which he was so much a part; and to Timothy L Hanford, Esq., Assistant Minority Tax Counsel, Committee on Ways and Means, U.S. House of Representatives, who first piqued my curiosity about the compensation amend- ment more than four years ago, and who has helped me satisfy that curiosity with unfail- ing good humor and friendship.

What Is HeinOnline?

HeinOnline is a subscription-based resource containing thousands of academic and legal journals from inception; complete coverage of government documents such as U.S. Statutes at Large, U.S. Code, Federal Register, Code of Federal Regulations, U.S. Reports, and much more. Documents are image-based, fully searchable PDFs with the authority of print combined with the accessibility of a user-friendly and powerful database. For more information, request a quote or trial for your organization below.



Short-term subscription options include 24 hours, 48 hours, or 1 week to HeinOnline.

Purchase Access

Contact us for annual subscription options:

Contact Us

Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?

Log In

profiles profiles most